Feedback | Karmic Ally Coaching

Potential Leaders Know & Value Effective Feedback, Do You?

Karmic Ally — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 18:08:00 +0000

Feedback appears to be a highly misunderstood concept despite the fact that in any communication between 2 people, there will be times when each person is giving and receiving feedback.

Quite often managers think that they are the only ones who are supposed to give feedback to their team members. In fact, effective feedback is a 2 way communication that benefits both sides.

I shared a light moment in my blog post about the Monday Morning Basher Manager who misunderstood the Sandwich Feedback Technique (more on how to use this technique later) and terrorized his team.

The truth is, if we wish to really create change we not only need to know how well we are doing but also where we may be falling short and then create a plan to overcome our blind spot.

Giving feedback is not the exclusive domain of the manager although it may seem so at times.

A motivated team too provides feedback to the leader and other team members helping each one do better than they would have in the absence of feedback.

The ability to give and receive feedback is an indicator of leadership potential and a skill that you must develop if you want to rise up the corporate ladder.

Feedback is found in other areas of our life too.

Think back to your school days and the preparations that were done for the Annual Day function. Whether you were participating in a song, dance or play, different teachers would drop in during rehearsals and give suggestions that were open to discussion before implementation.

There would be a full dress rehearsal where again suggestions would be given and discussed and implemented if found practical.

I admit it would have been irritating at the time but the sound of thunderous applaud from the parents was well worth it.

You might have noticed that you and your peers who got the most compliments afterwards had at least one of these 2 habits.

They were open to receiving feedback and asking for advice, and/or

They gave timely, helpful and critical feedback in a constructive manner.

Transfer these 2 habits into a corporate setting and you demonstrate leadership potential

Executive Presence and Leadership potential aren’t just trending words in the corporate world.

Studies have shown that high performing professionals may fall short of climbing the rung up the corporate ladder because they lack these qualities and companies invest thousands to train employees who have caught their eye as having potential.

The 2 habits I mentioned are actually among those that indicate leadership potential and you can check if you have the habits that will raise your visibility with Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Checklist.

During my time in audit, we used to have team meetings at the beginning of the assignment to brainstorm an effective strategy and decide how we would deliver our work to the client in the most efficient and effective manner.

After the audit assignment was completed, we’d have debriefing meetings where the entire team including the partner would go over our performance as a team and note down what we did well, where we might have slipped and how we could do better the next year.

Minutes of these meetings were recorded and distributed to the team members. A copy was filed to be taken forward for the next year’s assignment.

This precious document was created with input from all team members after dialogue and discussion.

That’s how effective feedback in a team situation works.

The Partner would learn about the challenges his team might have faced so he could discuss it with the client and negotiate additional fees for cost overruns. He’d also share insights that the manager and team would apply in future for similar assignments.

At an individual level, the feedback would continue in the form of appraisals with the team member and manager completing the engagement appraisal form, discussing it and sending it to Human Resources for future professional development needs and to record performance for the year.

More importantly, the habits of the team members were recorded in their individual performance reports and those that demonstrated openness to receiving feedback and participating in discussions were noticed for further responsibility with relevant training.

9 qualities of effective feedback

In all these situations and scenarios, there are 9 qualities that differentiate effective feedback from simple advice.

Effective feedback

Is based on an objective or is referenced to a goal
Is provided on a timely basis
Is based on observation
Focuses on behaviour, not on perceived attitudes
Focuses on behaviour which can be changed
Focuses on what the individual did well and what they could do better
It is useful, concrete, specific and provides information that can be acted upon
It is consistent in delivery and doesn’t change with the mood of the feedback giver
If it involves personal performance, it is given in private (like the performance review)

How to give effective feedback

There are different methods of delivering feedback and their effectiveness depends upon the situation and the openness of both the feedback giver and receiver in having a dialogue aimed to achieve a goal.

In this post, I’m sharing 3 techniques.

Feedback Sandwich Technique

This technique is well-known and is used in performance appraisal sessions as well as in Executive Coaching and other coaching practices.

Feedback Sandwich is a 3 stage process. The picture below sums up the technique.

On paper this is a simple process but it has 1 major disadvantage – the receiver may hear the first and last part of the feedback and completely miss the important middle part about what needs to be improved.

You can overcome this disadvantage by asking the receiver about their views on what needs to be improved to make it a dialogue.

Stop, Start Continue Technique

In this technique, you engage the receiver in the discussion by asking them

What they feel they should stop doing
What they feel they should start doing
What they wish to continue doing

The person receiving the feedback might also want to give you some feedback.

Make sure you are open to suggestions, actively listen to them and ask questions to get a better understanding of their comments and then discuss the feedback.

Effective Feedback Cycle

This technique has been found to be effective in executive coaching and one that I also use with my clients. It involves active participation by both the feedback giver and receiver.

