It can be a nightmare trying to elicit feedback from either clients or collaborators.

Every audio professional has their own set of stories of clients asking something for ‘more bass, but make it thinner’ or ‘the voice just isn’t working’ or worse still you are in a room and greeted by blank faces. Or you work in collaboration and you find yourself stuck to either give or receive feedback.

A Smart Idea For Getting Better Feedback

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to a smart idea from psychologist Adam Grant.

Check this ingenious method.

“When people hesitate to give honest feedback on an idea, draft, or performance, I ask for a 0-10 score.

No one ever says 10. Then I ask how I can get closer to a 10.

It motivates them to start coaching me - and motivates me to be coachable. I want to learn how to close the gap.”

Since sharing this idea with my peer group I’ve had a lot of great feedback on the idea, so I thought the wider community would value it.

More About Adam Grant

Recognized as Wharton's top-rated professor and one of the world's 10 most influential management thinkers and Fortune's 40 under 40.

Author of three New York Times bestsellers that have sold over a million copies and been translated into 35 languages. ORIGINALS explores how individuals champion new ideas and leaders fight groupthink; it is a #1 bestseller praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard Branson, and Malcolm Gladwell. GIVE AND TAKE examines why helping others drives our success, and was named one of the best books of 2013 by Amazon, Apple, the Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal—as well as one of Oprah's riveting reads and Harvard Business Review’s ideas that shaped management. OPTION B, with Sheryl Sandberg, is a #1 bestseller on facing adversity and building resilience.

TED talks on the surprising habits of original thinkers and the success of givers and takers have been named the best of 2016 and 2017 and racked up more than 10 million views in two years. Received a standing ovation at TED in 2016 and was voted the audience's favorite speaker in 2015 at The Nantucket Project. Host of WorkLife with Adam Grant, a TED original podcast. Speaking and consulting clients include Google and Facebook, the NBA, the Gates Foundation, and the U.S. Army and Navy. Profiled on the Today Show and in the New York Times magazine cover story, "Is giving the secret to getting ahead?"​ Contributing op-ed writer on work and psychology for the New York Times; articles on raising moral and creative children have each been shared over 300,000 times on social media.

Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in organizational psychology; B.A. from Harvard University. Former record-setting advertising director, junior Olympic springboard diver, and magician.

Check out his Twitter feed for more smart ideas.