Welcome to this episode of Jack Chat and another tiny lesson in leadership, straight up.
Today, we’ll be talking about giving feedback.
For those of you who are still with me and didn’t immediately close this video upon hearing the word feedback, let me be more specific. I want to talk about how you can better prepare for giving feedback.
I’m going to start this lesson by saying something that should be fairly obvious, but needs to be said: You are giving feedback to a human being. Human beings have thoughts, feelings, ideas, insights, and perspectives. And they will bring all these to bear when they receive your feedback.
If you prepare for a feedback conversation simply by planning what you want to say to describe your observations and judgments, you’re missing half the preparation.
Here’s your lesson: A better approach is to think about what you hope to achieve by giving the feedback. I’m guessing you want more than simply registering a complaint. You want a better future – improved performance – or resolution to the problem.
If any of this is what you want, it’s going to take a more dynamic approach that includes listening, maybe some coaching and plenty of caring.
Or… you can take the easy way out and just pretend the other person isn’t real…
(Shot of Jack) Hi Sally… so I need to give you my feedback. You were late two times this week. Yeah… that’s not ok… It’s really bad. So, I’m going to need you to stop doing that.
And now for some self-reflection questions that will help you be more prepared to give effective feedback to a human being:
- What do I hope to achieve as a result of giving this feedback?
- What might the other person be thinking and feeling about this situation?
- What am I afraid will happen when I give this feedback?
Give those self-reflection questions some thought…and join me again for another chat!