Leveraging Feedback for Continuous Personal Development: Advice from Business Leaders

From the strategic insights of a content strategist to the practical wisdom of a co-founder, fifteen professionals share their approaches to weaving feedback into their personal development tapestry. This article spells out a diverse array of methods, starting with validating and embracing feedback and concluding with customer reviews informing team training, offering readers a comprehensive guide to enhancing skills through feedback. Discover how these experts seek, interpret, and apply feedback to fuel their continuous growth and self-improvement.

• Validate and Embrace Feedback
• Plan Growth Around Feedback
• Use Feedback as a Tool for Self-Alignment
• Prioritize as a Catalyst for Self-Improvement
• Learn from Experienced Professionals
• Combine Structured and Casual Feedback
• Adopt a Three-Step Feedback Integration Process
• Seek and Document Impartial Feedback
• Utilize Introspective Feedback
• Amplify Strengths with Feedback
• Spur Leader Growth with Employee Feedback
• Track and Respond to Feedback
• Elicit Constructive Criticism
• Align Feedback with Development Goals
• Inform Team Training via Customer Reviews

Validate and Embrace Feedback

Embracing constructive criticism as a powerful tool for personal growth is essential. Rather than viewing feedback as a critique, it should be seen as an opportunity to refine skills.

Prioritizing the credibility of the information received as feedback is a must-have on the checklist. A fact-checking approach is employed to validate the accuracy of feedback. Besides improving critical thinking, it ensures that the insights received are well-founded and trusted.

Incorporating strength-based feedback, which highlights existing capabilities, is also essential for supporting a positive mindset and complementing areas of improvement. According to Gallup, employees who received strengths feedback had a 14.9% lower turnover than those who received no feedback.

Engaging in regular self-reflection is a must to identify areas for improvement. This self-awareness is a starting point for seeking targeted feedback on skills or behaviors.

Nurlan Suleymanov
Content Strategist, Aqua Cloud

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Plan Growth Around Feedback

Get the right feedback, make plans to grow, and organize tasks for personal and professional development.

In my professional working profile, I add feedback from mentors, colleagues, and others who share valuable insights about my work. I point out their opinions and distill the valuable improvement points. I create a plan and outline the skills I need to enhance my job performance. I constantly organize my daily tasks and structure my work in a way that fosters a proactive mindset for both personal and professional growth.

This continuous feedback loop provides me with valuable ideas, keeping me motivated to learn and develop in both my personal and work life.

Faizan Khan
Public Relation and Content Marketing Specialist, Ubuy Australia

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Use Feedback as a Tool for Self-Alignment

As a psychologist and coach, I have always valued the importance of self-reflection and self-discovery. In knowing and understanding ourselves, we can gain insight into why we behave the way we do and make necessary changes to feel more aligned.

However, just as our voices sound different in our heads versus what others hear, our own behaviors may appear different to others as well. I am frequently asking clients—whether individuals, speaking audiences, or teams—for feedback. I read every comment in order to gather more data about whether my behaviors align with my intent.

When I find myself having trouble with a piece of feedback (feeling hurt or defensive), I will circle back later after allowing some of the emotion to dissipate. I remind myself that all feedback is useful, and that acknowledging any mistakes, missteps, or criticisms are all opportunities for growth. Feedback is one of the best tools for change and learning.

Anne Welsh
Clinical Psychologist and Executive Coach, Dr. Anne Welsh

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Prioritize as a Catalyst for Self-Improvement

I think feedback is crucial in both professional and personal life. I appreciate feedback in all aspects of my life because it provides me with the opportunity to step back and outside of myself to fully reassess a situation. Feedback allows us to get rid of our own personal bias and look at ourselves with a wider scope, thus driving determination for overall self-improvement.

Brittany Betts
Marketing Manager, StaySense

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Learn from Experienced Professionals

Accepting feedback has become a crucial part of my personal development process throughout my career. When I was younger, I was like many young professionals: impatient and overconfident about my abilities.

As time went on, and I moved to different positions and different companies, I realized that one thing remained the same everywhere I went—I was gaining knowledge from my past failures. Once I realized that, I decided that accepting feedback about past shortcomings was the only way to truly move forward and learn from my mistakes.

