Speaker 1: Hey, this is Chris with Hacking your Leadership. On today's
Speaker 1: discussion about employee engagement. I want to talk about the
Speaker 1: idea of feedback and how no matter what most organizations
Speaker 1: do to incorporate a culture of feedback or you know,
Speaker 1: to make their leaders better at delivering feedback, to make
Speaker 1: their employees better at receiving feedback, to make people feel
Speaker 1: more comfortable giving it to their peers, to their bosses,
Speaker 1: to the people reporting to them, no matter what efforts
Speaker 1: they take. The word feedback has a tremendous problem with
Speaker 1: branding because of a long history and quite honestly a
Speaker 1: presence of it being done poorly in a lot of
Speaker 1: organizations where they try to say they're doing it well,
Speaker 1: but they don't actually do it well, and so it's
Speaker 1: like the words are trying to be aspirational, but they're
Speaker 1: not being lived in the moment, and so feedback, you know,
Speaker 1: tends to keep this this brand of negativity associated with it.
Speaker 1: And even in the best organizations, I think, when when
Speaker 1: they do this really well, there are still individual leaders
Speaker 1: where where when feedback is given there's this element of
Speaker 1: dread or or you know kind of you know, uh,
Speaker 1: this sense of foreboding when it's coming because the culture
Speaker 1: is has not done a good enough job setting up
Speaker 1: what feedback actually is. And I think a part of
Speaker 1: this is in this concept of using recognition as a
Speaker 1: part of feedback. And I I know that in organizations
Speaker 1: who do this well, recognition is not just thought of
Speaker 1: as a way to give kudos to your fellow employee.
Speaker 1: It's a way to to give feedback to people who
Speaker 1: happen to be watching when it's your job as a
Speaker 1: leader to show what a vision of good is to
Speaker 1: when when when people are are hoisted up on pedestals
Speaker 1: or given recognition for doing something well, that is a
Speaker 1: way to show other people in the room, Hey, if
Speaker 1: you're not doing it this way, it probably isn't well.
Speaker 1: And if you are doing it this way, then you
Speaker 1: probably would be getting recognition for this right now. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of leaders don't index on this
Speaker 1: highly enough, but it can be a very effective way
Speaker 1: of rebranding feedback as a whole into into the positive
Speaker 1: realm as opposed to the negative.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's it's funny because I also we
Speaker 2: talk about this a lot with recognition as well, Like
Speaker 2: we say recognition is not just recognizing like the good
Speaker 2: like you tend to like lean that way. It's just
Speaker 2: recognizing in general, recognizing good behavior, recognizing maybe bad behavior,
Speaker 2: recognizing good work, recognizing you know, underperforming work. But you're
Speaker 2: recognizing things. So I like kind of this take on
Speaker 2: it in this dialogue because I think that you're spot
Speaker 2: on is like the the at the essence of it,
Speaker 2: like at the true essence of feedback and wanting to
Speaker 2: have a culture of that is that you're saying, I
Speaker 2: want to have an environment where the relationships are trusted
Speaker 2: and that there is an intention of us helping each
Speaker 2: other to get better at what we are doing. And
Speaker 2: so the value of feedback is that is that it's
Speaker 2: something that is there to really help us all get better.
Speaker 2: And initially it may feel weird, you may be defensive,
Speaker 2: like these are all the types of things. But I
Speaker 2: think to your point, a way to kind of get
Speaker 2: through or move beyond that quickly is showing feedback in
Speaker 2: the very positive light, showing feedback as a means of
Speaker 2: recognition and showcasing that this is actually what we're looking for,
Speaker 2: what we're asking you to go do, and we're recognizing
Speaker 2: this and this is kind of the successful way of
Speaker 2: doing it and kind of retaking the narrative of the
Speaker 2: word so that people then feel good about it to
Speaker 2: begin with. And then as you start to give feedback
Speaker 2: that is both positive or maybe it's negative specific, you know,
Speaker 2: in a way, it is less about you know, how
Speaker 2: you feel about it, and more about the value of
Speaker 2: getting feedback in general.
Speaker 1: Right, So, if you think about it, feedback isn't an
Speaker 1: inherently negative word. It's you know, it's it's stimulus in response, right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's all it is. But it has a
Speaker 1: negative connotation. Recognition isn't an inherently positive thing. It's just
Speaker 1: recognizing something. But yet it has a positive connotation because
Speaker 1: of the way it has been used in many organizations.
