Leadership Plan Template
Stop/Start/Continue for Micro-Practice 6.8 - When tasks are completed, gives helpful feedback (both positive and negative)
6.8 When tasks are complete, gives helpful feedback (both positive and negative)
Description and Examples of Current
or Desired Behavior
Gives a balance of positive and negative feedback that is specific to tasks and projects. The feedback is concrete, timely, and helpful.
Essential Priciples
Every manager knows that part of their job is to give feedback. However, they tend to give feedback in ways that can’t be heard, and generally wait too long to give negative feedback until the issue has become a big problem. Team members need prompt feedback to feel good about their efforts and understand where they can grow. It’s both motivational and directive-and it’s usually done poorly or not at all.
This is the best way to think about feedback. “Positive” feedback is reinforcing. It encourages effective behaviors and helps team members see their gifts and contributions. Meanwhile, “negative” feedback redirects less-effective behaviors. Most leaders fail to give enough feedback-both positive and negative. Many books talk about the value of positive feedback-while I think it’s important to give more of both, effectively, and in a balanced way.
Stop/Start/Continue
Stop Doing
Assuming that people know what a “good job” looks like
Giving generalized or vague positive feedback
Procrastinating on or avoiding giving negative feedback
Assuming that people do not want to hear how they can do better
Letting someone’s defensiveness get in the way of a conversation
Assuming that what comes easily to you is easy for others
Start Doing
Giving feedback frequently, and using task completion as the ideal opportunity to give task-based feedback
Giving a balance of both positive and negative feedback, e.g. plus/delta
Spending time to think about the specifics of the plusses and being generous in your positive feedback
Translating your complaints into deltas or specific requests for what you would like as improvements
Continue Doing
Having high expectation and support people to fulfill those expectations
Sharing the ‘why’ behind your standards and expectations. “We do it this way based on a lot of customer feedback.” “We need to make sure we do X so that future system upgrades can be made easily.”
Understanding people’s current capabilities and supporting them in improving
Progress Report Items
When tasks are completed, gives helpful feedback (both positive and negative)
Is detailed and concrete when offering feedback
Tailors feedback to the individual receiving it (e.g. for some people too much reinforcing feedback can reduce their trust, while for others, too much redirecting feedback can be unhelpful)
Gives feedback in a way that can be heard by others without creating resentment or demotivating people
Next Steps & Experiments
(with whom and when?)
Tasks that will be completed in the coming weeks where I can do a plus/delta
Give Adam feedback on the report by Friday
Talk with Susan in our 1:1 about starting meetings on time. Also, appreciate all her effectiveness in facilitating them, e.g. do a full plus/delta
Review the progress report with Rahim on the 15th and give specific feedback
Meeting coming up where I can do a plus/delta for facilitators
Jonnie’s product meeting…
Pull out a notepad and capture feedback for people instead of being bored in the Customer meetings
Support Structures and Reminders
Discuss the idea of a plus/delta with a direct report and ask them if we can try the plus/delta format over the next few weeks
Ask John how I can give better feedback to him
Cost of not achieving this goal for yourself
and the company
My team won’t collaborate well and my own career progression will be slower or stopped
I will find it harder to retain the high performers who want frequent feedback
I won’t be able to improve or deal with the low performers
My higher performers will feel resentment that they are treated differently than the low performers
Desired Future: How will I know that I achieved my goal?
My team members will know where I stand on how they are doing
Feedback is being given by both me and my direct reports to each other
I don’t feel pent up resentment because I’m withholding feedback from low-performers or people that get defensive
A R T I C L E S
P O D C A S T S
B O O K S
ADVANCED Lessons in Business, Life and Conciousness
Giving and receiving feedback is surprisingly difficult for leaders at all levels of an organization. “It’s simple, but not easy.” (Richard Strozzi Heckler). A range of emotions around this topic lurk in the shadows and don’t rise to conscious awareness vary easily.
Plusses
Giving appreciation seems harder. Based on my experience coaching hundreds of CEOs, I’ve noted that when I push leaders to appreciate more, they often get shy, deny it, or get defensive. Th level of reaction seems incongruently big. The defensive pattern is often:
“This feels silly.”
“I pay them to do a good job and have high standards. They meet those standards or leave.”
“I don’t have time for appreciation.”
From my experience, very few leaders have the luxury of not giving positive feedback. People need to know where they are doing well. Some readers may squirm when I say this: “Leaders bring out their direct report’s mommy and daddy issues.” Some psychologists will name this as counter-transference. The topic goes deep, but the advice is: Just do it. Give positive task-based feedback in plus/deltas often. Get over all the issues that get in the way, including accepting your own power as a leader.
Learning to give positive feedback tends to help people see that they are too hard on themselves (and on others). This is especially true for type A people. It also brings up issues around status. Usually, these leaders didn’t get positive feedback as children and learned to motivate themselves through determination, will power, and perseverance. However, it’s important to realize that not all people get motivated though rough criticism. In fact, most people will feel more motivated if their efforts are seen and recognized.
Deltas
Negative feedback is hard because people are afraid of conflict. This is common for leaders at all levels of an organization.
Culture will devolve to the lowest common denominator. Let me repeat that, team culture will devolve to the lowest common denominator. Maintaining a culture of performance is absolutely essential, and giving positive and negative feedback is one of the few tools available to produce the desired outcome. Without giving feedback (and holding them accountable, SLI Section 6.2), the situation almost ALWAYS gets worse.
Giving negative feedback is difficult for people who experience early conflict in their lives, had lack of safety, or were the facilitator in bad family dynamics and always tried to keep things in a positive mood. The whole idea of negative feedback is in their childhood-based shadow. It’s down right scary and most people have little experience navigating fear from a resourced place. However, as we have seen, negative feedback is essential for the growth and development of your team. Therefore, it’s crucial to manage any negative feelings you might have and keep in mind that you are doing what is best for your team.
Overall
People have a tough time receiving feedback-both positive and negative. As a manager, YOU have to set the norm. You have to find your own comfort zone with this and normalize it, and also invite other people into that norm.