The Most Impactful Leadership Skill in Today’s Workplace!

FEEDBACK

In today’s constantly changing world, feedback is the most impactful leadership skill. Leaders who know how to give and receive feedback increase trust, productivity and loyalty.

Both Redirecting and Reinforcing feedback create confidence and make your team members feel empowered. Just don’t use them at the same time!

That brings me to a popular approach to feedback that lacks impact! The Compliment Sandwith! It’s a tempting approach, especially with leaders who are just beginning in their leadership role. Here’s how it works. You begin the conversation with a compliment, then mention a behavioral change that you are asking them to make, then another compliment. While this may “feel” good to the leader giving the feedback, it is not very effective and here’s why.

First of all, sometimes there is simply “no bread to work with!” In other words, finding a compliment is challenging. Secondly, the individual will be unclear or confused about whether to focus on the compliment or the correction. In fact, they may forget all about the “correction” and focus completely on the compliment.

“Clear feedback is kind feedback” and it is much more helpful to building trust and confidence. Here’s an approach that works every time:

1) Intent: Begin with positive intent. “I want to support you in your new role,” or “my intention is to help you grow with our organization.”

2) Situation: Then clearly state the situation. This should be focused on behavior that can be observed. “I noticed that you did not approach the customer in your department this morning, it seemed like they were confused and needed some assistance.”

3) Impact: Explain the impact of the observed behavior. When customers do not receive the help they need in a timely manner, they tend to get discouraged and leave. That means we lose the sale and that customer may not return or do business with us again.

4) Pull: Ask an open-ended question to gain understanding. “What are your concerns about approaching customers?” Then listen with an attitude of curiosity to the team member’s perspective.

Using this approach will help you as a leader build stronger relationships and increase confidence in your team members that will have lasting impact on productivity, profitability and engagement.

Regardless of the age or tenure of each team member, everyone benefits from feedback.