Right
after I finished my G360 I was anxious to check my scores. So I had to see how
I saw myself with data. I had a few areas with pretty low scores--I wasn't
surprised I had areas that I needed to work on, I expected that--but I was
surprised that some of my personal scores were rock bottom low. Kind of like
checking exam scores at the end of the term , I had to peel myself away from
the computer and refresh button. So when the day came to hear back from my
peers I was excited for a (hopefully) fresh, new opinion. Although my low
self-scored areas were still the areas that others felt I needed to improve
more, they were still higher. Likewise, my high self scores correlated with the
high scores that I received. By this I know I have a pretty good grasp on what
I need to improve and what I do well. But without the input of my team members
I wouldn't have concluded this and may have just said some cliché like "I'm my harshest critic" or not having the
full perspective of what my true strengths and weaknesses are. I think that the
view that we should have about ourselves should be on our perspective but
reinforced and checked by those around us. Also by evaluating others, I think
we value them more. Rather than passively accepting the people around us for
who they are, giving feedback forces us to actually THINK critically about who
this person is.
The
feedback without action or reaction is useless. However, much like gaining a
complete perspective about my strengths and weakness, I will need the help of others to make sure I
am making progress in areas that were lacking and making sure that I don't
neglect areas that need less attention. I think that having a few people
assembled in to illicit feedback and give feedback will provide accountability.
Having an accountability group (henceforth known as the A-team) will really
develop the skills to communicate and discover what you are driven by, what
works, and what doesn't work.
Actually,
after having my first meeting with my challenge group since break there was a
noticeable difference in the way that each of us participated and ran the discussions.
We were all much more vocal and engaging in building off of one another's ideas
and all seemed to be on the same page. Afterwards we all admitted that we were
purposefully trying to work on the feedback that we received, so we have
already purposefully put into action what we learned.
