Getting Sweet, Sweet Feedback
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers - Voltaire
The path to success requires constant input. For BD this comes with closing deals. Simple to understand and hard to do. A crucial part includes feedback. From customers, you’ll get it all the time: did they buy or not, and why.
You also need this from your manager.
This means hard discussions. You cannot simply seek praise. You must understand where you need to do better. Where you need to grow.
This means hearing things you might not want to hear. At first. Getting accustomed to these conversations is just a muscle. Start doing it now and you’ll get better and better. It will become a habit.
An excellent series of questions:
What did I accomplish in the past 1-3 months?
What did I not accomplish in the past 1-3 months?
What are my goals over the next 6-12 months?
How will I know I’m making progress over the next 1-3 months towards the 6-12 month goals?
What should I start or stop doing to increase the likelihood of accomplishing these 6-12 month goals?
Addressing these goals must include your growth path. This is another important topic to discuss with your manager.
Have big aspirations for your growth. Share this with your manager. Ask for their feedback.
An ongoing discussion of growth will provide a number of data points for the potential of your current role. It will clarify the extent of what you can do and achieve at your current employer.
A capable manager will invest in your growth. But only if they know what you want to do. Their help will come in many forms. They can open doors. They can close them too. You’ll learn what they want. You’ll see what they’re willing to do.
Conversely, an incapable manager will quickly show themselves unaligned with your growth. Signs of this situation include:
Questions about what growth means to you
This is an avoidance technique meant to undermine and minimize what you want to achieve. They’ll likely find ways to paint your growth goals as unrealistic and not in keeping with what the team needs. They’ll also try to explain why just doing the daily duties should be a reward in and of itself.
Claims they need more time
Dedicating time and energy to ensuring subordinates can do and be more is second nature to excellent leaders. Those who excel in management will instead commoditize their team. Needing more time means they aren’t putting effort into your growth now. They aren’t going to find time to do it later. They just want you to make the donuts today and every day. This type of manager isn’t going to support you.
Lack of interest in your career history
To help you get somewhere new, a skilled manager must know where you’re coming from. While we aren’t all special snowflakes, each of us does have a different path and set of experiences. The more data they have, the better they can support you. A great test will be how well they suss out the advantages of your unique background. For aspiring former feds, if they instead point towards a lack of private sector or BD experience, this is a red flag. You aren’t supposed to have this experience. You just changed careers.
Using curiosity and trust to approach feedback discussions sets the stage for ideal outcomes. Take notes. Ask questions.
All of this is meant to benefit you. Even a kick in the teeth is helpful: you’ll know it’s time to start looking for something else. After all, would you really want to be ignorant that your current role or employer is a dead end?
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