Well, it’s much easier said than done. I’m lucky in that this person is someone who is basically a mentor to me, and I remember our time together vividly.
While the sheer fact they even reached out to me as a reference for this new opportunity may have been a dead giveaway we had a great relationship, I was still honored to participate, and had to have some deep reflections on how to provide positive feedback to help this person. While the audio version is above, here are some of the things I wrote them…
TOP TRAITS:
1. Ability to empower others. (this person) always provided an opportunity to learn, grow. Amazing ability to empower (their) employees to always do more. (They) never put us in a position where all we’d be responsible for were a set of tasks. (They) wanted me to succeed, grow and get promoted throughout he organization. Even if it meant finding a better career path. (They) wanted me to gain as much experience as I could. This helped me be a better employee, a better leader, bring more skills to the table and increase my value. (They) never held me back or reprimanded me for doing more. (They are) a mentor and a natural leader and collaborator.
2. Absolutely detail oriented. This resulted in a much better finished product at all times. We were always buttoned up as a team. We were always on the same page due to (their) attention to detail. We always knew what was going on as a team. We checked every box and went the extra mile to make everything we did that much better.
3. Passion. You could not out-work (this person). (They were) always at the office earlier and later than everyone else. This set the tone. (This person’s) passion for (their) job was contagious. It wasn’t just passion for (their) job, but it was passion to make a difference in the world through (their) job.
AREA OF IMPROVEMENT:
Knowing When to Stop Talking. 🙂 This one is funny to me, because I’ve learned from my mistakes on this one too. I realized that I wear down my employees sometimes because my passion for my job sometimes doesn’t fully translate to their passion. From time to time, as I was less experienced, it would wear me down when (they) would get into a groove and I was burned out at the moment. I feel like letting (their) foot off the gas from time-to-time would have given me the ability to decompress, recharge and come back stronger.
Any feedback is welcome and I’m always looking for guests for my podcast. If you’re interested in telling your story, email me at paul@datadriven.design.
Thanks and have a great day!
