Post Feedback Destroyer – Mitigating An Automatic Response got a timely spam comment because I would have forgotten something that happened on this week.
I got some feedback after yesterday’s All Terrain class and it is getting a lot easier to hear it and to understand where the person is coming from. It was a new participant to my class who was healthy enough to keep up with the physical aspects of it. Her feedback was that I should have mentioned more about the rpms or pedal speed that the riders should be aiming for. The bikes have a display that shows this information and I do make reference to it through-out class when I want the people to ride on beat because the music is a big component to it. Once it was clear what we were talking about I told her that riding to the beat is actually what I want the class to do, and asked her if mentioning more about the rpm would be helpful? She said it would have. I thanked her and said that I’ll focus more on it moving forward.
By virtue of her saying it, I wasn’t as effective as an instructor as I could have been so the class didn’t work for her as well as it could have. The fact that she was new to my class means that my coaching isn’t clear enough for new people to get the profile the music is creating. That will need to change. But as is the case when you are doing something for someone else, your own opinion about it tends not to matter all that much. When it comes to feedback, embracing the servant mindset will allow you to see the others point of view and make the needed changes quickly.
If you haven’t gotten any useful feedback in a while consider tabling your opinion about it when you receive it and instead use that energy to figure-out how and why they are correct.