“Those who learn fastest, WIN”

“Those who learn fastest, WIN

When Dave Spofford, a Rypple user and CEO of Invoice Insight, shared these words with me back in May, I didn’t realize at the time how totally profound they were.

Imagine, you’re a company looking to build your brand, reputation, and provide innovative products and services in a market rife with competition and emerging technologies. Maybe you’re an individual looking to differentiate yourself in a sea of talent or take that next step in your career. Or maybe you’re an entrepreneur, looking to slay a few Goliaths as you build your business.

Regardless of who you are or what you’re trying to achieve, the bottom line is that if you are able to more quickly assimilate knowledge and execute on it faster than those around you, you’ll get ahead quicker than they do. Simple? Yes.  But the concept is no different than that of an Olympic athlete looking to break a world record,  animals looking to survive in the wild, or a challenger looking to best a culinary master in an episode of Iron Chef (love that show!).

So how do you get that knowledge in the first place?

You seek it out! You ask for it. You triangulate signals. You query anyone who can lend even a piece of the insights you’re looking for!

When working with our corporate clients looking to leverage Rypple feedback within their organization, I often get asked, “…so what types of thing should we be encouraging our people to ask for feedback on?“. To which I respond, “Simple! Complete this sentence:

We/I could ‘win’ more, if we/I only knew ________“.

Fill in that blank, and you’ll know exactly where to start.

Here are some examples from around the Rypple user community.

“We could ‘win’ more, if we only knew…

• …what our customers feel most differentiates us from our competition.”
• …if the training we provide our people is adequate.”
• …who the thought leaders in our own organization were.”
• …what our people love most/least about working here.”

I could ‘win’ more, if I only knew…

• …the skills I need to develop to take my career to the next level.”
• …how to better position the value of my services.”
• …the personal strengths I should leverage more in my role.”
• …what people think I should stop, start, and continue doing in my job.”

So the next time you’re in the market for feedback but aren’t quite sure where to start, follow this simple 4-step recipe.

1. Ask yourself, if you could learn one thing that would help you learn and execute faster, what would that be?
2. Request feedback (using a good question) to uncover the insights you’re looking for
3. Use that feedback to take action…and win!
4. Repeat step 1.