Feedback Mindset: Coaching & Staying Hungry
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This week, I’m diving into feedback as it relates to leadership.
There are two sides of feedback that are both really important. The first is around leadership of others and effectively giving feedback; the second is about leadership of self and receiving feedback.
If you can master productive and empowering feedback mechanisms, it will have a substantial and transformative impact on you and your team.
A mindset of coaching, not criticism
As a leader, it is incredibly important to adopt a mindset around feedback where you understand that it needs to be given as coaching, not criticism.
“Giving feedback as a leader is about being invested in the success of your team and coaching them into greatness by helping them identify and work on their own areas of opportunity to improve.”
Giving feedback to individuals or a team is not simply pointing out or providing a list of what they’re doing wrong. A great leader is not a detached observer who stands back with a critical eye and then swoops in to point out everyone’s faults.
Giving feedback as a leader is about being invested in the success of your team and coaching them into greatness by helping them identify and address areas of opportunity to improve.
The difference between those two and the shift in mindset and approach is subtle, but important beyond measure in order for feedback to be effective. Guidance and development coming from a place of investment and support is way more impactful.
When people feel criticized they close off and are less receptive to what’s being said. Likewise, when they feel that the person providing guidance is coming from a place of care and encouragement, they’re more willing to listen and heed the message.
Accountability as a result
Another useful tool for approaching feedback as coaching is asking great questions to guide people to find their own answers instead of coming in and doing all the work for them. Doing this builds higher self awareness, accountability, and empowers individuals to be more self reliant in the future.
For a great resource on this, Agnieszka Maria Gasperini presented a paper at the Project Management Institute’s Global Congress 2013 titled “Coaching with Feedback: Helping Your Team Members to Grow” where she states: “It's more powerful for people to draw conclusions for themselves, rather than having these conclusions thrust upon them.”
Honest feedback is a gift, go get some
The second side of this coin is about receiving feedback from your team regarding your performance as a leader. This is critical.
It is a dangerous mistake to be in a position of leadership and not seek feedback to improve how you’re showing up for your team. And it can’t just be just for show or an item to check off your list. You have to be hungry for honest feedback and approach this earnestly and in good faith.
“You have to approach feedback with the desire and courage to hear things that are challenging, and that you don’t necessarily want to hear.”
Equally as important, you have to approach feedback with the desire and courage to hear things that are challenging, and that you don’t necessarily want to hear. The greatest gift your team can give you is to be honest, and that means not everything you hear is going to be positive — which is a very good thing.
You need to know your own blindspots so you can improve and be a better leader. You have to ask with a sincere desire to know the things that you won’t see or discover on your own.
Also, this should be a simple process. Here is a great article to help you dive deeper into effectively gathering feedback, and here are a few simple, straightforward questions to solicit honest feedback from your team:
What am I doing well?
Where do I get stuck?
How can I show up even better for you and/or the team?
If you ask these questions of your team regularly because you have a genuine appetite for continuous improvement, you will earn trust and become a way better leader in the process.
A 2015 Forbes article titled “Top Ranked Leaders Know This Secret: Ask For Feedback” echoes this point, saying, “There is power in asking others for feedback. Asking not only empowers employees to feel their opinions matter, but it also empowers leaders to know where they need to improve.”
Above all, be sincere and follow through
I can’t stress this enough: This is not about just going through the motions of asking for feedback. You’ve got to take what you hear to heart and prove that you care by addressing it and making changes. Asking for feedback and doing nothing as a result of what you hear is far worse than never asking in the first place.
“Asking for feedback and doing nothing as a result of what you hear is far worse than never asking in the first place.”
Even if you don’t agree with what you hear, realize that like it or not what you heard is true for someone else. It is their experience from their perspective and it is worthwhile to put energy into improving that person’s experience with you as their leader.
It’s all about servant leadership. Your role is to serve your people and you should honestly want to know how you are showing up for them. This applies to giving and receiving feedback; both should ultimately be done in service of them.
You have to view feedback as coaching first, then sincerely ask for, give, and genuinely want to hear challenging feedback. Afterward, follow through and apply what you have learned with the same gusto and make positive changes.
This focus will illuminate blind spots for everyone and help you to become the ever-evolving, exceptional leader that you and your team deserves.
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This article was created by keynote speaker Galen Emanuele for the #shiftyestribe. Free leadership and team culture content centered on a new focus every month. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Shift Yes Tribe at http://bit.ly/JointheSYT