Feedback

Feedback is a gift. It requires both parties to engage in the discussion from a position of humility. The manager may be right or wrong in their observations, they may not have all the facts. Likewise the employee can be completely unaware of their blind spots, or how their behaviours are impacting others.

Feedback is central to building self awareness, developing humility in leadership, driving a growth culture and enhancing your own coaching style.

Feedback, done well, is a series of ‘chats’ between two people, an ongoing process of learning about self and how to maximise performance and/or drive career. Since the expression 'lack of feedback' is commonly quoted when culture surveys reveal a poor culture, I've created a visual aid to assist in learning the process of giving and receiving feedback. When I am working with leaders on building competency in this area, I run workshops for both leaders and their employees. Equally for employees it is about knowing:

What to expect from the manager feedback process/conversation
How to prepare for the conversation
How to be present and bring yourself to the conversation
How to process the feedback
What does this mean?

DUO

Great feedback requires two people that are present and willing in a DIALOGUE, a discussion, who try to gain true UNDERSTANDING of the issue/situation at hand and are open to exploring the Iceberg model including the emotions, the feelings and the impact their behaviour has on others. The OPENING sentence will set up the meeting for success. Done well, both parties are set to be engaged and feeling safe; done poorly the leader will likely experience defensive behaviours, anger, and/or tears. The leader should spend time thinking about how they will open the conversation.

CHATS

The mission of any feedback session is to CO-CREATE a new reality. Most likely both parties will need to engage in new behaviour/s and/or assist the other in some way. Ownership for future success sits with both parties.

Getting to the HEART of the matter is essential. The leader needs to skilfully and succinctly get to the real issue/s at hand. No fluff, but explicitly able to explain the behaviours explaining their observations and impacts on others. Get to the HEART of the matter very early on in the conversation.

The feedback needs to be APPROPRIATE, not ‘you suck at your job’, nor ‘everyone is telling me this’.

By Appropriateness, you:
a) have directly seen the behaviour
b) have directly seen the impact on others in the team and/or reputation higher up in the organisation
Or, if you need to relay feedback from a 3rd person perspective,
c) have very clear examples from others.

Of course, if the above is not possible, you can provide feedback in the sense of ‘are you aware of ….?’, ‘I have been noticing a trend towards..’; actions for improvement and acceptance may not be possible without direct examples to work with.

All feedback should be TIMELY, as is less effective if delayed. Feedback regarding something great/positive should be immediate and/or same day. If feedback is delayed, others are seeing the negative behaviours or poor performance and when left unaddressed seriously impacts the credibility of the leader.

The delivery of the Feedback needs to be SPECIFIC; should address no more than 2 issues as you are looking to make improvement commitments. Dealing with one issue at a time is ideal as remember CHATS are ongoing in best practice feedback processes. If you are placing someone under a formal improvement plan, of course address all issues as this is a very different situation and process.

W – the Winning formula is the WE; we are committed together for change, where growth is central and we collectively define what success looks like. The critical question is ‘What does a great job look like’? This is the next level in driving a high performance team in a growth culture.

The E in the WE, is how we effectively close the conversation. The End must be a commitment documented and/or a confirmation of the conversation in a return email and a follow up date set for review and to see how the employee is progressing; equally important is checking in to see how the manager may help or do things differently to further enable them.

You can of course get me involved as Change Leader in developing a growth culture; I’m also passionate about upskilling both leaders and employees in this area of Feedback.

In summary, In Humility focuses on: ‘DUO CHATS WE’ and with this focus on feedback, we create a High Performance Culture, focusing on Growth. Two people engaging in a feedback discussion, where they bring heart and humility and understanding for the situation, will result in ‘win/win’, we solve it and plan a new reality together.

Collaboration

Alignment