It's happened many times: A writer spends days—sometimes weeks—poring over a bulletin or blog. They dot every i and cross every t. Then they publish their post, confident it'll be well received. But disaster strikes. Someone takes deep offence to what they've written. The result? Their reputation, trust and goodwill is destroyed.
How does this happen? Well, most of the time, it's simply because the writer didn't seek feedback on their communication before they released it.
You see, everything we write travels through our own lens, and, the thing is, our lens is tainted by our own experiences, beliefs and moods. This lens can stop us from having a truly objective look at our writing. Sometimes, there's a huge difference between how we read our writing and how others read it.
But, the gap between how we read our writing and how others read it can actually be deeply insightful and develop our knowledge of a subject or business, or even ourselves. By putting many perspectives together, we can really help our writing to tell the whole story.
The only way to get that knowledge is to ask others—such as a peer, manager, mentor, friend or family member—for feedback. Their feedback might foreshadow our audience's response and help us to evaluate the effectiveness of our message.
Feedback is essential in communication because it helps us to know whether a recipient has understood our message in the way we intended it and whether or not they agree with what we’re saying. Just remember, when seeking feedback on your writing, it's always a good idea to ask people to be specific about their observations and to share actual examples.
So go ahead, find the courage to seek feedback on your writing and watch your communications reach new levels of success!
Got a tip you'd like to share on seeking feedback? Please leave it in the comment box below!
About Victoria Hall
Victoria believes that great communication has the power to change the world. She's passionate about helping organisations to lift their profiles, inspire action and achieve remarkable results by crafting and delivering their stories and messages in a clear, compelling and persuasive way. If you've got a question about how to produce high-quality communication plans or content, you can contact Victoria here or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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