Feedback that Makes a Difference

Someone asks you to give them feedback on their performance, presentation, or report. Do you do it even though you would rather not?

When the request is genuine and you know the person asking will learn from what you have to say, it's an opportunity to make a difference. Seize it.

If there is a lot of room for improvement, limit your comments to two or three. Even if the listener is willing there is still a limit to how much they can absorb at one time. Decide what is most important. At the conclusion of your feedback, let them know you have more ideas to share with them at another time.

Use positive words and action verbs in your suggestions. They motivate. Include possible outcomes as a result of their follow through on the feedback. Positive outcomes are the carrot they will be encouraged to follow. Take time to include a story that reinforces why they should adopt your suggestions. Stories are the "visual aid" supporting your ideas.

Effectively presented, feedback makes a difference and we all want to make a difference.

The Importance of Planning

"A fool with a plan can outsmart a genius with no plan." - T. Boone Pickens

When I heard T. Boone say this on a TV news show back in November 2008, it resonated with me for two reasons: 1) The strength and validity of the point. 2) The story he told that gave credibility to the point. (More on that later.)

What if you are a genius with a plan? What a winning combination!

Do you have a plan for this week? This month? This year? The next five years? Without a plan, things do happen, however they just happen. A plan motivates, propels and holds you accountable. It doesn't have to be a formal, well written plan to make a difference. A simple one will suffice for starters. For example, complete these statements. This is what I am going to do over the next month, year, or five years... and this is how I'm going to do it... Visit your plan regularly. Track what you do, how you do it and the results of your actions. Celebrate your successes. Envision the end results.

Having a plan and executing it just may be what proves you to be a genius!

Everyone has genius within them.

Change: Good Start for 2010

Have your New Year's resolutions disappeared? What did you say you were going to do differently but for some reason, you didn't follow through with the "change" necessary to the resolution?

We experience change almost on a daily basis. Most of which we have little or no choice but to accept.

Change we choose to make for ourselves is good, yet we rarely stick with it long enough to succeed.

This year I decided I would do it differently. I didn't make a New Year's Resolution. I made a conscious decision to change from my old fashioned hard copy planner to the calendar on my IPhone and computer.

I know from past experiences that it takes the "proverbial" twenty-one days to make or break a habit so I know I've succeeded in making this change because we are now twenty-seven days into twenty-ten.

This change wasn't easy. At first I kept my planner on my desk, then I moved it to a chair not too far from my desk. Now it is across the room somewhere, yet still in my office. Truthfully, I don't miss carrying it around. It was heavy. My phone actually has more information at my fingertips, an obvious improvement.

I use Notes App for my to-do lists, email them to my computer and I can print them if I choose to.

Change can be good. I like this change. And you know, it really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.