The power of taking negative feedback well

 

This is something I learned from designing games, and not just from training feedback forms. Positive and negative feedback are both important. Positive feedback is important because it tells you what are important to your audience, and moving forward you want to retain and enhance those aspects of your product or service. Negative feedback is important because that's when you realise your weaknesses and shortfalls. That's when you improve. 

In the past when I received negative feedback on my game designs, one impulse I often had was to explain why the game worked that way. I later learned that the best way to take negative feedback is to simply accept them. Don't be defensive. Encourage the person to share their feelings, experience and suggestions. It is important to understand them and why your product doesn't meet their expectations. It is not just about your product. It is also about your audience. Accepting feedback does not mean you will follow every suggestion. Your product cannot make everyone happy, but you do want to delight your most important customers. 

Negative feedback is often more valuable than the transaction itself. Treasure it. 

Don't make people feel stupid

 

I once got very close to losing an important deal because I neglected this principle. I was in negotiation with a larger organisation. The person assigned to work with me had errors in his work. He also made late requests, which was difficult for me to fulfil. I tried to be patient and polite in pointing out the problems and risks, but I might have come across as somewhat condescending. My counterpart wanted to call off the deal. It took some effort to get back to the negotiation table and to eventually work something out. Sometimes whether or not you are right and how competent you are are not the most important things. If you are not sensitive about the other party's feelings and perspectives, you damage relationships unnecessarily. Everyone wants to be respected and heard. Be helpful. Be supportive. Be someone people enjoy working with, and you will get a lot done and save much heartache.