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Leaders at all levels struggle with this most important of performance tools: feedback. We delay delivering it, we water it down, we sandwich it in praise and obscure the message or, we avoid it altogether. Like anything else, practice makes perfect, and a few simple guidelines can help ease some concerns and usher in more “practice time” in your workplace.
Mastering the art and science of feedback is the closest thing you will find to a silver bullet when it comes to leading others.
Today's post is at my Building Better Leaders site/blog and features a slightly irreverent look at the value and need for feedback. It is entirely possible that in the course of making a point on why feedback is such a critical skill to master, I compared it to Viagra, dissed the Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler and encouraged incompetent leaders to volunteer to stand next to a wall with a blindfold on and smoke a cigarette. And yes, there is a message and at least a few ideas for you once you get beyond my slightly off-center suggestions
“No one ever told me that before.” I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard some variant of that grammatically challenged statement. It is generally uttered by someone that is a member of the “Never Receive Feedback” club right after receiving something that is eye-opening and genuinely appreciated. I’m no longer shocked to learn that yet another otherwise good individual is a charter member of this club. Shocked, no, but disappointed always. My advice: become great at the art of delivering effective constructive and positive feedback and you improve your own effectiveness, enhance your stature as a leader and improve your own career opportunities! All that and no evil side effects. Dare I call it a Viagra-like tool for leaders?
At the risk of inviting the ire of a great number of readers and trainers, I am once again opting for the dissenting opinion on a controversial topic. I absolutely hate the use of the “sandwich” technique in delivering constructive feedback. Here's why and here's my guidance to help you throw away this leader's crutch and to start delivering clear, polite feedback that supports behavioral change.
Words are what we have to inspire, motivate, clarify, empower, and enable. Yet, too often, our words work against us and create problems. Why you need to start treating your words like Legos.
A leader's compulsion to always be the smartest person in every room not only stifles creativity but also undermines the potential of a high-performance environment. Here are ideas to help tame this destructive syndrome.
Managers are the individuals we need to create engagement, deliver quality results, and serve as critical enablers of change and adaptation in our world. And if Gallup. is even half right with their measures of disengagement and their pointing to managers as the cause, we're failing at manager development. Here are five big ideas to help.
I'm fascinated by the topic of executive presence and particularly by the feedback many receive that sounds like, "You need to work on strengthening your executive presence." This feedback typically leaves people stressed and needing clarification. In this article, I strive to demystify executive presence and offer some tips and resources for strengthening yours.
When it came to leadership development investments, as an executive, it grew frustrating to send people to name-brand organizations and have them return with a "nice experience," a big bill, and no visible strengthened abilities or sustained changes.
