Building a Feedback Relationship

Ask most people if they receive as much feedback as they would like from the man or woman they work for and the vast majority will reply they do not. This does not always mean they work for poor leaders, it simply means their relationship with the boss is important and they want and need to know where they stand.

All effective leaders have great feedback habits and yet this is an area where there is often lots of room for improvement. Employees who ask for more feedback are often told, “If you’re not hearing anything from me you’re doing just fine.” If you’ve ever said this, I’m sorry but it just doesn’t cut it, it may be somewhat reassuring but people don’t learn anything from it. Effective feedback helps people learn from both their successes and their shortcomings; it is frequent, specific and timely. If you’re not providing feedback to at least someone each day and regularly to each person who reports to you, your falling far short of what is needed, and you are missing a great team building opportunity. I’m not talking about lengthy meetings or performance reviews, just a 3-5 minute reflection on something that went well or poorly, accompanied by a little coaching. Through these brief encounters receivers learn more about their job description, their performance and the best ways to improve, by either remedying problems or building on successes.

Now back to the crux of the problem. My experience with both leaders and followers has convinced me that the way they feel about feedback is something of a two bladed sword. Most followers will say they would like more feedback, and most when they are honest will also say they are a little nervous about receiving it. Most leaders know they should provide more feedback, and when they are honest, admit to being a little nervous about providing it. Both end up stalled on an important developmental tool.

The best way to overcome this is to talk up front about the feedback relationship: what it’s all about, why it is so essential and what to expect in the early days. I like to help people see how vital it is to their development and that I’m providing it to help them become even more successful. I describe it as an important facet of our relationship and I declare that my intention in providing it is to help them learn. I acknowledge that they may be a little anxious about it at first and that this is normal, then I help them see that with time and experience this will pass.

When the leader is providing feedback in a sincere and constructive effort to help someone else learn – and not to vent his or her frustrations – the anxiety eventually fades and the receiver is able to better focus on the content. When I meet with resistance or people personalize the feedback I pause to re-iterate the spirit in which I’m offering it and I ask them to receive it in the same constructive spirit. With most people feedback becomes a normal part of the leader / follower relationship, then it becomes even more powerful.

Great teams are built one person, one situation at a time. Effective leaders look for feedback opportunities, they don’t avoid them. Putting the effort in to make regular feedback a key facet of your team’s culture – your way of life – is well worth the effort.

Discussion Questions:

1. How often are you providing feedback today?
2. In which of these qualities can you most improve the quality of your feedback: making it more frequent, specific, or timely?
3. If asked how you see their work, would your employees be able to provide a good answer?

To go deeper on feedback skills why not contact us about a half-day workshop.

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Build Your Leadership Team

AS LEADERS PROGRESS INTO BIGGER ASSIGNMENTS THE SCOPE OF THEIR WORK GROWS TO INCLUDE MORE people and a larger role in the corporate mission. As the job gets bigger the need for help becomes more apparent. At some point all leaders reach this defining point. The most effective build strong skilled leadership teams to help them carry the load, creating space to move into the essential culture and team building work of senior leadership. Others press on trying to do it all by themselves, they never become effective in the senior role.

The ability to build an effective leadership team is a prerequisite to corporate growth and success as a senior leader. Here are five factors to think about as you consider the development of your leadership team, they apply whether you are leading one supervisor or many leaders as a president or vice president.

Choose Well: Assembling a great leadership team starts with selecting the right people so hire and fire for character. Contrary to popular thinking, not everyone is cut out for leadership. Many of the best doers make lousy leaders. Effective leaders have specific attributes that enable success, they are unselfish, influential, courageous and empathetic to name just a few. Every successful senior executive knows that the process of building a strong capable leadership team includes hiring the right people and removing the wrong ones.

Trust them: You cannot build a strong leadership team without trusting the men and women you appoint. You must trust them to give you an honest effort and to do what they believe is right. They will make mistakes, these are part of the learning experience. Provided they are honest mistakes made in an effort to do a good job, see them as teaching and confidence building opportunities. If you beat them up for honest mistakes, you’ll teach them to avoid all risks and any initiative you hope to cultivate will be lost.

