photo by elevate printing
John Maeda’s recent post on the Harvard Business blogs discusses the value of being critiqued. Two things stood out to me. First, how the concept of feedback (aka crits) is entrenched in the supposedly emotionally-based art world and yet the supposedly emotionless, fact-based business world does everything possible to avoid annual reviews. Second, was the fact that the business world has no idea how to constructively give feedback. (The latter likely follows from the former, of course.)
So…a few thoughts on how to start turning that ship.
Feedback often fails to motivate because we unintentionally make the conversation human. Seriously. We make evaluative judgments about the other individual rather than framing the conversation around their goals. Though the content of the conversation is about the individual and their actions you want to be able to disassociate the individual from the process as much as possible. You also need to make it apparent that you’re working to the same end point without placating or making unproductive comments in order to ’soften the blow.’
It’s far easier to be critiqued by others when you know they have your interests in mind. This is the subtle difference between being a coach and being a manager.
Know what motivates (why one works). Know each individual’s goals (where they want to be). And know how to talk to them in a way that gets heard (what springs them to action).
Not knowing these will likely lead to a brilliant failure. It may not be immediately apparent, but the individual will likely shut down in the short-term and need time to bounce back. That process can be long and if not properly managed, irreparable. If you don’t already know the answers to the above a good starting point for giving feedback would be to start the conversation with the first two questions. If you know the answers, start by reiterating them.
Giving feedback is incredibly hard. Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. Yet, most people want to be able to take some credit for helping others succeed. Mentally shift how you think about this activity and it will get a little easier. And your team should become more productive.
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2 Comments
Good post and great use of the picture! Thanks for the credit on the photo.
–Michael
Elevate Printing
It is a great shot. Interesting on many levels. Well done. Thanks for stopping through and glad you enjoyed the post.