Much like Churchill’s observation about democracy, job interviews are the worst system for selecting talent ever devised – except for all others.
Corrective feedback is almost the same as positive feedback. It’s still short, specific, behaviour focused, and future oriented, but this time it ends with a question. That question is:
“How can you do that better next time?”
Here’s an example:
“Samantha, can I share something with you? When you hand in your weekly report late, this is what happens: I have to stay late to create my report, or complete it without your input which affects the quality. That makes me look bad. It also makes me think that you don’t care about deadlines, or about other people who depend on you. How can you fix it for next time?”
Or
“Greg, can I give you some feedback? When you interrupt, start talking over top of other people, and raise your voice at meetings, this is what happens: It makes the meeting longer because people feel their point of view isn’t being heard and they repeat themselves. How do you think you can get your point across and still do this better in the future?”
Notice that it’s short & sweet. We’re not pulling any punches, but we focus on observable behaviour and its consequences. Not nefarious intangibles like “you have a bad attitude” or “please stop being obnoxious”. My second example was originally longer. It contained consequences such as: “That makes the team less effective because there’s less respect and listening going on. It makes you less effective because the people you’re talking over top of resent it, and are less likely to support your point of view.”, but that was too much feedback. Too much can be overwhelming and counterproductive. Pick one thing, and it’s more likely to be heard.
Self-awareness is so important in a leader or manager. We must dig deep to figure out why somebody’s behaviour is affecting us or others the way it does. Often we’ll skip straight to judgement without realizing that there’s a behaviour or action that invoked an emotional reaction in us. When we can zero in on a concrete action, facial expression, tone of voice, or body language, we can give useful, actionable feedback. We can hold that mirror up to our direct report or staff member and let them figure out what to do about it.
Are they constantly late for meetings or work? Do they cruise the Internet when they should be working? Do they gossip about others? Do they never smile, or make eye-contact? Many times they won’t realize what they’re doing or how it affects others. Yes, things like facial expression, etc. are concrete behaviours that we can give feedback on. Bad attitude is not.
This is the kind of feedback that your best performers are constantly craving. High-achievers are always on the hunt for improvements to themselves and their work. That’s why they’re good at what they do – they want to be better at what they do. Part of our job as managers is to help our people and the organization as a whole become more effective. We can do that by giving them the feedback they crave.
The critical part of this question at the end of the feedback is the “you” part. They must take responsibility for their actions, and they must take responsibility for changing their actions in the future. You can’t make people change if they don’t want to, nor should you try. It’s a waste of your time. You can build a relationship, create influence, reflect back, and point out areas of improvement, but you’ll never make somebody change. Remember also, you already have that big red flashing sign over your head that says “boss”. The moment you have to explicitly use your positional authority, you have lost a little of it.
Don’t tell them how to fix it, and keep it short. If the answer from our two examples above is “I dunno, I guess I could let people finish their sentences.”, or “Sorry boss, I’ll get my weekly report in on time from now on, I didn’t realize it was bugging you.”, then that’s great. They’ve heard you, you’ve helped them become a little more self-aware, and they’ve taken responsibility for changing it.
Next time: when feedback gets you push-back
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A couple of days ago I had a guest post here arguing that employees want and need feedback, a point of view with which I very much agree. I’d written a guest post for him, describing how to give feedback to your boss.
There was a lively discussion that followed these two posts. People want feedback at work, and many that I’ve talked to agree that it’s usually done badly. In my last post I talked about when to give feedback (often, mostly positive). Today I want to talk about how to give positive feedback.
All feedback is regular, frequent, short, sincere, specific, future oriented, and in private. But instead of talking about what it is, let’s work with an example:
“Hey Karl – can I share something with you? Thanks for putting your laptop away during the last staff meeting. When you do that it helps make the meeting go faster. Keep it up.”
Now let’s break it down.
First, we asked Karl for his permission to give him feedback. The really important part is that we actually mean it. We wait for an answer, and if Karl says no, or if Karl says anything other than yes, then we move on. Maybe Karl’s having a bad day and isn’t really receptive to our management shenanigans today. Maybe he’s late for his next meeting. Whatever the reason, we respect his answer. He’ll likely circle around later and ask us what was going on, either when he’s collected himself or not in a rush. That’s OK.
