Leadership Skills: How You Receive Feedback Matters
Want to become a better leader? Take this important lesson in leadership - learn how receiving feedback can help you become a more effective leader. In this episode, Andrea and Michelle will help you discover strategies for taking criticism and turning it into positive action. Get the tips you need to become an even stronger leader with our simple step-by-step guide. Unlock the power of receiving feedback and watch your success soar!
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The Secrets Of Giving And Receiving Feedback
Feedback is one of the most important tools for business growth since it shines a light on how a team or a person can improve performance.
Leaders should take an active role in providing constructive feedback that encourages employee development. However, this is easier said than done because giving feedback can be one of the hardest things for leaders to tackle without simply offering criticism or punishment.
In this Leadership Hustle episode, Andrea Fredrickson, and Michelle Hill take us on a journey to learn all the dos and don´ts for a business leader to give and receive feedback for better results and performance.
Who Is The Feedback For?
The first thing we need to understand to give good feedback is that it isn´t about us. The reality is that feedback is usually structured for the giver and not the receiver when it should be all the way around.
It might sound confusing; however, it´s important to remember that no matter our good intentions, giving feedback doesn't necessarily mean the other party is ready or willing to receive it.
Most of the time, the feedback just fulfills our need to highlight the areas of improvement, but not the team's requirements or tools needed to improve their work.
The team's unwillingness to accept feedback can be due to being unaware of the need for improvement or even being too proud to admit they need help. This is why we need to stop giving feedback four ourselves and start making it about our teammates.
How To Give Feedback
To give effective feedback to our team, we need to focus on how they interpret our words. This will ensure the information is going through how we want it to be perceived.
To do this, we must ensure that team members feel good when receiving feedback and take it as constructive criticism that focuses on the job and not the behavior or the individual.
Good Feedback offers helpful solutions for improvement and highlights what the team is doing well and their achievements.
Know the kinds of feedback.
Now you may be wondering how to make your team member take your feedback positively and start working on an effective change. For this, you need to clearly understand the types of feedback they are and which one works best for the receiving party.
Everyone is different, so we must tailor our discourse to a specific teammate to make them feel special, heard of, and valued.
Affirmation
Affirmative feedback consists of short and quick words and nonverbal communication, like a smile or a quick “thank you.” You can work this type of positive feedback in your everyday interactions.
To make a long and in-depth feedback session, try to start with affirmation that makes your team feel that they are doing an excellent job before jumping on the areas of improvement,
Coaching
Coaching feedback is the typical feedback we are used to, usually in a one-on-one meeting, and it focuses on the things and ways that your team can do things better.
Make sure your team feels comfortable with this type of feedback.
Evaluator
An evaluation Feedback means ranking on a specific scale the KPIs and performance of your team. This is usually a 1-10 scale, but it can vary depending on the goal of the feedback session.
Set the stage
Once you know the type of feedback that works best for your business, make sure you pick the right time and place to give the input.
Taking the time to ensure that your team members feel comfortable and ready to receive feedback can help foster an atmosphere of trust, respect, and collaboration. Asking questions like: “Is now a good time to talk” or “Do you feel ok with a feedback meeting?” can be game changers.
Engage With Your Team
Feedback must be a two-way conversation to create growth and improvements effectively. It is not enough to provide feedback from one person to another; in addition to offering constructive feedback, a leader should also listen and welcome feedback from the other party.
To create a fair discussion, it's essential to find ways to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions, like asking questions to encourage dialogue, such as, “What are your ideas?” or “What do you think of this?.”
Getting the team's interaction and engagement is key, as it allows for more varied and representative feedback and can help identify issues and obstacles that may have gone unnoticed.
Feedback As A Leader
As a leader, your job is to ensure that the people who receive our feedback interpret it as you intended. This includes being open to questions and seeking clarification if necessary.
Doing so will help ensure everyone is on the same page and that the feedback is being interpreted constructively. Listening to and understanding teams' perspectives can also help create an open and collaborative environment.
Remember, at the end of the day, communication is the most important for proper internal development. Giving adequate feedback can make all the difference between a good and bad working environment.
About the Hosts
Andrea Fredrickson
Andrea Fredrickson is a thought leader and consultant at Revela, an organization based in Omaha, Nebraska specializing in the development of leaders, culture alignment, and business strategy for private and family businesses of all sizes. Revela is one of the region's most experienced thought challengers, helping individuals and companies find their greatness. Andrea has built an amazing team by believing that fundamentally people want to be successful and become better versions of themselves.
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Andrea has degrees in education, management, and business. She is the author of Insight Unseen; How to lead with 20/20 business vision. She helps people see things differently, self-reflect, and never stop looking for ways to improve themselves on a personal and professional level. Andrea has spent more than 30 years researching and developing methods to help people communicate and lead more effectively.
When Andrea isn’t working with clients, you’ll find her spending time with her family & friends and making memories by exploring new cities.
Michelle Hill
Michelle Hill is a master facilitator and coach at Revela, an organization specializing in the development of leaders and aligning the culture of privately held and family businesses of all sizes. Revela is one of the region's most experienced thought challengers, helping individuals and companies find their greatness.
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An ambitious leader, Michelle has the natural ability to create forward momentum to build teams and get results. She inspires others to look within themselves and to challenge the status quo. She helps create high-performing environments. Michelle brings a diverse background: operations, employee development, and sales in the steel, hospitality, and consulting industries.
Outside of work, you will see her competitive side engaged in her daughter’s sports and ISU athletics. She loves life, her four-legged companions, and captures all the moments through her camera’s lens.
TRANSCRIPT
Andrea Frederickson: Receiving feedback is crucial to you as a leader, not only receiving it, but giving it. In this episode of Leadership Hustle, we'll talk about the kinds of feedback that you deliver, but also the lenses that people listen through as they receive the information you have to provide. Hello and welcome to the Leadership hustle for executives whose companies are growing fast and need leaders who are ready. Hey, this is Andrea Fredrickson, and I am here with Michelle. Today we're talking about receiving feedback. And, you know, with giving or giving and receiving feedback. One of the things we we concentrate on, you know, with executives and leaders is making sure that they're giving good feedback to others and mean people are coached on it. You know, we talk about all the time making sure we're doing that. But one thing we don't spend enough time on, not only in just general leadership development, but as a society and and as a whole, I don't think we spend enough time teaching people how to receive feedback. And the fact that the stories that we're probably telling ourselves as we're receiving that feedback isn't always complete or accurate.