Being your own boss means that if you want to know how you are doing, you have to ask others.
And aside from my collaboration partners, the main people who can give me useful feedback are my clients.
But what questions should you ask to get good feedback?
Here are a couple of types of feedback, including what I ask and why, as an example.
On the job feedback
In every session I check in with my client that they are getting what they need (it’s built into the process). It’s like when you run retrospectives, but I’m checking in in real time.
So what do I ask? Things like: what are you learning now? what new insight do you have? What are you getting from this conversation? And a lot of it is active listening and paying attention to what is happening for the client i.e. I don’t always need to ask, I can tell.
Why do I ask this?
This type of feedback helps me fine tune my coaching approach, or throw it out the window and do something new, so that I can provide the best coaching experience for them.
Feedback to share
There’s another type of feedback that I ask for: a performance review:
- It gives me the broader view of how I’m doing as a coach
- So I can share it with people who are wondering how I could help them. This feedback can help them make a yay or nay decision.
For this kind of feedback I have specific questions that I send out in a feedback form.
Here’s an example from a CEO and founder I worked with
Q. What was your biggest frustration before working with me?
A. Working out my priorities and how to best plan my future.
Q. What has become possible for you since engaging me?
A. I became clearer on how I wanted to design a key strategy for my company.
Q. How did it feel when you experienced the results?
A. Refreshing and uplifting.
Q. What are people missing out on if they don’t work with me?
A. Essential clarity to navigate the big stuff through the distractions of the day to day
Why do I ask this? The feedback allows others to get an idea of what I can help with, and what the experience of working with me is like.
How do you know what to ask?
The key to asking for feedback is knowing what it is you want to know, and what do you want to do with that information.
This post is part of my special Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership. Want to talk it through with me? Call me and let’s make a Game Plan together.