What should I do with my feedback?

Do I take every statement seriously? How do I proceed with the information I have received? Yes, it is important that you take your feedback seriously, but it is also important that you don’t overact to your feedback. So we have some advice for you:

Read your report once and then don’t do anything with it for a few days.

After a few days re-read your feedback. It is normal the first time you review the feedback to focus on the negative comments and skip over the positive ones. Therefore, some participants become very emotional after the first reading. One CEO had a common response, “I can’t believe they said those things after all I have done for them.”

• Use the information in the first three pages to help you properly respond to criticism.
• You are primarily looking for two things. First, gaps of perception in regard to various data points. If the employee group consistently rates you lower than the other groups, then it reveals a relational focus for your leadership. Gap in regards to a specific level of leadership such as level four, might indicate a need to improve your coaching skills. A major gap on a specific question might highlight a need to be aware of or develop specific skills.
  
  Second, you are looking for trends in the data. Consistency indicates a strength or a weakness depending on whether it’s positive or negative data. Inconsistency reveals there are a lot of different perceptions of your team. Sometimes this indicates you have a very diverse team with many different personalities and expectations.
• You should look for three positive areas to focus on to continue what you are doing well. Additionally, you should look for two or three areas of development. Avoid the temptation of trying to work on too many areas at the same time.