The Importance of Listening to Feedback in College, Work and Life

(Illustrative Only)

Feedback that leads
to growth. 

Seeking feedback helps you better understand your environment, your role in it, and how to improve your performance. We are constantly receiving feedback through cues, information, and comments, and we often adjust our behavior naturally to stay aligned with our surroundings.

Some individuals actively seek feedback by listening to colleagues, supervisors, professors, and other trusted sources. In the workplace, people who are “trainable” or “groomable”—those willing to listen, adapt, and improve—are especially valued.

Over time, consistently using feedback from others and from your environment allows you to refine your skills and better navigate different situations. Across a lifetime, the difference between those who are open to feedback and those who resist it can be significant.

These ideas are supported by research showing that actively seeking feedback contributes to growth, meaningfulness, and improved performance.

The “sense” behind proactive behaviors: Feedback seeking, meaningfulness, and personal initiative: 

• Examines how proactive workplace behaviors—especially feedback-seeking—relate to employee performance through underlying psychological processes
• Uses sensemaking theory to explain how employees interpret feedback and construct meaning from their work experiences
• Finds that feedback-seeking behavior enhances a sense of meaningfulness in work, which acts as a key mediating factor
• Demonstrates that meaningfulness increases personal initiative, leading employees to take more proactive, self-directed actions
• Shows a sequential relationship: feedback-seeking → meaningfulness → personal initiative → improved job performance
• Highlights the importance of internal cognitive processes (not just behavior) in driving effective workplace outcomes

Ma, B., Zhu, S., & Jain, K. (2023). The “sense” behind proactive behaviors: Feedback seeking, meaningfulness, and personal initiative. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2023.103826