Why Feedback Fails

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.

Leaders Adjust to Their Followers

photo by annadriel

A recent Towers Perrin post reveals a conversation the author had with former NFL coach Tony Dungy.  Football is known for its gruff, abrupt, in-your-face style of ‘leadership,’ but Tony Dungy was far from that.  He succinctly states his philosophy to leading and getting the best from his players three points (from the post):

1. His parents were both teachers and they believed that it was their responsibility to make every student an “A” student. But not every student learns the same way, so you have to tailor your style to each individual to bring out the best in them.
2. You have to make each player on the team understand that the good of the team is greater than that of any individual, and that you can only be successful as a team.
3. You have to earn your players’ trust — this is foundational to the first two. They have to trust that your coaching and advice is what is best for them and for the collective team.

I like this for several reasons:

First, if your leadership style is inflexible and you see people as cogs in the wheel then you dramatically limit the field of potential individuals who could excel in the job.  Finding good people is hard, why should we further constrain ourselves?

Secondly, you are limited by the boundaries of your own imagination and thought process.  If you only know one way to go about things then you won’t be open-minded to new, potentially better approaches.

Further, by acknowledging that people are unique you are connecting with them on a very personal level.  In order to motivate you have to know them.  That connection is usually a two-way street.  By taking the time to understand someone you’re proving you care about them.  Reciprocation is then difficult not to grant.  You wind up getting a lot more effort in return.

Finally, you don’t want your people to compete with each other too much.  That devolves into a race to the bottom.  It is far easier to push another down than it is to lift oneself up.  Putting the team first means that you won’t reward pushing others down in order to shine.

What Employees Want From Jobs

photo by jspace3

Thanks to Lijit I can see what folks are searching for when they arrive.  “What Employees Want From Their Jobs” has been hitting the top of the charts frequently lately so here goes:

It depends.

Horrible answer, but people are all working for different reasons.  The best employers try to get to the bottom of what indviduals want rather than looking at their workforce as a single entity.  I’d recommend you start by asking them.  Ask them repeatedly and don’t accept their first few answers.  Most people haven’t actually thought much about this.  Press them.  Then ask again.

So contrary to what I just said, I’m going to try drawing some broad generalities as a starting point.

• Control of their destiny. One needs to know what constitutes excellent performance and what it will take to get a raise, promotion or more responsibility.  Further they must have the leeway to perform excellently.  When politics, bureaucracy and subjectivity take the control out of their hands rewards are perceived as arbitrary.  Randomness isn’t exactly inspirational.
• Trust.  Be an ‘insider.’ Trust in your people to hold sensitive information close to the vest.  Bring them into the fold.  Being on the ‘inside’ and breaking down the ‘us vs. them’ barriers is a great way to establish allegiance.  In particular, give them the information that impacts how they do their job or could fundamentally change their world.  Poor communication begets poor action.  It fosters resentment and ultimately makes you look bad anyway.
• Compensation fairness. It’s usually not about how much one is making as it is about the perceived fairness of what they earn relative to others.  Often salaries are a function of what gets negotiated initially.  And new employees are often ‘valued’ more than existing ones (3% annual raises don’t add up as quickly as job-hopping).  Assume the information will leak.  Admins and communal printers are quite efficient at identifying inequity.
• A challenge. More often than not, people want a chance to grow.  They want to stretch themselves, learn and try new things.  Find ways to give them the chance to fail but give them the support to maximize the chance they won’t.
• Important work and a chance to shine. Not everyone likes the spotlight, but everyone likes to feel like they’ve done a great job on something that really matters.  Ensure people understand how what they’re working on helps the company accomplish the big goals and then find ways to get them the credit they deserve in a way that suits their personality.

A job is a lot more than a paycheck, a bowl of M&Ms and health insurance.  Intrinsic rewards are far more meaningful and lasting.  If you see your team as more than cogs in the wheel and want to build a sustainable business then focus on what those intrinsic rewards are for each individual.

Can Burnout Be Prevented?

photo by auntie p

I just read a phenomenal post on burnout – well researched, explained and experienced.  And while I’m a big believer in work-life balance I was left with a question for which I don’t have an answer.

Can burnout be prevented through the right set of challenges and rewards?

In my sample of one, the times in which I’ve experienced burnout are when I don’t see the value of my work.

In other words, the work I was doing wasn’t challenging enough, the reason I was doing it didn’t align with my motivations and the rewards were captured by someone else.

Is it possible to solve burnout not by giving your team a few extra days off and returning to the same situation that created it in the first place but by getting to know what drives everyone on your team and assigning work accordingly?

If you knew why each individual on the team wanted to work, how they preferred to be rewarded and what their long-term goals were, do you think they’d burn out?

I don’t mean to suggest people can be worked indefinitely.  Creative people (of which we are all a part in some manner) need to recharge at some point.  But if we create work environments that provide the road map by which people can reach their goals and get the rewards they seek along the way then I think we’d see far less talk about burnout and being over-stressed.

Please jot your thoughts in the comments below.  Thanks.

Criticism is Stupid

Criticism is easy.  Any knucklehead can do it.

Real genius is in seeing why something will work rather than the 100 reasons why it won’t.

photo by daftgirly

As the team leader you need solutions from your team.  You need them to unabashedly throw out half-baked ideas because it’s only from those nascent thoughts that real change comes.  Allowing criticism to creep into your work environment creates a competitive scenario where people are first looking to score points by killing the ideas of others rather than coming up with solutions of their own.

Instead focus on collaboration.  People shouldn’t be made to feel stupid because there were a couple flaws in their idea.  Focus on what works in the idea and follow those breadcrumbs.

It all begins with you.  The team will follow your lead.  With that, a few thoughts:

• Encourage your team to throw out their filters
• Don’t tolerate criticism.  Instead require people to build off the original idea if they feel the need to comment
• When presented with a problem ignore your first reaction to spew out an answer.  Ask people for their solutions first.  Get them in the habit of thinking ahead and seeing opportunity instead of hurdles
• Have fun with your failures.  Celebrate them in a light-hearted way.  It’s not the end of the world
• Act on the ideas. If your idea will change the world then you’ll need to know how.  Often the problems you thought you would have before your idea was unleashed aren’t the ones that matter most

This is something I struggle with all the time in my internal voice.  I’m my own greatest critic, but I’m changing.  What else do you have?  Any other ideas?