One tip about seeking feedback that I would give to a young professional today is that you should find the most experienced person at your company, no matter how high up they are on the corporate ladder, and ask them to evaluate your performance.

It may be scary, but the results that you receive will be coming from someone who has likely been in the same position you are at some point in their career, which is invaluable information to have. I have done this at every company I have worked for and will continue to do so because it has been so helpful to my personal growth.

Chris Hunter
Director of Customer Relations, ServiceTitan

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Combine Structured and Casual Feedback

I have a weekly meeting with an accountability buddy, usually towards the end of the week. We talk about the challenges that I faced over the last couple of days, and we also discuss possible solutions together. Once the meeting is over, I then update my to-do lists to reflect the changes we talked about. Next week, during our meeting, we will evaluate how well I implemented these changes and how effective they were.

This is a very simple process, but it works well. The meetings force me to confront any excuses that I might currently be making. I can kid myself, but it’s much harder to kid an outside person. My accountability buddy is very good at pointing out any kind of backward rationalizing that might be going on.

On top of that, I also have two to three trusted friends with whom I regularly talk. Here, the feedback process is much less structured. I just tell them what has been on my mind lately, what is upsetting me, etc. Since they have known me for years, they can usually tell straight away what is going wrong and what I should be doing differently.

Both approaches have their pros and cons. With my accountability buddy, it is a little bit easier to get straight to the point. We don’t need to exchange as many niceties, and we tend to be more blunt with each other. The downside is that he doesn’t know me that well yet, so I usually need to give him more context.

With friends, there is less context required. However, the conversations tend to be longer, sometimes unnecessarily so. Also, the feedback you get tends to be a little bit sugar coated, as they are your friends and don’t want to upset you too much.

Neils Bohrmann
Founder, Bohrmann

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Adopt a Three-Step Feedback Integration Process

Incorporating constructive feedback to drive self-improvement has been integral for my growth as a leader. I utilize a three-step process when receiving input:

Assess credibility – Consider the source and intent before fully engaging. Ask yourself: Is the person invested in my development? Is this constructive or just criticism? Filtering credible perspectives avoids deterring progress.

Evaluate applicability – Reflect on feedback aligned with your current role and objectives. Examine what resonates given your responsibilities and growth plan. Assess fit.

Operationalize selectively – Not all feedback needs to turn into sweeping change. Consider phasing in modifications suited to your personal style and situation. Stay true to yourself while still challenging comfort zones.

For example, my manager once suggested I become more assertive in cross-departmental meetings when I felt my team’s needs weren’t heard. While I appreciated her candor, an abrupt, combative stance countered my tendencies. Instead, I focused on speaking up early in conversations to better align groups. Over time, teams now organically recognize our priorities.

With a thoughtful process, we can incorporate outside perspectives to shape behaviors that work for us rather than forcing change based on pressures. Feedback is a gift when handled carefully.

Renee Shaw
Startup Growth, Renee Shaw Consulting

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Seek and Document Impartial Feedback

A few days ago, I was driving with my girlfriend when I received a call from my boss because we had a problem with a customer. I asked my girlfriend to listen to our conversation and, at the end, to give me her opinion on how I had behaved.

In particular, I wanted to know if I had been clear in explaining the solutions and, above all, if I had lost my calm. I think it is essential to receive feedback, even from people who are not in our sector, precisely because they can give us an impartial opinion. I also find it very useful to write down this feedback and re-read it before having to deal with a similar conversation or situation.

Giovanni Della Ventura
Head of Content, giodella.com

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Utilize Introspective Feedback

In my approach to personal development, incorporating feedback is vital. This begins with introspection but extends to seeking inputs, grasping the feedback’s context, and analyzing it, thereby driving meaningful self-improvement. Further, it involves delving into my thoughts, enabling me to leverage constructive criticism and stay focused on targeted areas for growth.

However, the challenge lies not in internalizing feedback but rather in grasping its viewpoints without feeling defensive or personally attacked. Even if feedback is delivered with negative intentions, I prioritize understanding its context over self-defense. This can be ensured by maintaining an open mindset, allowing me to conserve energy for constructive reflection.