Feedback is so often badly done, or done only when corrective feedback is being given, that many people are hyper-sensitive to phrases such as “Can we talk?”, or “Can I share something with you?”, or “Can I give you some feedback?” If you want to see what somebody looks like when they’re really freaked out, try out the “Could you step into my office?” line. Your goal is to desensitize people. That’s why it’s important to start with positive feedback, with your best performers, and within their comfort zones.
There are several reasons to start with your best performers. Mostly it’s easier to find specific and sincere positive things to say to your best performers. Since you’re practising a new skill, start with the easy ones. this will also make it easier to get started. If you start by giving corrective feedback to the staff member that you really just want to fire, then you’re much more likely to put it off. You’re starting a new habit of giving feedback on a regular and consistent basis and starting with the easy ones makes it more likely you’ll succeed. Plus, your best performers deserve it. They’re your best performers after all!
Secondly, the feedback was specific. We not only described the specific behaviour we saw (“Thanks for putting your laptop away.”), I also described they consequences of that behaviour (“When you do that . . . “) and what you expect in the future (“. . . keep it up.”). We could have just said “Thanks for putting your laptop away.”, but it would have had much less impact. Karl wouldn’t have known why what he did was important. The statement might have even been perceived as sarcastic. Exactly the opposite of what you intended!
Third, all good feedback and performance review focus on the future. Reinforce the behaviour you want to see more of. Focusing on the future becomes even more important when you start giving corrective feedback. More on that later.
Lastly, do it in private. I don’t mean step-into-my-office-and close-the-door-behind-you private. I mean don’t single people out in front of their peers kind of private. A quick, quiet work in the hallway is good enough. We often give praise and awards out in a grand ceremony with cake and all, but many people are uncomfortable with that kind of recognition. Keep it low-key and casual. This style also makes it faster and easier to do more often.
To summarize: step 1) ask and wait for permission 2) describe the specific behaviour and the consequences of that behaviour 3) focus on the future, and 4) do it in private
How often? Once a day, at least. More if you can handle it, but once a day to start with. Spent about six weeks practising giving positive feedback and watch the results.
Don’t give corrective feedback yet. Remember that your aim here is to built up confidence, build a positive environment, and build a relationship. Only then will corrective feedback be effective. Earlier than that and you risk undermining what you’re trying to do.
When should you give feedback?
All the time.
Next question please.
Maybe this needs a little more explanation. Everybody seems to agree feedback, lessons learned, and appraisals are good things. We correct errors, refine processes, and do our jobs better if we have feedback. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. Think about Olympic athletes: world-class gymnasts or soccer players or swimmers have world-class coaches that keep the athlete on track (no pun intended), give observations and minor corrections which over time accumulate into a world-class performance.
Feedback is a good thing, but nobody seems to enjoy giving it or getting it. The phrase “Can we talk?”, or “Can I give you some feedback?” raises the hackles on the backs of our necks. Many of us have experienced the dreaded annual review where some sort of useful conclusion is drawn about our performance from last calendar year, delivered by somebody who likely doesn’t want to be there either. This esteemed document which affects our promotion and pay prospects for more than the next year details all our faults, er sorry, opportunities for improvement.
Is it any wonder that something that’s really important and only comes once a year, even if done supremely well but an outstanding manager, causes us stress and discomfort?
This is not the kind of feedback I’m talking about.
Think about some of the good bosses you’ve had over the years – the kind that made us feel safe while at the same time helping us and making us want to be better. They found a way to give us regular insight to our performance while at the same time motivating us. They gave us the tools we needed to do the work, a clear set of expectations, and a sense that somebody cares about us. They did it without forms, human resources intervention, or intimidating or burdensome processes.
Really outstanding managers and leaders give feedback continuously, without effort, and without being controlling, threatening, or mean. The secret? Good feedback is immediate, frequent, short, specific, sincere, and mostly positive. The most important points are that it’s frequent and mostly positive.
People are funny creatures. They want to avoid pain. They’re continually on the look-out for what might cause pain. Our ancestors did not survive on the African savanna by being oblivious by the proverbial lurking lion. By wanting to avoid fear, uncertainty, and doubt we become focused on it.
