I heard the whining engine and screeching tires a split second before the white Miata flew around the mountain curve. I jumped off my bike and stared as the petrified driver wrestled with the wheel. But the next curve came too fast. The driver and sports car plunged off the ledge. I hopped on my bike and rolled downhill 10 yards, to the spot where the tires' last clawed the road. Praying for a miracle, I peered over the edge . . . and saw one.

Instead of plunging 300 feet down the ravine, this guy had landed against several thick bushes 30 feet down. The car was banged up, but upright, and the driver was crawling up the embankment towards me.

As he reached the road, he straightened up and assured me he was fine. He asked to use my cell phone to call for a tow truck, and then encouraged me, several times, to continue my bike ride up the steep mountain road. I did. That's when I decided to count the curves on the mountain and started to think about those curves as feedback.

Webster’s Dictionary defines feedback as “the return to the point of origin of evaluative or corrective information.” Feedback is everywhere. A market-based economy works because consumers give continuous feedback to producers. The human body incorporates thousands of feedback mechanisms that keep us alive. And failure to pay attention to feedback is what almost killed the driver on that mountain and hurts many training and development professionals.

You see, I counted 37 curves from the spot where he went over the edge to the top of that mountain. This means he had 37 opportunities to become aware of, learn from, and adjust to the feedback the mountain and his car were giving him as he raced down. He was getting feedback about the road conditions, his car, and his ability to negotiate hairpin curves... You get the point. He was, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, getting the experience but missing the meaning. How about you?

Are you having experiences, but missing the meaning? Here's a clue... I know I'm NOT learning my lesson when the universe keeps sending me (i.e., I keep creating) the same experience over and over again. It's always Groundhog Day for those who don't learn from their experience. Being open to internal and external feedback, and choosing to learn from it, is what makes an experience meaningful.

Since training and development professionals receive boatloads of feedback from customers, team members, and management every day, here are three tools to help you use feedback to stay on track.

1. Be open to most things, attached to few

If the guy on the mountain had been open to what the hairpin turns were teaching him, he might not have plunged off the road. Do you ever find yourself going so fast or pushing so hard that you miss critical feedback? It happens to me way too often. I become so attached to my way of seeing things that I miss the "corrective information" someone or something is telling me. I’m learning that my point of view is not the only view. I’m trying to slow down and be open to what is going on in the moment. How about you?

2. Write for insight

In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron describes a powerful technique called Morning Pages. She says that if you really want to discover the meaning of something, write three pages by hand, non-stop, and fast, in the morning. Anything that comes to mind, write it down, without editing. The key is to keep your hand moving no matter what splats onto the pages. Morning Pages are NOT meant to be prose, poetry, or journaling. You will be amazed at what this "internal feedback" teaches you. Think of your Morning Pages as a method of listening to who is really on the inside and what is really going on. Life is lived, and experience is given meaning, from the inside out.

3. Ask expansive questions

Do you ever blame yourself or circumstances when life throws you a curve (like a hairpin one on a mountain)? Just the other day, I was lamenting that a conversation with a colleague did not go as planned. I felt I failed by not handling it well. It took me a while to remember that... There is no failure, only feedback. It’s only failure if we don’t learn anything. So, whenever you're hit by unexpected or unwelcome events, ask expansive questions that help you grow through, not merely go through it. A few of my favorite questions are:

What could I learn from this?
How can I view this differently?
How might I use this to serve others in the future?

We all receive tons of feedback as we speed through our day. Yet, if we pay closer attention to this "corrective information,” it might keep us from going over the edge. It may even help us make more meaning out of what happens to us. Perhaps feedback is really feed forward.

Keep stretching,

Dave

Dave Jensen and his team transform proven leadership tools into your success stories. Dave is an executive coach and an engaging speaker at conferences, meetings, and retreats. He can be reached in Los Angeles, CA, at (310) 397-6686 or http://davejensenonleadership.com/.