Speaker 1: And so this, this idea is cool because it takes
Speaker 1: something that shouldn't be negative but has become that way,
Speaker 1: and in order to fight back with from it, it
Speaker 1: takes something that shouldn't be inherently positive but has become
Speaker 1: that way. And I like this because you know, I've
Speaker 1: been in the room where where the modification of my
Speaker 1: behavior that was desired was gotten by my leader, not
Speaker 1: by telling me that I did something wrong, but by
Speaker 1: that leader calling out in knowing certain terms that someone
Speaker 1: did something right while kind of side eyeing the room
Speaker 1: a little bit as kind of a way of kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, tongue in cheeks saying, yeah, not all of
Speaker 1: you did it this way. You know, not all of
Speaker 1: you did it the right way, So we're going to
Speaker 1: call out the people who did it right, which I
Speaker 1: think is a is a better way when when at
Speaker 1: least when you're first starting out, you know, if something
Speaker 1: is really problematic or is a systemic issue or ongoing issue,
Speaker 1: or something that really needs to be addressed, you need
Speaker 1: to be very clear with employees sometimes and that's fine,
Speaker 1: but when you're trying to address broader issues or things
Speaker 1: that maybe you're looking for change to occur, but that
Speaker 1: wasn't the expectation before, and now something is changing these
Speaker 1: ways of doing things by by you know, spurring change
Speaker 1: within people by showing them how it is being done
Speaker 1: right with other people. I think it's a very effective
Speaker 1: way of doing it, and that is giving feedback. It's
Speaker 1: just not feedback in the in the traditional sense, but
Speaker 1: it can it can help and rebrand the concept of
Speaker 1: feedback as a whole because it is feedback and it
Speaker 1: is you know, you are hearing something from somebody else
Speaker 1: on how you could be doing something better. And so
Speaker 1: I want to go over some of the ways that
Speaker 1: leaders can do this correctly. But first I'm want to
Speaker 1: give up to one of our sponsors. All Right, if
Speaker 1: you're a leader of people or just any employee who's
Speaker 1: trying to you know, better your interpersonal relationships, and you're
Speaker 1: and you're trying to get better at the branding or
Speaker 1: the reputation that feedback in general or the feedback from
Speaker 1: you has, there are two things you have to keep
Speaker 1: in mind. One is that in order for feedback to
Speaker 1: be effective, it has to be valid feedback that has
Speaker 1: to be actually valid on the thing that you're talking about,
Speaker 1: and the person you're giving it to has to believe
Speaker 1: that you have the right to give it to them.
Speaker 1: And the way you accomplish the second one is by
Speaker 1: having the relationship with them that says that you're looking
Speaker 1: out for them, not looking out for yourself. So you're
Speaker 1: not giving feedback from the standpoint of how this person
Speaker 1: can make your life easier. You're giving feedback to them
Speaker 1: on how they can make themselves better independently of you.
Speaker 1: So this isn't you taking it personally and trying to
Speaker 1: coach them up. This is you letting them know that
Speaker 1: what they're doing might not be self serving in terms
Speaker 1: of their own advancement within an organization or their ability
Speaker 1: to get their job done. And the feedback is coming
Speaker 1: from a genuine standpoint of wanting them to get better.
Speaker 1: The more often you do that and if you can
Speaker 1: really kind of gut check with yourself on where this
Speaker 1: feedback is coming from, the more likely you are to
Speaker 1: accomplish that second thing. And then the first thing of
Speaker 1: the is the feedback actually valid? This is where recognition
Speaker 1: comes into play, because the more positive your feedback is,
Speaker 1: the more you will brand feedback as positive in general.
Speaker 1: And so if every time you have a conversation with
Speaker 1: an employee it's about what they can do better, even
Speaker 1: if you're doing it in a very positive way, Hey,
Speaker 1: you're doing great, let let's work on this thing. That's
Speaker 1: still considered you know, you know, kind of critical feedback
Speaker 1: because you're doing great. Part is not very specific on
Speaker 1: any one thing. You're not telling them what they've done well.