Corrective feedback is meant to avoid mistakes, or at least avoid repeating them. But the signal corrective feedback gives us is that we screwed up. If we get told enough times that we screwed up, we begin to focus on avoiding feedback itself, and not on correcting or improving what triggered the feedback in the first place.
Positive feedback reinforces the behaviour you want. When you reinforce a behaviour, you get more of it. When it’s time for corrective feedback, the person who is receiving that feedback will be more open to it. It’s easier to hear criticism from somebody you trust, with whom you have a relationship with, and who you know has your best interests at heart. Trust happens over time.
Rushing into constructive feedback before you’ve built that relationship is counterproductive. I’m not saying you should avoid corrective feedback. I am saying that we need to build the circumstances by which constructive feedback will have the most influence and is more likely to have a positive impact.
Giving positive feedback is also good practise. If you want to get good at something, there’s no better way than through repetition. Start with the easier positive feedback, and you’ll be better at giving corrective feedback later on.
Start with frequent and positive feedback. Yes it’s hard to do, and yes it will freak people out at first. Your patience & persistence will pay off.
Next time: How to give positive feedback.
Today’s post is a guest blog from my good friend Karl Plesz at White Noise. Although Karl protests that he will never be a manager, I still consider him a thoughtful, intelligent leader. He’s the kind of guy that gets things done and helps other people discover their talents. Here’s what he has to say about feedback:
When Bernie asked me to guest blog on The Practical Manager, at first I thought, I’m not a manager, never have been, never will. But I have had experiences with dozens of managers over my 30+ year career, so I feel somewhat qualified to shed some light on a topic that I’d like every manager to know about.
Being in a job fulfills several base needs for most people. Although Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model from the 1950′s only had 5 levels, the newly adapted hierarchy for the 1990′s has 8. So getting back to what does a job fulfill in most people – a pay cheque for starters, certainly helps attain the Biological and Physiological needs, as well as a sense of stability (ordinarily) from the Safety tier. It also provides them with a social environment (work group) from the Belongingness tier.
If you understand Maslow’s hierarchy, you know that the base needs are required to be fulfilled before the higher needs can. The next level is Esteem needs. Achievement and status are core parts of that tier. This is just my roundabout way of suggesting that one thing your employees really crave that they may not be getting, is decent feedback.
I can only speak for myself, but this is the one thing that I have always found lacking in one way or another in the workplace. How am I doing? I often don’t have a clue. I might think I know how I’m doing using my own yard stick, but how likely is that going to match what the manager expects? When do I get to find out how I’m doing? Typically once per year, at assessment time. So a year’s worth of feedback is about to come raining down on me and if it’s not in line with how I’ve evaluated myself to this point, I’m going to be seriously affected. If I’ve been rated better than I think I actually am, I may wonder if my own standards are too high or if my superiors are competent enough or have enough exposure to my daily work to evaluate me. If I’ve been rated lower than my self-perception, I may also wonder if my superiors understand the impact of my contributions, but I’m also likely to be demoralized into thinking that my efforts have been wasted. I’ll probably feel that I could have done better if they had only told me sooner that I wasn’t measuring up. Employees will rationalize that if their work was sub-standard, why didn’t anyone say anything before?
All of this can be avoided if you provide feedback more than once per year. I think everyone at least secretly wants to know how they’re doing on a regular basis. If you tell them they’re doing great – and why, this motivates them to maintain the effort and feeds their self-esteem. If you tell them where they need to improve, they are motivated to do better. If they don’t improve, you now have solid justification for their annual assessment that cannot be argued.
Employees want to be sure that even though you’re going to identify their ‘areas for improvement’, they also insist that you recognize their successes and growth. Since most managers are too busy to itemize every pro and con, every success and failure of each employee, one powerful tool is to ask employees to keep track of their work over the year. This not only helps them to remember all of their accomplishments that they can list in the section of their assessment where they evaluate themselves, but it also helps you to recognize and acknowledge them.
Because this is exactly what they need.
I had the privilege of putting up a guest blog at White Noise yesterday, check it out! It’s all about how to give feedback to your boss. Karl’s guest post on this blog will be coming on Monday.
