"How'm I Doin?" Will Get You Some Feedback

In the middle of lunch at Grand Central Station I looked up and heard a familiar voice from the past say, smilingly, "How'm I Doin'?"

It was, of course, Ed Koch.

Ed Koch was Mayor of New York City for from 1978-1989. And he was the Master of Feedback. His technique was quite simple. He would constantly turn to the people around him and ask, "How'm I doin'?"

He must have learned something from the answers in order to win three mayoral elections in New York City.

How Are You Doing?

Your boss and your co-workers all have impressions about how it is to work with you. Why not ask? Let's face it, if you wait until (drumroll) Performance Appraisal Time, you're likely to get information that is:

• too old to do anything about now.
• sandwiched between other kinds of  information, making it hard to sort out.
• somewhat benign if you have a manager or supervisor who is uncomfortable telling it like it is--good or bad.

"But why should I even ask? I might hear something that I really don't want to hear."

Yeah, that's true. But you might also find out what you are really doing well.

You might also discover things that you need to do just a little more of or less of to stay on track with the boss or the team. In any event, no news is not good news.

No news means a total lack of awareness regarding how you stack up against peoples' expectations. The longer you wait to ask the question, the harder it becomes to get back on track. Why? If there's a problem, it grows larger and more aggravating with time. If you catch it straight away, it's smaller and easier to fix--and, it hasn't become a big bother to those around you.

Two Observations: 

1. Most people are more surprised when they hear really good feedback than the critical kind.

2. At some level, most of us know when we're falling short in some way. The longr we carry that around in our heads without getting an accurate read, the more distorted it becomes. We can blow it out of proportion or totally misconstrue the real issue. So: you won't know until you ask.

What will you ask about today?

Speaking of feedback: All Things Workplace has been nominated for Best of Leadership Blogs 2008. I'm grateful for the honor and hope you'll give a click and a vote.

Comments

[Jackie Cameron]

Hey Steve. Just this morning I went to an exhibition of pictures from Vanity Fair ( the mag - not the novel..)and Ed Koch was there! Not that I would have known him - but now I feel I know him a whole lot better.

In one of our local newspapers yesterday I read a question on the jobs page about performance appraisal. The writer's employer was introducing a PA system - would you believe it? Only just introducing... In this day and age?? Anyway they were confused about what this would mean for them and asked "is it just a way to get more work out of me?".It's not hard to see what kind of work environment they operate in.

Anyway, the idea that feedback can be good too is one that so many people don't get. And that pointing out areas for improvement might be a positive thing...

I like Mayor Koch's question - I am printing it off to have in front of me at all times!

[Chris Young]

Steve - Powerful pair of posts on the very important topic of feedback!

This post has been selected to my "Rainmaker Fab Five" blog picks of the week which can be found here:

http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2008/07/the-rainmaker-f.html

Be well!

Chris Young

[Steve Roesler]

Jackie,

Wow--Ed's doing Scotland this week??!! I hope that I have his energy and enthusiasm when I hit his age.

Now, when you say, "How'm I doin'?" ya can't say "Hay'm I doon, Jimmie?" :-)

Have fun with it!

[Steve Roesler]

Hope you had a good, extended weekend, Chris.

Thanks for the kind words and the addition to your Fav Five; got to head over and read the others.

[GL HOFFMAN]

Probably the best sales trainer I have been around also uses these words to describe why it is ok to use a trial close early in a sales presentation. He says that both parties know that not enough information has been exchanged quite yet, so the trial close question is really a way for the sales person to ask HOW AM I DOING SO FAR?
Not a bad question for all of us.

[Steve Roesler]

GL,

Hadn't thought about it but maybe I was unconsciously going back to those thrilling days of yesteryear as a sales manager. Your guy is sooo right; if you miss the "How Am I Doing So Far?" trial close, you're timing will be way off (and so will the sales figures).

Thanks for adding that application to the mix...