My casual poll of business friends and gym associates that are also amateur tri-athletes (admittedly, a small sample set) indicates that the least-enjoyable, most difficult segment of the triathlon is the swimming leg. (No surprise here, especially for someone who feels fortunate to swim a lap across the width of a pool.)  Most, but not all admit that they train the least for this leg, and all indicate that improving their performance here is the key to improving their overall event time.   

In researching the habits and challenges of leaders at all levels with my Practical Lessons in Leadership co-author Rich Petro, we discovered that delivering constructive feedback to associates as well as peers and even the boss is viewed as the least enjoyable and most difficult part of leading by many. 

Feedback is the leadership triathlon equivalent of the swimming leg.  Everyone knows that it is the difference maker in overall performance, but because it’s hard, uncomfortable and easy to flounder with, many choose to de-emphasize or even ignore it. 

Call it feedback, robust-dialog or candid conversation, it’s all the same, and like swimming for competition, it’s darned hard to overcome fear, develop competence and confidence without repeatedly jumping into the icy-cold, gray waters and working to improve. 

Rich and I write, speak and train extensively on techniques and tools for improving effectiveness at delivering constructive feedback and we’ve learned that just as in swimming, it’s important to master the fundamentals and to work on form and endurance.  There are approaches to preparing for, delivering and managing tough discussions that simplify and take much of the fear out of the process.  Ultimately however, performance improvement comes from repeatedly jumping into the water and practicing. 

The bottom-line:

The best performing teams and organizations are those that have cracked the code on communicating effectively about the right issues.  The environment or atmosphere in these organizations encourages tough, objective dialog about performance, priorities and choices.  The people on these teams have conquered their concerns about the swimming-leg and are comfortable honing their feedback techniques to drive their own performance improvement.  It’s time for you to dive in and conquer your own concerns about delivering timely, objective, performance-focused, fact-based feedback to your employees, colleagues and even your boss.  You might just find that mastering this leg is what was needed to dramatically improve your own performance.  It’s time to jump in.  The water is cold and gray, but you’ll get used to it and  eventually, you will be  glad that you put in the time and effort.