I’ve noticed something interesting about who I spent my time with in my Scout Troop. I’ve always had at least one kids that was high-maintenance. Doctors & school principles are especially fond of sending boys (it was mostly boys) with behavioural challenges to us, since the discipline will do them good. Not being in the suburbs means we also recruit many single-parent families or inner-city kids. I’ve had years where over half of the boys and girls were on medication, in counselling, physically disabled, developmentally challenged, or more than one of the above.
So out-of-control kids are sent to us for the “discipline”. This is ironic, because the best Scout troops are self-disciplined. Discipline isn’t imposed from the outside, by the grown-ups. The discipline comes from the Scouts themselves. Just like in the best work environments, sport teams, army units, or community organizations, the leadership comes from within the group.
I’d been fed up with always chasing the problems. I wasn’t spending time the way I wanted to – developing good citizens by exposing them to the outdoors. I was being a substitute parent, counsellor, and medical dispensary. I was stuck in basic maintenance mode, instead of doing the fun, outdoor, exciting challenging things the boys and girls would remember for the rest of their lives. Some kids started to drift away, because nobody was giving them the guidance and coaching they needed to advance in the program or do the fun, outdoors activities they had come for.
I started spending more one-on-one time with the kids who came ready, wanted to earn badges, were having fun, and were willing to do all the work it takes to get ready to go to camp. I figured out what made them tick, what it was about the program they enjoyed, what they wanted to do, what they wanted to change. I started giving those kids extra responsibility to take charge of the things they wanted to do, and they ran with it.
That’s when something interesting happened. Many the problems I’d been chasing started taking care of themselves. The “best” Scouts started to exert peer pressure to make the others fall into line. They didn’t want all their hard work spoiled by somebody else who was acting up. Kids who’d previously been challenging realized that if they still wanted my time & attention that they’d have to act more like the others.
If you think this kind of focus doesn’t apply to the workplace, you’d be wrong. In the Gallup Organization’s book “First, Break all the Rules What the World’s Greatest Manager’s Do Differently”, one of the keys they found to supporting superior performance in a team was to focus on the best performers. Instead of spending a lot of time and energy trying to take below average staff to average, the best managers spend their valuable time helping their best performers become outstanding.
This is counter to the conventional wisdom. As managers we assume, or even just told, that we’re good managers if we can somehow make a star performer out of everybody on the team.
This just doesn’t work. Great managers realize they can’t make other people change. They can only bring out the natural talents that their employees and staff already have. Sometimes that means figuring out what those talents are and how to use them. Sometimes it means finding a different job where their talents are better suited. They realize it’s just egotistical and cruel to try to make somebody be good at a job they don’t like or believe in.
Figure out what makes the good ones good, by whatever measure is right to your organization and team. Remove obstacles. Leverage their strengths and reward them by paying more attention to them. Figure out how to improve the rest of your team by what you learn from the best, instead of focusing on what’s broken. Learn to hire for the talents that work best in your business or for that job.
Focusing on what’s working right is the best way to develop your entire staff. It will give you the biggest return on your time spend. Investing in your best is the fairest thing to do, for them and for the entire team. Don’t your best performers deserve your time and attention?
Play favourites.
Posted in coaching, developing staff, leadership
Tagged managing teams, teamwork, time management
If I asked most people what they’re priorities in life or at work are I get blank look, followed by an awkward silence. Then I get the answer they think I expect from them: “Er, my family is the most important thing in my life” or “Delivering product x by time y for cost z.” at work, or “Starting my new business.”
If I really want to know what their priorities are, I’ll look at their calendar.
When our stated goals, priorities, and values are laid down beside how we actually spend our time it can be revealing. Somebody will tell me that spending time with their family is the most important thing to them, yet they spend their weekends working. They’ll tell me starting their own business is what’s most important to them, but they’ll spend all day “doing” e-mail. I’ve come across one person whose calendar and life actually lined up, and he was one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. He was a pretty happy guy and had a beautiful wife too. Funny that.
Managing how you spend your time is a lot like managing your own budget. Financial advisors will tell you if you want to get your spending under control you have to know where you’re spending your money to begin with. They’ll tell you to keep a record of your expenses, and write down every penny spent. Having done this financial exercise for myself once, it surprised me how much I spent on lunches and dinners out. I still do, but at least now I know where my money’s going.