This way, I align the feedback received with my core values and vision for my life, utilizing it as a potent catalyst for goal progress. Therefore, the whole internal dialogue becomes vital for action reassessment, skill refinement, and ongoing growth.

Darsha Patel
Associate Consultant, NamanHR

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Amplify Strengths with Feedback

When I receive feedback, I don’t just look at what I need to fix. I also focus on what I’m already good at to make those skills even better.

I listen to what people say, think about it, and then work on making my strong points stronger. This makes me better at my marketing job and feels really rewarding. It’s about using advice to grow in the best ways possible.

Tobias Liebsch
Co-Founder, Fintalent.io

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Spur Leader Growth with Employee Feedback

As a business owner and employer, the personal development aided by feedback is even more important. I cannot afford to be stagnant, or worse, find myself regressing. Employee feedback is crucial not just in the development of the company in general but also in mine as an employer, as a leader, and as a person.

If you isolate yourself from the opinions of others and consider yourself above reproach, you’re never going to evolve in any meaningful way. Yes, asking for feedback puts you in a vulnerable position. But without that, there’s no growth.

Personally, I have a yearly employee review of me as a boss, just like they get reviewed as employees. I believe that helps all of us and keeps us all in tip-top shape.

Rick Berres
Owner, Honey-Doers

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Track and Respond to Feedback

When I receive insightful personal feedback, I am usually apprehensive at first. That reaction is only human, but within a day, I try to make something of it.

My process is to create a spreadsheet with dates in the columns and the specific piece of feedback on the left side of the row. I then monitor the topic over the course of two to three months. This allows me to do weekly check-ins and determine if I am actually responsive to the feedback or if I am just falling into old habits.

Trevor Ewen
COO, QBench

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Elicit Constructive Criticism

One thing that can make it challenging to get feedback for the purpose of improvement is that most people feel uncomfortable giving constructive criticism to their peers, even when they’re prompted to do so. This is just human nature—the majority of people aim to avoid conflict and be liked by others, and unless they’ve given you this kind of feedback before and know how you react, they may feel hesitant to deliver what can be perceived as criticism or an insult.

You can overcome this by asking in an email or other text-based format, rather than face-to-face. Communicating via text feels less immediate and gives the other person more time to choose their words carefully, along with making them feel less put on the spot to come up with constructive criticism. This can help you to get more valuable and honest feedback.

Or, similarly, you can ask for feedback about a specific skill, knowledge area, etc., rather than asking for general feedback. This can help people feel more comfortable sharing their input since you’re not asking for their opinion on you in general, just on this one particular area of your work or professional life.

Finally, try explaining up-front that you feel like you need to improve in this area and are seeking feedback for those purposes. When you explain this, the other person understands that they’ll be helping you out by sharing their honest thoughts. That can overcome their natural discomfort of saying potentially negative things.

This also takes the pressure off of them because you’re admitting at the start that you’re not completely happy with how you perform in this area, so they’re not the one “breaking bad news,” as it were, so much as they’re agreeing with your assessment of yourself.

Carlos Da Silva
Physician Assistant, PA Career Hub

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Align Feedback with Development Goals

When it comes to feedback, I outline how the feedback itself aligns with broader goals for my personal development. Then, wherever that feedback “sits” best, I outline how I can utilize that as a means of improving the personal development path I’m on (rather than trying to make the feedback fit across all aspects of the plan).

Tracey Beveridge
HR Director, Personnel Checks

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Inform Team Training via Customer Reviews

In our business, a tour company in New Orleans, we live and die by the review. This is the measuring stick by which we judge our tour guides.

We never berate a guide for getting bad reviews; instead, we work with them to find the points that are being brought up in the reviews. Nine times out of ten, it can be fixed. Just as we can train our guides to be knowledgeable about the tour content, we have ways we can also train them to be five-star-review worthy.

Never approach it from a power imbalance. Be on the side of the guide/employee, and look to work WITH them to improve, and be there WITH them on their journey to improvement.

Christopher Falvey
Co-Founder, Unique NOLA Tours

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