Q. How do you handle
negative feedback?
The method of getting feedback to me is the same whether
it’s a great idea or it’s a bad
idea. You need to listen, which
is hard for us all to do. But,
you need to listen to the idea,
you need to reasonably and
fairly evaluate that idea.
Sincerely value the idea, and
then you need to weigh it
against a bunch of other factors. Not all ideas are doable.
Not to say whether it’s a good
or bad idea, but not all ideas
fit into our business case or fit
into the plans we have. It may
be a great idea, but we just
can’t do it.
I think if you value somebody’s idea, give them honest
feedback. It doesn’t matter if
it’s a good idea or a bad idea
or an idea you could do or not
do. The key is that you really
thought about it. You gave it
an honest consideration, and
you gave somebody feedback
as to whether or not it could
be done.
Q. What advice would you
give to someone who is not
listening to employees?
You have to say to yourself,
‘If I prioritize all that I do in a
day, what’s really the most
important part of that? What’s
the highest priority?’
The highest priority is the
people. There are days when
nobody lives up to that because
you may say, ‘Sitting down and
talking to someone is my highest priority, but I do have a
client on the phone. I do have
a stack of mail that needs to
be read, I do have a bunch of
financial grumble I have to go
through, and you’re standing
here in my office.’
No one of us can do that
perfectly. If you’re doing that
perfectly, you’ve got too
much time on your hands.
There are times when you
feel like, ‘I’ve got something
else I’ve got to do,’ and I
think sometimes you should
have to say that to somebody
— ‘You’re really important to
me, but, I’ve got this killer
thing on my desk at the
moment. So, as much as I’d
like to communicate right
now, we’re going to have to
wait and catch up to that.’
As long as you’re not doing
that all of the time, people are
pretty understanding.
HOW TO REACH: ASG Renaissance LLC, (248) 477-5020 or www.asgren.com