You can do a similar exercise for yourself to see where you really spend your time. Then you’ll know where your day goes, if you were wondering why you never get those things done.
You can do this exercise either for yourself at work, or during the entire day from waking to sleep. I’d suggest you start with just your work day or business.
You’ll need a calendar and a timer. If you don’t own or use a day-timer or calendar, just keep track on a piece of paper or note-book. Most cell phones have a timer, which you can set to vibrate if it’s important that you don’t go “Ding!” in the middle of a client meeting.
Here’s what to do:
Now you can tell why you’re not getting “anything” done, where “anything” is that thing that you keep meaning to do but keep putting off because you don’t have enough time and it’s causing all that stress you’re feeling in your gut. If you’re one of the lucky few who’s goals, priorities, and time are all lines up, congratulations and carry on.
*If your day-to-day work is not the same as your job description, then there’s a conversation you need to start with your boss. Either the job description or the work has to change, but that’s a different topic.
** If you’re an entrepreneur, small business man or woman, consultant, coach, or agent, you don’t get a freebie here. You might be able to become fabulously wealthy or happy by just tripping into it and following your passion. Most people are successful because the plan for it and they’re following their passion. What’s preventing you from setting your personal goals and reviewing them regularly?
Posted in setting goals
Tagged audit time, managing priorities, passion, priorities, productivity, self-awareness, self-regulation
A factoid stuck in my brain from recent reading* has to do with the difference between good truck drivers and the best truck drivers. A good truck driver has an average number of accidents for an average amount of mileage and an average number of on-time deliveries. The best drivers have almost no accidents despite their incredible mileage and outstanding delivery times. You could expect to deliver on time if you have fewer accidents.
When the experts interviewed hundreds of drivers and analyzed their responses, the difference came down to this: The very best drivers are obsessively scanning the road ahead. They are constantly playing out what if scenarios in their head like “what if that car tries to pass me on the blind corner coming up? What if my brakes fail on this down slope? What if that senior tries to cross the street in front of me?” They looking for children’s feet underneath parked cars because that’s the only part of the child they might be able to see.
At highway speeds there’s little a passenger car, let alone a tractor-trailer, can do about the things about something happening within 30 metres. Never mind within 15 metres of the front of the truck. At 100 kph, 15 metres is less than a second. It’s important to know what is happening immediately in front of the truck, but the most valuable information is on the road that’s going to be driven next. Not the road that’s being driven now. Fixating on any point, particular one close to the truck, results in more accidents.
They are constantly scanning the entire environment around them and are planning for when something goes wrong. They use their peripheral vision and mirrors to keep track of what’s happening beside and behind them. They’re attention is not fixated at any single point, but is continually shifting in a consistent pattern: mirrors, the instrument panel, the road in front of them, and the road ahead.
The same is true for leaders and project managers. You can’t avoid what’s coming up immediately on the road ahead of you (or from behind, or at you from the sides) if you’re constantly focused on the next 15 or 30 days. You have to scan all around, but especially further ahead.
A recent PMI article on projects that survived the current recession noted two important factors for their survival. Those two factors are 1) identifying and managing critical relationships within a organization, and 2) risk management.
Regular, consistent scanning of the business or project environment is critical to avoiding running over the proverbial little old lady. What activities and deliveries are critical to your success, and what are you going to do if the deadline in missed? What would cause you to miss a deadline, and what can you do about it now? What are you going to do if it happens, and who needs to know? You might get away with not delivering what you promised once in a while if it’s not a surprise to your boss or client, and you have a plan in place to recover. Heaven forbid you spring that surprise without warning or on the deadline, and double shame if it surprised you.
Having a solid network of trusted relationships inside and outside your organization will certainly help you do that, but that’s another blog posting.
Risk management itself is a pretty straight-forward enterprise, covered well in many other places. Gathering and analysis, mitigation, and contingency planning are basic activities. There are two things missed by many new managers, and that outstanding managers do well, that I want to explore in-depth in future articles: specificity, and regularity.
Stay tuned.
What do you think is an essential skill for good managers? E-mail me bernie@practicalmanagers.com and share!
