KevinTest
What is the best gift you can give as a leader?
So, I was sitting around on the couch Wednesday trying to keep glitter out of my coffee cup and avoiding an ever growing cloud of wrapping paper and ribbon flying though the air, and it occurred to me what is the best give I could give? So as I sit in my office on the day after Christmas, I have decided to do an internet search on Leadership and gifts, and I would like to share what my research has taught me.
As much as I don’t want to admit it, it seems as though honest feedback is the consensus best gift a leader can give their team. Everyone wants to know the truth, no matter how difficult it is to hear. But even though we want to hear honest and direct feedback, we generally don’t look on those occasions with much joy or pleasure.
Most people can come up with several traumatic stories from their pasts where they have given or received negative feedback. These negative experiences embed themselves into our psyche and become a source of anxiety. On the other hand, most people can also come up with an experience where a person gave them helpful feedback that contributed to a marked improvement in their effectiveness and influenced their success. So as leaders how do we help people see that whether the feedback is critical or positive it is a gift?
Strong team engagement is closely aligned with the ability to give honest feedback in a helpful way. A recent study (in Forbes magazine, by Joseph Folkman) of 22,719 leaders showed that those who ranked at the bottom 10% in their ability to give honest feedback to direct reports received engagement scores from their subordinates that averaged 25 percent. It is quite obvious that these teammates were not committed to their jobs, their commitment was low and they regularly thought about quitting. In contrast, those in the top 10% for giving honest feedback had subordinates who ranked at the 77th percentile in engagement.
The vast majority of people assume that when the “boss” wants to “talk” it is negative or corrective feedback they’ll hear. In fact, this negative assumption about feedback causes many people to avoid feedback all together. Strangely enough, “feedback phobia” isn’t limited to people who have had a boss who predominantly criticized them. Nor is it limited to people who are generally insecure about their performance. It is widespread. The advantage of receiving ongoing feedback is much like the advantage you gain from a GPS device as opposed to a paper map. Both provide directions about where you want to go. The GPS, however, provides the directions in the context of an accurate assessment of where you currently are.
What is your attitude and how skillful are you at receiving both positive and negative feedback? The best leaders appear to ask more people for feedback and they ask for feedback more often. Rather than being fearful of feedback, they are comfortable receiving information about their behavior from their bosses, their colleagues and their subordinates. So what does this say to us and about us as Leaders? I know as a salesman, I was told very early in my career, “Learn to ask the write questions, and the prospect will sell to themselves”. So I ask, if we asked the right questions, will our followers tell us how to lead them effectively?
Photo credit: SalFalko / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
Photo credit: KevinYeaux / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
Photo credit: demandaj / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Great article Billy. I am sending it around to some folks and I hope they will offer some additional thoughts.
Excellent article. I have struggled with receiving feedback (negative). I recently began working for Apple, Inc. and we have what we call, “Fearless Feedback” in which anyone can give positive/negative feedback to anyone from the newest to the store leader, with the understanding we are doing so to encourage growth and aid the individual, and the team, in becoming better at our jobs.
It’s human nature to withdraw and possibly attack, but when we are aware the feedback comes from a position of consideration and desire to see improvement, it’s much easier, and more helpful, to hear and then act upon.
Billy, I agree with the value of giving and receiving good feedback. To me, it falls under the larger category of “communication”, which is so critical to the success of both a leader and the leader’s team. However, proactively requesting feedback from a weak leader can be a two edged sword. On the one hand, it may be the only way to find out whether what you are doing is appropriate and acceptable to the leader. On the other hand, I have been burned in the past by seeking feedback to ensure that what I was doing and how I was doing it was consistent with the vision of my project leader. The leader, uncomfortable with being forced to communicate, labeled me in my next formal, annual evaluation as being “needy” and wanting constant approval. That was never the point of my inquiries, but leaders who lack confidence themselves, may be fearful, or even unable to provide feedback. The result is generally a dysfunctional and unmotivated team.
Dan it seems to me that this leader was worried about his job, or maybe he thought you were going to take his job. It occurs to me that maybe communication should be a two way street? Leader to team members and team members to leader. After all a good leader should welcome feedback from his team.
I’ve never worked in a place that was listed in Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 places to work. That being said, my experience has nearly always been negative in regard to feedback. I understand how important it is to ensure that everyone is on the same page and understand what expectations are. However, leaders should be aware of the manner in which they communicate to their team/employees. Are they adversarial when they speak? Are they genuinely interested in conveying a message that will help others in their area of responsibility, or are the more interested in letting others no they are in charge. I find the approach found in I Thessalonians 5:11 to be much better.Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
If all leaders would take a similar approach, I’d venture to guess that our responses to feedback would be much more positive.
Sometimes working for a company near the top of the Forbes list is not all that it is cracked up to be. It has its advantages to be sure. But, there is something intimate about working for a smaller company with more open lines of communication among staff and management.
Kevin, I guess what I was trying to say was that my place of employment has never been on any list of best places to work, and probably never will. It’s the nature of the beast. I think you’re right about smaller and leaner companies possibly having more open lines of communication. That can be one of their strengths. I think it’s evident that I need to stop and write a little more clearer to try and get my point out.
Dan I agree that Thessalonians 5:11 is a great approach, but lets assume for a moment the leader is not a Christian? Should they at least be willing to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?
Definitely Billy. I’ve often wondered what the world would be like if we treated other people like we liked to be treated.. I probably didn’t get my point across very well in my earlier post. Bottom line, I like to build people up, and encourage them. Ken Blanchard wrote that the last “applause” most people ever received was at their high school graduation. While I don’t need or particularly want applause, a kind, encouraging word goes a long way, and makes me want to do even better at my task. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that way.
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