Give them a common mission: Your subordinate leaders need a clear understanding of the mission they are part of and you need to make sure they are enthused about it. Remember, they are responsible for their part of a larger mission. They can’t lead it well if they don’t understand it or care about it. There is no room for indifference on your leadership team.

Teach them: Great leadership takes time and experience. One of your most important roles as a senior leader is to pass on what you have learned to others. The right people will learn with or without your mentoring, but they’ll learn a lot faster with it, and your efforts to teach them will send a clear message that you care about them. Mentoring leaders create loyal dedicated followers.

Keep watch over them: Finally, remember that empowering subordinate leaders does not release you from your responsibility for the results they produce. You are delegating your authority. Doing the work for them is big mistake, however you must know how they are doing so you can step in when you’re needed with the feedback and coaching they need to help them succeed and build confidence.

The organization will be lifted or limited by your ability to build a strong leadership team. If you cannot empower others to help with the leadership load, you will will limit your own growth and that of the organization.

Discussion Questions:

1. When did you first feel the need to share the leadership load?

2. Are the members of your leadership team passionate about the mission they are part of?

3. How much time do you spend passing on what you have learned about leadership to the members of your team? How do you go about it?

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Mapping Culture

“Everyone was extremely pleasant, polite and genuinely nice, but no one seemed to have a competitive spirit or a sense that time mattered. Everyone talked about technology and values – they didn’t talk about customers or competitors. It was my first experience with what I would come to learn was common behaviour: people did not confront issues at Hewlett-Packard.” Carley Fiorina, Tough Choices.

“Common behaviour” – it is an apt definition of culture and it is a powerful force – nothing has more impact on organizational performance. Culture ranks at the top of the list of reasons why people join and leave companies. In the years to come, as baby-boomers leave the workplace and the competition for talent heats up, leaders will begin to give culture the attention it deserves. Without the right culture they’ll be left behind in the competition for talent. Increasingly, people will gravitate toward the organizations that offer the best cultures.

Let’s begin with the reality that every group, from families to large multi-nationals has a culture – their own way of doing things and it can be inspiring or discouraging.

Culture taps our need to fit in – to feel part of the group. If everyone in the organization works hard, then newcomers soon discover that working hard is the path to acceptance. If the newcomer works hard and is chastised by colleagues for working too hard, he either slows down or leaves for a place that is a better fit. This is why good leaders get purposeful about shaping culture. They know that when they get the culture right, everything else is much easier to achieve.

Work on culture begins right away as the leader assesses the current culture, we see evidence of this in Carley Fiorina’s opening quote. Clearly the Hewlett-Packard culture she encountered included both strengths and weaknesses. Politeness and a passion for technology are strengths; a lack of urgency and an unwillingness to confront issues are weaknesses, that if not corrected, would be severely limiting.

In each new leadership assignment I took on, the work on culture began much the same way. From my first days on the job, I watched the way things were done. At one newspaper we lacked a competitive spirit; at another, people would’t bring any bad news forward (it was all good news or no news at all); at a third, people were too fearful to take even the slightest risk. Each also had its positive attributes. In each case mapping the culture and then correcting its limiting facets was the key to engineering a turn-around or a successful integration. Good leaders develop an eye for culture and with experience the mapping becomes easier.

You cannot change a culture for the better until you know where it is today and where you want it to go. Your vision for a better culture becomes a source of inspiration for the talented people throughout the organization who will help you create it.

Not everyone will make it through. There will always be those who do not share the same values and are unwilling to change. Everyone deserves the chance to get on board, but this is not a choice you can make for others. You can only provide the vision and then have the courage to see it through. Building a better culture is hard, and it is among the most important work every leader does. Get it right and you give your organization and everyone in it a powerful and lasting competitive advantage.

Discussion Questions:

1. Think about a negative culture you have had experience with, what were it’s characteristics?
2. How would you describe your current culture – the common behaviours?
3. What are the three to five facets of culture you should correct or instil?

To go deeper on culture why not contact us for more on a half day workshop.

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