Enjoy being corrected: it means you learned something

Last week’s conversation with Mark Galvin on his How’s my ePresence podcast covered many different subjects, once of which was conflicting opinions in the workplace.

It is not the first time that I have warned against the dark side of “hiring for culture“. When hiring, you want to make sure you are allowing for, and even encouraging, diversity of thought and behavior.

Being corrected

Mark graciously told a story of him presenting a new idea to his wife, asking for constructive feedback, and then feeling a little bit hurt when he received it.

How familiar is that story? We have all been there.

(If you haven’t, I suggest you ask for feedback more. It is a necessary experience to be corrected and improved).

As a business owner, and if you truly want to keep growing and learning, I suggest you start enjoying being corrected.

Could it hurt your pride to be told your idea or plan or performance wasn’t perfect? Sure, we all want to hear praise.

How can you reframe a correction or disagreement to take the sting out of it? By remembering that it is a lesson. Every time you are proven wrong, you have learned something new. And learning is the best!

Encourage opinions

There is certainly a difference between conflict and feedback.

Conflict does not do a business any good.

But diversity of opinions does.

And now that more and more people are allowing for remote hiring, the sky is the limit.

Make sure that you are creating a work environment in which it is safe, then encouraged, and then expected to share feedback and to improve on ideas. Coach your team on doing this in a constructive manner, and teach everybody to see their role in the success of the whole.

Your business needs will benefit from contrasting opinions. Bring them into the workplace.