There are 5 phases in this technique

Observation: where the feedback giver provides a summary of what he has seen or heard

Statement of Effect: where the receiver is made aware of the action or behaviour and the impact it has had

Shared Insights: discussion between the giver and receiver about the action and impact with both sides sharing their insights

Suggestions for Action: where the feedback giver provides actionable suggestions about alternative courses of action to enable the receiver to determine which ones would work for them

Questioning: The feedback giver asks open questions to move the receiver forward towards deciding on the plan of action.

The receiver is an active participant in the feedback process and has the opportunity to present his perspective during the phases of shared insights, suggestions for actions and may even ask questions to gain clarity about the action plan before agreeing to it.

It is also an opportunity for the feedback giver to learn more about themselves and their style and improve their own performance and objective of helping the other person.

Different techniques work in different situations and as the feedback giver, you need to apply your professional judgement and take into account how the receiver will respond.

Professionals who are able to give and receive feedback without making it personal or judgemental and are willing to be creative display good emotional intelligence and people skills. That’s always a brownie point if you want to be seen as a Leader.

Add to the conversation by telling me about your method of giving feedback and how you prefer to receive feedback in the comments box below!

Effective Feedback is just one of the skills and habits that are indicators of leadership potential and executive presence. You can download the entire checklist to assess how you measure up for free. Scroll down for the sign up form if you prefer staying on this page.

The post Potential Leaders Know & Value Effective Feedback, Do You? first appeared on Karmic Ally Coaching.

What exactly are you criticizing, Mr Monday Morning Basher?

Karmic Ally — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:37:00 +0000

Nobody likes to be criticized.

Receiving feedback or constructive criticism, yes but being criticized?

Emphatic NO!

Bossy feedback

By being too critical, the message is lost on the receiver who hears the bad parts and goes into defensive mode.

Even if there is some truth in the criticism, it gets lost in the communication. Instead of improved performance, conflicts grow which only hamper productivity both for the individual and the organization.

The Boss who excelled in Monday Morning Bashing

I once had a manager who specialized in the art of de-motivating criticism. To be fair, he was good at the job for which he was employed, and one actually learned a lot from him. I guess this was an extra qualification!

The other nice thing about Manager was that he was democratic in meting out Monday Morning Bashing. The team was bonded by confusion and analysis sessions post bashing.

I leave it to the reader to figure out how productive our Mondays were!

Somewhere along the line, Manager must have learned about sandwiching criticism, so the dialogue would have gone like this.

Manager “Good morning, You did a great job getting out the report on Friday”

Subordinate “Thank you, I did my best”

Manager “You met the deadline, but it was the worst report I have ever read. It is blah blah. Everyone says it is this that and the other” (and lots of generalizations)

Subordinate (In stunned silence trying to figure out what is being said)

Manager “Well, do better next time. Keep up the good work”.

The above dialogue is a sanitized version of what actually used to happen.

When I joined the department, I was stunned the first few times and coped thanks to the camaraderie of old veterans of Monday Morning Bashing who were supportive. I was advised to ignore it and just focus on my work.

Going to Human Resources was not considered an option because Manager exercised great clout with the higher ups. Those who could not handle it left for greener pastures.

I must have gotten out from the wrong side of my bed one Monday

Because I found my voice during my allotted session. Saturated beyond my limits, I asked a simple question

“What exactly have I done wrong? Please give me an example”

Manager flustered and went into generalizations but by now I was not in the mood to let go.

Politely but firmly, I kept repeating my request, like a broken record, for specific examples.

I think Manager got the message because my sessions were always shorter and sometimes, I did get feedback for improvement. Others who followed the same method noticed the difference in their sessions too.

The Art of Negative Inquiry to Tackle Criticism

We had stumbled upon the art of using negative inquiry to tackle criticism.

In other words, we wanted to hear more negative talk.

We were willing to listen but retained the right to agree or disagree.

Tired of listening to vague and obtuse criticism, we wanted to get to the specifics of any problem and then deal with the problem.

Negative inquiry is an assertiveness skill. It has you do exactly the opposite of what you naturally feel like doing in the face of criticism.

Instead of going on the defensive, you try to get to the real issue which is bothering the criticizer.

A good strategy is to firstly listen to the criticism.

Then absorb it by either agreeing with the criticism or the principle. After that, seek clarifications without getting upset or going on the defensive.

Some great clarification questions/requests that you could consider using include:

Could you please give me a specific example?

Please tell me more; I want to understand this better

What specifically/exactly did I do?

When asked to offer clarification, the criticizer has to step back and take on the burden of explaining himself better.

Like Fogging, the critic might actually back off since it is quite exhausting to continue criticizing someone who is not reacting in the manner the critic would like.

It might also lead to getting more information to reach the crux of the matter and finding a solution with minimum conflict and bad blood, especially if you are dealing with a boss who is a micro-manager.

Have you experienced the Monday Morning Basher treatment? How would you suggest an employee handle it?

Being Assertive is easier when you have a good sense of self-confidence and high self-esteem. You will learn this in my Kindle book Self Confidence in 8 Steps.

Learn more about this Self-Help Book by clicking the image of the book below. The book is available in all Amazon markets.

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The post What exactly are you criticizing, Mr Monday Morning Basher? first appeared on Karmic Ally Coaching.