“Feedback is a gift.” It’s an expression with the right intention but maybe too passive of an outcome. Because when we receive gifts, we accept them but we don’t really take an action because of them. If you hear “feedback is an insight,” it should signal more of a data point that you’ll do something with.
The end of June marks the midpoint for the calendar year. And it is often a time for those feedback insights to happen. Feedback itself has become more on-going and real-time for most employees. People managers don’t wait for a mid-year point to tell you how you’re doing. But it is still the time that companies calibrate development and advancement and capture more standardized inputs from people managers.
And with that in mind, it’s a good time to take stock of feedback and what you’re doing to get beyond it.
People managers who leverage feedback for coaching tend to give someone real-time feedback around a specific situation to illustrate a better way to resolve something or to reinforce an approach that worked well. This is mostly a great thing because it’s easier to hear feedback when the timing is current. And it’s easier to improve a skill or approach when the setting and the topic are specific.
But the more general impression of you and your brand within an organization can get lost. You get less feedback on personal brand unless you ask for it specifically. And you should ask for it – once or twice a year.
How do you ask?
Brand feedback and impressions are less about a specific moment and more about impressions that have settled in over time. In talent reviews, people leaders talk about impressions. They use specific examples to validate or to diffuse impressions that have taken hold.
And you gain those insights by asking for them.
Some people managers offer it without prompting. But if you don’t know the impression of your brand within your team or organization, you should ask for it. Because while feedback may not have been shared, the impressions are always there.
Here’s what you want to know.
Baseline of your brand: You should know how your manager describes your brand. “If someone asked you to describe me, what are the three attributes that come to mind or that you might have shared?” If you work for a people manager who has been great with feedback overall, share back the general impressions that they’ve given you over time. “At the start of the year, you told me my strengths were ___________. Has that stayed consistent or has anything changed?”
Reach of your brand: From internal peers, clients, or cross-functional teams, you should know how others describe your brand. Ask your manager, “How do others share impressions of me or describe my strengths and opportunities?” If your manager shares this, it’s likely to be consistent with how your name has come up in a talent discussion. Or if your manager doesn’t know, it tells you that they’re not promoting your brand or strengths within the organization.
Visibility of your brand: Do you know who your champions are within the organization and are you working to build them? You need to. Not overnight but certainly over time. Ask your manager, “As I work to grow within the company, who besides you should I consider a champion for my development?” If you don’t have champions beyond your manager, ask if it matters. Again, it’s not so much the answer itself but the insight it offers on the visibility of your brand today.
Once you have more general feedback or insights, what do you do with it? Hopefully, you feel terrific about the impact you’ve having and how you’re perceived within the organization. But if there are some unintended impressions, there are three steps that can move you beyond the feedback.
Understand the feedback: Always let feedback sit before you respond to it. Ask questions to understand it, not challenge it. Don’t jump in to debate it or solve it. Feedback rarely has an answer; it’s an insight. But you need to understand what’s behind it, what’s reinforcing it and how consistent it is.
If you want a manager or leader to work with you to get beyond impressions, make it easy to give you feedback. If the feedback is current and specific, it’s easy to talk it through in the moment. If it’s broad and nuanced around impressions as noted above, you need time to absorb it. And if your manager is open to it, it may be best to hear it, understand it and then circle back to talk through what you’re going to try and do about it.
Improve the skill or behavior: While a manager owns the delivery of feedback, it is up to an individual to embrace it and think through how to move beyond it. A manager can be a great coach on how to strengthen a skill or modify a behavior. Sometimes, it may mean just more opportunities for people to experience you. The hardest part of working on feedback is to look ahead, not back. We all want to rehash what happened in hopes of someone seeing our perspective on it. But the reality is you’re not trying to reinforce your perspective…you’re trying to change someone else’s. Focus on the next experience.
Diffuse the impression: If all impressions take hold over time, resolving one and setting a new one also takes time. Be intentional about your efforts but give others a chance to experience a change and buy-in to a difference. It’s not trying harder one time; it’s always over time. Every situation is different, and timing can be as well. But at the right point, usually four to six months, you circle back and ask for feedback on the impressions that worried you. Your manager is the person to ask. But always ask for the impressions of others and whether you should talk to others to close the loop.
Feedback is both a gift and an insight. And the real value of feedback is what you do with it once you receive it.
What Makes Feedback Effective?
Effective feedback gives someone useful information about how their behavior, communication or performance is experienced by others. It should create greater awareness and provide a reasonable path toward improvement.
The most useful feedback is specific enough to understand, relevant to the person’s goals and connected to observable behavior. Comments such as “be more strategic” or “show greater leadership presence” may describe the desired outcome, but they do not explain what the individual should do differently.
