I am on the plane heading east from Las Vegas. Just spoke at World of Concrete (my third year) and had an outstanding time. I did a 90 minute session for about fifty people on the best practices in recruiting and retention and then a 3 hour session for about 300 people based on No Yelling.

After each session I received many positive comments from attendees. One man told me, “I have been coming to this show for almost twenty years and you are one of the best speakers I have seen.” I love to hear that. I confess, I do hear that from time to time and I am always gratified that I did a good job and I am truly appreciative of the person taking time to come shake my hand.

Today was a little different though. My friend and professional speaker, Jim Jackson, was in the audience. He lives in Las Vegas and he came to watch me. He said, “Really nice job. Can I give you a few comments?” Of course I said yes, since I told him I wanted his opinion but it was nice of him to ask. He then proceeded to give me some very solid feedback on some of the things I did. It was great to hear. No, I didn’t enjoy him telling me, “There was a part where you were talking about values, I got a little lost.” Or, “you rushed that story a bit….kind of like your golf swing.” But I did like getting his perspective. He truly understands the profession of speaking; crafting and delivering stories, pausing for effect, etc and his comments were dead on accurate. I don’t get that too often. Most people don’t.

I am not invalidating the positive comments from the audience. I need to know it worked for them. Look at it this way. You watch a golf tournament and get a chance to talk to one of the pros who was putting bad that day. You say nice putt on 18, he says thanks. You don’t take it any further because you don’t have the expertise to comment on some of the other things he did. Another golfer sees him in the locker room. They exchange looks and our pro says, “Man, that was rough, I couldn’t sink a putt.” The other guy in the locker room says, “I was just watching the replay of some of your putts, can I point something out to you?” And so it goes.

When I watch the PGA, or you playing golf, I am able to say nice job. When Tiger Woods comes up to you and says nice job it means a lot more. When he gives you a pointer you are more likely to listen to it. Today, Jim Jackson was my Tiger Woods. In this case, he was a professional speaker giving some advice to a professional speaker.

The only way we get better is to practice and to get feedback on our performance. Feedback shouldn’t be limited to the annual performance review. If you are not getting feedback you can ask for it. Ask your boss; ask your employees and coworkers. Ask them, “Is there anything I can do differently to be more effective in this job?” That is a good start. Get feedback from people who know the job better than you, if you can. But get feedback.

Tiger Woods gets feedback, you can too.

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