Feedback is Critical for Cohesive, Diverse Leadership Teams
Throughout the month, we’re talking about how to build a cohesive, diverse leadership team. In an earlier post, we offered some ideas about low-risk and low-cost actions you can take right now to start laying the groundwork for building trust in your leadership team. If you’ve done those things, you may be ready for an activity that carries more perceived risk: asking for and offering feedback in the team setting. Feedback is tricky enough one-on-one. Add others to the room, and the stakes feel higher still. It feels exceptionally tricky when you have people on your team with whom you have little in common. As a result, we may avoid offering feedback for fear of saying the wrong thing or saying it in the wrong way. I would argue it’s condescending to think someone can’t learn to respond well to thoughtfully-delivered feedback, and it’s lazy to avoid the work necessary to deliver feedback constructively.
In my experience, no process is more essential for your team than a consistent, constructive flow of feedback. There is an idea that feedback should always be delivered in private unless it’s praise, but that mindset prevents teams from performing at peak levels because it limits collective ability to learn together. Teams with a solid foundation of trust can be honest with each other, and honest teams are more likely to be trusting teams - it’s a virtuous cycle. However, don’t equate honesty with brutality. You can give honest feedback, even in front of teammates, and do it with kindness and respect. Here are a few tips for doing that:
Schedule Team Feedback: Beginning or ending each week by asking, “How’d we do?” is an excellent way to introduce feedback into team meetings. Start with a dispassionate look at the metrics, then branch into a discussion about what got you there, including examining processes and personal behaviors. This process normalizes open feedback, and repetition offers the opportunity to improve feedback skills.
Pull rather than push: Set the standard that teammates should be asking for feedback, so others don’t have to initiate it. “Sales missed our targets this week. We’re doing X, Y & Z to try to turn it around. What tips do you all have for me to get better next week?” It’s infinitely easier to deliver feedback—and receive it—when it’s requested.
Focus Forward: The focus should be on identifying what everyone needs to do to be better next week, not on a detailed examination of personal failures. It should be an opportunity to ask for and offer advice on how to improve.
Equal focus on wins and losses: Don’t spend hours dissecting misses and mere minutes high-fiving over wins. This process should be consistent, whether you are winning or losing. Take time to examine your successes. Were they dumb luck, or did they spring from intentional behavior?
No one is exempt: The boss cannot be exempt. Neither can the person with the fragile ego. Or the new person. Keep in mind, the goal is to improve as a team, and every team member is essential in achieving that. This collective responsibility may inspire you to put in the extra effort to learn how to deliver and receive feedback well.
We covered one-to-one feedback in detail in our November 2020 newsletter - check it out if you’d like to learn more. If you and your team could use some help with setting up and getting good at feedback, let us know by reaching out via LinkedIn - we’d love to hear from you!