If you’re like most people, you will likely have troubleasking for constructive feedbackwhen your work is unfinished.
This post originally appeared on theSandglaz blog.
Imagine you’re writing an essay in high school.
Let’s say you’re doing a great job on that high school essay of yours.
In fact, your writing is amazing, your arguments are salient, and your research is thorough.
You perfect a first draft in which you have invested hours and hours of your time.
You take it to your teacher for feedback.
You have put all this time and effort into the wrong project!
Receiving feedback at that point would have saved you a lot of time and effort.
Of course, the high school essay example over-simplifies many aspects of work.
You are hopefully already working witha good team of peoplethe ones who take healthy risks and embrace change.
But the 30 percent feedback rule can be scary, even forand sometimes especially fortop performers.
They’re used to producing great work, and being praised for it.
Praise the Right Behavior
When someone has the courage to ask for early feedback, praise them!
It will only encourage that kind of behavior within your organization.
Point them in the right direction.
That’s the point of continuously evaluating and adjusting to your new circumstances.
Sometimes you might need to throw away all the work done on a project when it’s already finished.
But at least the 30 percent feedback rule makes it less likely for that need to arise.
Have you used the 30 percent feedback rule in your team?
What are some of the situations where it helped your organization?
Photo byPeter Alfred Hess(Flickr).
Want to see your work on Lifehacker?
