How to Obtain Feedback from Colleagues?

Getting feedback about your job performance from colleagues can sometimes be a little tricky. This is especially the case when you and your colleagues work very closely together. However this doesn't mean that getting colleague feedback is impossible.

One way some people get feedback about their work performance from colleagues, is by launching an inter-departmental survey. It should be noted however that survey participation needs to be anonymous, and it should also contain a lot of writing space for colleagues to give additional comments and opinions. It can't be emphasized enough that the survey needs to anonymous if you truly want good honest feedback and results. Because if any of your colleagues have the slightest inkling that their comments can be tracked, then they most likely will not want to participate in the survey. Can you blame them?

One of the areas many people want to know how well they are performing in, is meeting deadlines. This is a question that should definitely be included on the survey, especially if the employee in question work in a deadline oriented environment. Some of the work place environments where deadline assignments are very common are advertising agencies, newspaper offices, magazine companies, television news stations and public relations agencies.

Most employees today also want to get feedback from their colleagues regarding their communication skills. Having good communication skills is very important both in and out of the office. We all know that it is important to have good communication skills when dealing with clients, however we sometimes forget that it is also important to communicate effectively when dealing with office colleagues as well. There are many examples of employees who excel when it comes to communicating with clients, but communicate very poorly with the people they work with. It is very important to get feedback on this, because bad inter-office communication skills can really hinder a career or a chance for a promotion.

Once the employee gets their survey results back, it is very important that they analyze them very carefully. Because this will enable them to get an accurate assessment about how their colleagues feel about their overall work performance. It is also important for the employee to remember that all their feedback results may not be positive. In these instances they need to keep an open mind and not react negatively. Because pointing a person's strengths and weaknesses is the only way that they can grow professionally.