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[G293]Giving Feedback To Students

by Harvey Robbins, Har

One of the hardest tasks of effective leaders is giving people feedback. ?Giving people feedback? is really a neutral description for something decidedly un-neutral - telling people how they could be doing their job better. And because it is a loaded area, with a high potential for ticking people off and alienating them, just when you need them to be ?on your side,? lots of leaders get confused and inept.

Why is giving feedback hard for us? Probably because people think it has to be done very cleverly - delicately - so as not to offend people. And most of us are not clever, so we despair. And procrastinate. And when push finally comes to shove, and we sit down with the person in question, we criticize crappily.

How do we criticize crappily? Let us count the ways.

We do it too formally. We invite the other person into our offices. We sit across from on another. We refer to reports for information, sometimes hiding behind the pages. Six-month evaluations may be good for record-keeping, but a better way to keep people on point is to evaluate them every single day, with attention, instruction, availability, and acknowledgment of a job well done. Fix a problem informally, and it need never appear in someone's file.

We wait too long. ?Harold, it's come to our attention you've been taking 2-hour naps every afternoon since 1994.? The time to step in and advise is early, before it becomes a bad habit, and before you become irritated with the behavior's deep-seatedness. Also, workers have every right to protest. They would have been happy to make the change earlier - if someone had only asked. Delaying puts an unnecessary black mark on their record.

We keep it one-way. Feedback is properly described as a loop. You tell them something, they tell you something, and so on. The process belongs to both of you. If it's just you informing a worker - much less, a teammate - that they have failed, doesn't that tell you something about the team? And if the other person's contributions aren't appreciated here, what does that say about their contributions?

We apologize. We mince about. There is no way to tell someone an unpleasant truth and come out of it more popular than you went in. The proper and honest thing to do is say it directly: ?Mary Ann, I'm concerned about the quality of your follow-up work. Several times I've had customers complain, and I want to fix the problem right now, before it becomes a real problem.? They may not like you more. They may emerge from the talk bruised and a little scared. But they will know what is expected of them. Clarity will help them survive, where friendly gobbledygook could lead them to destruction.

We beat around the bush. We say 19 positive nice things in order to soften the blow of the 20th item, which is negative. In all things strive for clarity. A good meeting has a single purpose. ?Jack, I want to talk to you about your absence last week.?

We don't think it's feedback unless it's negative. We're not saying to camouflage the one negative observation behind nineteen compliments. But why is it that we only call workers in to see us when we have bad news? Invite them in when you notice something great. What a simple message to communicate: we value your positive contributions, and we want to encourage you to keep trying.

We go in with too much certainty. ?Dave, you've not been attentive in your work.? Instead, try: ?Dave, I'm concerned that you aren't giving your work your full attention. You make a lot of funny remarks at team meetings, but I'm not sure you're kicking in with the right amount of effort. Do you agree with that assessment??

We put it all on the other person. Maybe Esther isn't meeting quota for reasons that Esther has little control over. Maybe you think Esther has been properly trained, but she hasn't. Maybe there's something you can do that will help Esther perform.

We criticize, but we are vague about future action. Feedback must be action-oriented or it is just blather. State a desired outcome, and slap a schedule on it. Then, if the teammate misses the outcome by the date agreed upon, who can complain about the consequences?

A number of years ago Sally sat in her elementary school classroom painting a picture. For a little six year old, the picture was something for a parent to be proud of - a landscape with a large blue sky. As the teacher walked by, she saw the good work and complimented her, saying, “Sally this is very nice, but it is out of balance. This large blue sky needs something.” With that she took a brush and painted a seagull in the middle of the sky.

This upset Sally, she took her picture home and showed it to her father, who complimented her for her effort, especially the seagull. Sally broke out in tears. Finally, she told how the teacher had painted the seagull into the picture. To make a long story short, daddy went to the school to talk to the principal and the teacher.

The teacher explained her reasons, the principal stood by the teacher, and the issue ended up in court. The teacher told of her expertise, her masters degree in art, and how pictures need balance. The judge then asked Sally why she was upset about the seagull in the picture. Sally's response, “I don't see it there.”

People are a lot like Sally. As they grow up, their experiences end up on a picture they have of themselves and of the world. When a manager comes along and gives feedback, one of two things happens. The employee runs the feedback through a filter and either thinks that it matches their painting and accepts it, or that doesn't match the painting and responds, “I don't see it there.”

You can probably guess that the information that is received positively is primarily positive feedback. The constructive, (i.e. negative feedback) is often rejected. The employee usually smiles, thanks the manager, and walks off grumbling about how their boss is out of touch with reality.

Most people don't think in the context of pure logic, they think in the context of their experiences, and their view of the world. Yet, the traditional view of management is that people care about learning the truth, people are capable of seeing things unemotionally, they will change their minds when you show them the facts, and that they are reasonable and will admit you are right and that they are wrong.

The reality is that most people care more about proving they are right, they react emotionally and defend their position. They will interpret information to support their beliefs and reject information that doesn't. Bottom-line, people prefer to see the world their way.

What does this teach us as coaches, leaders, and managers? We need a different approach to giving feedback, one that demonstrates openness to the views of employees, yet injects the rigors of objectivity and verifiability.

Utopia? Maybe, yet new research supports the effectiveness of such an approach.

What does this new approach look like? First, the supervisor and the team member(s) need to objectively define the results that are expected. This includes short and long term objectives and how the company's values are to be demonstrated on the job.

Coaches should GUIDE team members. GUIDE stands for:

Gather examples
Understand results and actions
Identify development needs
Develop plans and goals
Exercise the competency

The primary responsibility for Gathering examples belongs to the team member(s). These are verifiable examples of the actions taken to achieve the pre-established goals. Understanding results and actions is a joint effort between the team member and the supervisor. The supervisor truly becomes a coach in a low stress interactive discussion where the team member shares the examples. The coach asks questions and guides the rating of both the results and the actions taken to achieve the results.

As examples are shared, development needs become apparent to the team member and the coach that leads to Identifying Development Needs and Developing Plans and Goals. Once new goals are established, the team member Exercises the Competency such as an athlete would in practice. The team member would then Gather New Examples, thus repeating the process and developing the new skill.

Moral: Using Sally's story, the coach that gains the team member's view of reality and works with that reality, will gain buy-in to improvements that otherwise would not have been possible.

Article Source : Congressional Youth Leadership Council

About Author

Both Harvey Robbins & Stephen Moulton are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Harvey Robbins has sinced written about articles on various topics from Change Management, Leadership and Internet Marketing. A world class speaker, author, and educator, Dr. Robbins focuses on transformational leadership by providing leadership skill training, team building / team leadership training, management development training, and executive coaching. See more on. Harvey Robbins's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.

Stephen Moulton has sinced written about articles on various topics from Leadership, Careers and Job Hunting and Leadership. . Stephen Moulton's top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.