To really understand another person’s point of view, you need to climb inside their skin and walk around for a bit.
Cut to the Chase: Feedback, conflict and the cost of conversations we avoid: Part 2
In this article, we’ll explore HOW to give effective feedback. For most of us, giving feedback is uncomfortable. At the same time, if you don’t you will get the behaviours you tolerate – and we know that high performance takes place in an environment of high expectations and low tolerance. So if giving feedback is a necessary evil – how do we set up ourselves and our people for success? Set up your game plan The moment we give feedback, we’re holding our people – and ourselves – accountable. But before you can hold anyone to account, you need to set the play, the goalposts, the strategy, the measures. You need to explain the consequences of success and failure. Your people need to understand expectations, parameters, goals and boundaries. Understand your people The art of effective feedback is in understanding where your people are at, meeting them there and using effective feedback to bring them along on the journey towards your organisational imperatives. The work of Hattie and Timperley from the University of Auckland [reference] provides a useful framework to provide effective feedback. They explain that feedback takes place at four levels: Task level: How well do people understand and […]
Leaders share what it takes to give powerful feedback
Cut to the Chase: Feedback, conflict and the cost of conversations we avoid
In our recent Integrity and Values Boardroom Breakfast, we began the conversation on Feedback. In this article – and a few to follow – I’ll share some practical kitchen tools and techniques to master the art of giving effective feedback and cutting to the chase. How often have you tap-danced around an issue in the business? If the answer is ‘often’, you’re not alone. Seven years ago, I hired a terrific guy into the business. We were excited and so was he. Great experience. Glowing references. Within a short time, I realised that he couldn’t transfer what he knew from his previous corporate successes into our business. I kept quiet, hoping it would change. I had a mental list of all the reasons I’d hired him, of why he should succeed. I let it drag on. I hoped things would shift on their own and avoided the conversation. To his peril and ours. The void of feedback gave him false expectations. Without feedback, he didn’t have an opportunity to correct while the cracks were small. The longer it dragged on, the wider the cracks, the harder it was to address. My fear stopped me from having that challenging conversation with […]
The nitty gritty of Integrity
Here’s a curly question for you: If you’re really honest with yourself – how much integrity do you really have? Every moment I am challenged by how much integrity we do or don’t have. And – no offence – I consider we don’t have any. So, in this article, I’m going to shine a strong light on integrity and see how it impacts power. I’m going to challenge you and heighten your experience and understanding of integrity and its relationship with values. Because, as leaders, your people are watching you with eagle eyes. When you get it wrong in their eyes, they don’t forgive you easily – and they don’t let you forget it. What is Integrity? Integrity’s a big word. And there are lots of conflicting beliefs on what it does and does not mean. By definition, it’s the capacity to be your word. It’s fulfilling your spoken promises. It’s a now-occuring phenomenon: You said it, now it’s a matter of integrity. And as a leader, it’s the essence of everything. Once you’ve said it – you show up. It’s that simple. Or not. If you’re familiar with our Integrity and Values leadership profiling process, you’ll know that the five […]
The truth will set you free
I was at a client in Newcastle about a decade ago, watching mining equipment being loaded up for shipping to a mine in Western Australia. The dispatcher said, “They’ll be back in a fortnight.” I was flabbergasted. “Why?” I asked. “They’ve got faults in them,” he pointed at a few things, “see, here, and here. They won’t fit. They’ll send them back.” “If they’re faulty, why are we sending them out?” “On-time delivery.” You might say he was kidding himself. I call it the lie. The business was lying to itself. Sure, its on-time delivery numbers were excellent, but its rework numbers were off the scale. Every movement of that equipment cost the company $3000 – that’s not counting the actual rework cost – and it was happening multiple times each month. Just the cost of transport, over five years, was $219,000. That’s the cost of a lie. And we all do it – I tell more stories in the video, even my own – and it hurts our businesses and kills off future potential. We lie outright – that’s a lie by commission. We lie by omission – that’s what I call the violence of silence. And we lie […]
The violence of silence – how lies cost you real money in your workplace
Several years ago we were approaching the end of year. We’d made budget and were shooting for our stretch goal. One more sale was going to do it. I bagged the sale. I was thrilled with myself! I told the team that we’d done it – that we’d made the goal. And we planned how to spend the money. I’m not talking about frivolous spending here – I don’t really go for flash cars or anything. But I had big plans for how that extra money could go into the business to make life a bit easier for all of us. And, of course, because we’d met our stretch goal, it meant that staff were going to get bonuses, so I’m sure that they were making spending plans too. But hidden at the bottom of my excitement was a little lie. You see, we have a rule that a sale isn’t a sale until the contract is signed and the first payment is on board. And although I had all the paperwork in place for this new contract, the money hadn’t been banked. And in the back of my mind was a little, niggling doubt. And I kept that doubt […]