Learning to master feedback is every first-time manager’s bogeyman.
It’s an issue for many experienced managers. Experienced doesn’t mean good.
We avoid it, dilute it, or (metaphorically) beat people over the head with it.
We think that people don’t want to be told what they’re doing wrong. Or right.
Getting Feedback Right Takes Practice:
Delivering effective, constructive and positive feedback is a learned discipline.
You need to understand the building blocks of an effective feedback conversation.
You need to understand how to configure these building blocks.
And then, you need to practice putting them together and conducting these conversations.
You will screw up.
You will mismanage some of these discussions. Some people are experts at helping you mismanage these discussions. The best of them will turn the conversation into a critique of your management ineffectiveness.
You need to learn not only to deliver the discussions but to manage the conversations.
Get feedback right, and this is one of the most potent performance-promoting tools in your manager’s toolkit. Click To TweetThe Upside of Mastering Feedback:
Get feedback right, and this is one of the most potent performance-promoting tools in your manager’s toolkit. Ken Blanchard calls feedback, “The Breakfast of Champions.”
Your effective use of feedback will support the development of your team members.
It will help you eliminate performance problems. Heck, it will help you realize great performance.
A healthy feedback culture promotes high-quality dialog on sticky issues across your team.
Why Delivering Effective Feedback is a Challenge in Our Minds:
We assume our team members don’t want feedback.
We don’t have good role models for this skill-set. Many of us have yet to experience a manager who is any good at delivering feedback.
We fear confrontation.
We fear not being liked.
We don’t know how to start the conversation.
(Note: To get started developing your feedback skills, see my links to my Feedback Series at the end of the post)
The Reality:
Your team members want feedback on how to improve as professionals! (At least the good ones do.)
You can break the chain of lousy role models by opting to master this skill.
A properly developed and managed feedback discussion is not about confrontation—it’s a dialog about specific, business-focused behavioral issues.
Being liked isn’t a necessity for being a successful manager or leader. However, master the art and science of delivering effective, constructive feedback and you will be respected!
Learning to initiate a feedback discussion properly is slightly more difficult than breathing, but not much more so.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Get it wrong, and you’re just another bumbling manager people tolerate for awhile because they need a job. Learn to master feedback—put in the time and get over your fear of making mistakes, and you stand a chance of moving the performance needle and your career in the right direction.
Related Posts:
The Feedback Series:
Part 1: Moving Beyond Fear and Anxiety
Part 2: Classifying the Feedback Situation
Part 3: The Ingredients of Effective Feedback Discussions
Part 4: Opening the Discussion
Part 5: Managing the Discussion
Well said, Art. When people in management positions continue to get promoted without this skill they turn into “chocolate bunnies.” Sweet on the outside and hollow on the inside.” Too many organizations don’t allow and demand this skill to be learned. (Or perhaps you to help them build the skill!)
Thanks Todd! Love the hollow candy reference! Cheers, -Art