Most companies have a set method for providing feedback to their employees. This usually comes in the form of a formal review process maybe twice a year, or whenever they change roles. However, it doesn't help you very much if somebody tells you what you need to improve after you are done with your role (and have no chance to correct it) or after the raises and promotions have been decided for the year. You need to be proactive in asking for feedback from your supervisors, or even the team you manage, so you can make that formal review a good one.
This can be a very intimidating task for a lot of people. It's never easy hearing criticism, and this is what many people fear. However, the only way to improve yourself and subsequently your career advancement is to get this kind of feedback and improve upon it. Let's break this down into two parts: getting feedback from your supervisor and getting feedback from your team.
Supervisor Feedback
Getting feedback from your supervisor: Daunting? Absolutely. Impossible? Absolutely not. While it may seem scary at first, not only is it necessary as they will be writing your review in most cases, but they will actually appreciate the fact that you are looking for ways you can improve your performance.
How do you approach them? This is relatively simple as well. All you really have to do is ask. I would do this in person as opposed to over email, because you can make it more of a fluid question and answer session. Once they agree to provide you with some feedback, set up a meeting time and reserve a private room. This is not something that you should do at your cubicle or theirs, as you want honest, unedited feedback (read: not censored for everybody around you). Send a meeting invite if possible so that it appears on their calendar, mainly because if they are very busy you don't want it to slip their mind (or yours for that matter).
Now that the meeting is set up, you need to prepare for it. I would brainstorm for any specific questions you have about areas where you think you might not be performing as well as you could be. Conversely, if you think you are performing at a high level in a certain area, you might want to ask their opinion. Write these down as bullet points to bring up during the meeting.
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