A productive conversation goes further. It identifies the behavior creating the impression, explains the effect it has on others and considers what a stronger approach might look like in the future.
For example, telling someone to “communicate more confidently” is difficult to act on. Explaining that the person frequently qualifies recommendations, speaks too quickly when questioned or gives up the central point too easily provides a clearer development path.
Good feedback does not simply evaluate the past. It helps someone prepare for the next opportunity.
How to Ask for Feedback That Supports Growth
Many professionals ask, “Do you have any feedback for me?” It is a well-intended question, but it is so broad that it often produces a polite and equally broad answer.
A more focused question makes it easier for someone to provide meaningful insight. Consider asking:
* What is one strength I should continue to leverage?
* What is one behavior that may be limiting my impact?
* How did my communication affect the outcome of that meeting?
* What impression do I create with senior leaders?
* What would help me become more effective in my current role?
* What skill should I strengthen before pursuing my next opportunity?
* Is there a difference between how I intend to come across and how others experience me?
This insight becomes more useful when the question is connected to a specific goal, relationship or situation. If you want to improve executive communication, ask how senior leaders experience your contributions. If you want to strengthen your personal brand, ask which attributes people consistently associate with you.
It is also helpful to gather feedback from more than one perspective. A manager may understand your performance and advancement opportunities. Peers may see how you collaborate. Direct reports experience your leadership communication. Cross-functional colleagues can offer insight into your influence outside your immediate team.
A broader view helps you distinguish an isolated reaction from a consistent impression.
Even useful feedback can be difficult to hear. The natural response is often to explain the context, correct a misunderstanding or defend the intention behind a decision.
But feedback is information about someone else’s experience. Your intention matters, but it does not erase the impression.
When receiving feedback, begin by listening for the central message. Ask questions that improve understanding:
* Can you share an example?
* What behavior contributed to that impression?
* Have you noticed this more than once?
* Do others appear to share that perspective?
* What would a more effective approach look like?
* When will I have another opportunity to practice this?
You do not have to agree with every point immediately. You do need to understand it before deciding what to do with it.
Summarizing what you heard can also prevent misinterpretation. A response such as, “What I’m hearing is that my level of detail sometimes makes it difficult for others to identify my recommendation,” confirms the message without becoming defensive.
You can then take time to consider whether the feedback reflects a pattern, a particular situation or an unintended impression that needs attention.
Feedback creates value when it leads to intentional development.
Start by translating the feedback into a specific behavior. “Improve executive presence” is too broad. “State the recommendation earlier and respond to questions without overexplaining” is something a person can practice.
Next, identify situations where the new behavior can be applied. A development goal becomes more tangible when it is connected to an upcoming leadership meeting, client conversation, feedback discussion or cross-functional initiative.
Then determine how progress will be measured. Ask yourself:
* Did I apply the new behavior?
* How did the audience respond?
* Did the conversation produce a different outcome?
* Was my central message understood?
* What still felt difficult?
* What should I adjust next time?
Finally, close the loop. Return to the manager, colleague or coach who provided the original insight. Explain what you have been working on and ask whether they have noticed a difference.
That follow-up demonstrates self-awareness, commitment and accountability. It also gives others an opportunity to update the impression they hold of you.
How Leaders Build a Stronger Feedback Culture
Leaders influence whether feedback feels like an occasional evaluation or a normal part of development.
A strong feedback culture begins when leaders ask for input themselves. When employees see a leader receive feedback openly and act on it, they become more comfortable doing the same.
Leaders should also balance corrective feedback with reinforcement. People need to understand what is working, not only what needs to change. Specific positive feedback helps employees recognize the behaviors they should continue using.
The conversation should also be two-way. A manager may provide perspective, but the employee needs space to ask questions, share context and participate in the development plan.
The goal is not constant criticism. It is ongoing communication that helps people understand their impact, strengthen important skills and prepare for greater responsibility.
Coaching and Personal Brand Development
Some feedback is straightforward enough to address independently. Other feedback involves broader impressions, recurring behaviors or a personal brand that has developed over time.
In those situations, an objective coach can help identify themes, interpret what different audiences are experiencing and translate feedback into practical changes.
SW&A’s verbal assessment process gathers perspectives from the people who work closely with a leader. We look for consistent strengths, unintended impressions and opportunities to increase leadership impact. Those insights become the foundation for a focused coaching plan.
Feedback may tell you where you are today. Coaching helps you determine where you want to go next and how to get there.
If you’d like to understand more about how to get feedback on your brand, set up a verbal assessment where we gather the feedback and leverage it into a coaching engagement.
We’re here when you need us!
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