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When others have an opinion about the way you should be running your business, you might find yourself overwhelmed with feedback — both good and bad. The question is what do you do with it, how do you handle these feelings and the weight of it when you’re trying to grow a business?
Whether it’s feedback about a presentation, a random internet stranger commenting on your content or a well intentioned family member offering ideas… knowing what to say and how to emotionally navigate these moments is a critical skill that you must master as a leader in your business.
Tune in to this candid conversation and learn the four steps that you can apply to filter out feedback to be able to determine if this is helpful or not so you can focus more on the work and less on the distractions.
Episode Highlights:
- The why’s of unsolicited feedback
- Anticipating and handling negative feedback
- Being mindful around things that we allow into our life and mind
- Knowing where the feedback is coming from
- Four steps you can do to filter out feedback and know if it’s helpful or not
Episode Show Notes
Four steps you can do to filter out feedback and know if it’s helpful or not
Step #1: Put on your feedback hat.
What I find is most people are not in their space to hear feedback in a lot of situations. So before you reach to a feedback you received from others, ask yourself the question, am I in a position where I can hear this feedback?
What do you do if you’re not?
Plaster a smile on your face, say thank you and get out of dodge. You don’t need to acknowledge or accept it. You just say thank you, smile, and get out.
But if you know you’re ready and open for feedback then proceed to step number two.
Step #2: Filter out the unnecessary crap.
Here’s a series of questions that you can use to filter out feedback (you get to pick what resonates with you):
- Do I value this person’s opinion?
If the answer is no – smile, say thank you, and get out of there.
- Is this coming from a place of personal preference?
If this is more of a personal preference and has nothing to do with the relevant information, learn to filter out the unnecessary stuff and just say thank you and get out of there.
- Is this person in tune with my ideal clients wants and needs?
If the person that’s giving you feedback is not your ideal client and is not in tune or coming from a place of thinking about your ideal client, their opinion really is just an opinion based in personal preference so just say thank you and end the conversation.
Of course if this person is your ideal client, you should listen but keep in mind that it’s your responsibility to know if this is really true for your actual audience. Only you and your audience can answer that question so you got to take that feedback with a grain of salt.
Step #3: Find or flush the feedback.
People will give you feedback that sometimes will sting a little bit. If you respect the person, trust his opinion and is in tune with your ideal person and or are an expert in a certain field that you’re in, even though the feedback might be a little prickly, your responsibility as a business owner is to set aside the awkwardness or the emotions and say, can I find the gem in here that’s useful? Can I find the actual feedback?
It’s your job to sift through it – either you find the real feedback or flush it down the toilet and move on.
Step #4: Say thank you, period.
I think this one is the hardest for most people. This is something that feels uncomfortable because especially as women we feel the need to explain ourselves and to make others feel good.
Know that you do not need to give an explanation or follow up in any capacity. You do not owe anyone that. You can just say thank you and do it graciously with your tone and show genuine appreciation, but that’s it.
Here’s the thing, sometimes those thoughts and opinions are not helpful so do not give them the false belief that they are. You can be kind and you can cut it off. Just say, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Period. Pivot to a new conversation then redirect. That’s what you have to learn to be good with if you don’t want to have those dialogues with your friends or family.
Previous Episode Mentioned:
Powerful Messaging Secret to Attract Clients You Actually Want to Work With – Ep #154
How to Create Trust by Setting and Communicating your Boundaries – Ep #82