Speaker 1: You're just telling them trying to reassure them they're doing
Speaker 1: well in general or trying to sandwich that feedback in
Speaker 1: between positive things. That is not a positive feedback experience
Speaker 1: for an individual. The positive feedback experiences are the ones
Speaker 1: where the employee is being given recognition, either individually or
Speaker 1: tangentially by recognizing somebody else while they're in the vicinity
Speaker 1: of that person. Those are the ways that you increase
Speaker 1: the number of times that feedback has a positive connotation
Speaker 1: to it, and then when you do give, you know,
Speaker 1: critical feedback of somebody, those tend to get kind of
Speaker 1: lost in the mix of all the positive and they're
Speaker 1: left with a much more positive feeling from the from
Speaker 1: the individual because it is not just oh, here we
Speaker 1: go again another time where my boss is telling you
Speaker 1: what I've done wrong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate the intention here, Like I think that
Speaker 2: it's like there's just the way that we I think
Speaker 2: mimic feedback and mimic recognition based upon our own experience
Speaker 2: and what we've seen, and then what we either what
Speaker 2: we enjoy or what we appreciate in those types of things,
Speaker 2: versus a true understanding of how you, as a leader
Speaker 2: want to manage the language and want to manage the
Speaker 2: narrative of the words that you're using day in and
Speaker 2: day out and in a word like feedback, you know,
Speaker 2: can go both ways. It can easily be something that
Speaker 2: is to your point just now, like oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: here here's you know, here's some feedback. Here we go again,
Speaker 2: what else did I do wrong? Or it can be
Speaker 2: very much a celebrated and like I really appreciate the
Speaker 2: feedback that I get from my team, from my leader
Speaker 2: because it helps me to get better. And I think
Speaker 2: that if you if you want to create that type
Speaker 2: of a you know, uh, an environment or culture around
Speaker 2: kind of bettering each other a word like feedback, it's
Speaker 2: so important to role model how you want to define
Speaker 2: that and to utilize it in ways that people don't
Speaker 2: associate it with the negative connotation that it has, but
Speaker 2: really understand and appreciate the value that it brings, you know,
Speaker 2: every single day. But I think that to your point, like,
Speaker 2: you have to have some intention here. You have to
Speaker 2: consider it and think about how you're going to use
Speaker 2: the word and when you use it, and how you
Speaker 2: tie what you highlight, what you share or what you
Speaker 2: promote to the team along with it, Like, these are
Speaker 2: really important concepts when you're looking to build a culture
Speaker 2: and and and build some positivity around people wanting to
Speaker 2: get feedback to want to get better at what they're focused.
Speaker 1: Right. And I love that that last part there, because
Speaker 1: when you say people wanting to get feedback, you know
Speaker 1: that that sounds like, you know, aspirational. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: we want to create an environment where people want to
Speaker 1: get feedback. You know, I can't imagine an environment where
Speaker 1: I want to get feedback other than one where I
Speaker 1: am positive that the feedback I'm getting is feedback that
Speaker 1: helps me do something better, like that betters myself, not
Speaker 1: that makes my boss's life easier, or not that makes
Speaker 1: my coworker's life easier. I'm not saying those things are important,
Speaker 1: you know, those are all very important. But the feedback
Speaker 1: that really sticks is the feedback where I can interpret
Speaker 1: it as something that will help me be a better
Speaker 1: person in general, help me create better interpersonal relationships, help
Speaker 1: me carry the influence that I want to carry with
Speaker 1: people in order to be able to get work done,
Speaker 1: in order to kind of influence teams and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of work together amongst people. All of these skills
Speaker 1: are things that are are needed to get the best
Speaker 1: work done. And and feedback that that I can genuinely
Speaker 1: tie back to my ability to do those things. Is
Speaker 1: feedback that I, you know, I can take and run
Speaker 1: with because I feel like, Okay, I'm adding more tools
Speaker 1: to my tool belt. You know. Any feedback that is
Speaker 1: just about how to not step on this person's toes
Speaker 1: or how to not rub this person the wrong way,
Speaker 1: or how to like all that all that is is
Speaker 1: you know, uh, it creates a culture where I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm walking on eggshells around whoever that person is,
Speaker 1: and I haven't. I don't feel like I'm getting any
Speaker 1: better at anything. I just feel like I am, you know,
Speaker 1: having to kind of hinder the things that I do
Speaker 1: in order to get my work done without you know,
Speaker 1: being a bother to this person. And that's not the
Speaker 1: same things as feedback, and it's definitely not what recognition
Speaker 1: is or using recognition to do that. Thank you all
Speaker 1: for this discussion on employee engagement. We'll see you Thursday
Speaker 1: for the next one. Have a great day.