Anna Carroll's Blog, page 2
February 25, 2016
Relax & Reduce Work Stress Via Feedback!
Always seeking methods for how to calm down our fears about giving feedback, I went to a conference in San Francisco on the topic of mindfulness. “Wisdom 2.0” featured authors, spiritual teachers, and business leaders from places like LinkedIn, eBay, and Eileen Fisher.
The wisdom
The leaders shared how they stay present, reduce stress, and make their companies a great place to work. They talked about mindfulness meditation, loving kindness meditation, & listening to their “body wisdom” for cues on how to relate to others.
They essentially calmed themselves down and set positive–and yes, loving intentions–before, during, and after talking to their employees.
It was such an Aha for me to realize that feedback conversations–when done in a helpful, frequent, and open manner–are a form of loving kindness!
How is everyday feedback loving kindness?
-You want the best for the other person (as well as for your business and for your whole group)
-You are developing trust and rapport with the other person as you coach them and ask for their feedback to you
-Honest feedback is actually way more compassionate than withholding the information they need to succeed
Think about how you can help people in the absolutely most effective way? It will involved feedback. So it’s time to get out and practice loving kindness today!
February 15, 2016
For Good Times and Bad, Feedback is the Tonic You Need for Your Biz
Feedback has life-giving properties. It is the BEST business tonic in good times and bad….
No matter what
If your industry environment looks sick or you believe the Great Recession is coming, you can boost your business health with feedback. If you’re crazy with growth, feedback will scale you up faster. If you don’t know if you’re sick or healthy, feedback will bring clarity.
Why? Faster, more honest feedback between you and the people you work with serves up better information to make informed decisions and streamline your workflow. It directs you to problems that need attention faster and helps you move ahead with optimal knowledge. Plus–believe it or not—it makes everyone happier and trust you more.
Hard to believe
Seems too good to be true that what’s so good for the business has the most positive effect on happiness, engagement, and loyalty.
Consulting and research in hundreds of companies over more that two decades, I have concluded that free-flowing, fast, and transparent feedback the number one factor that distinguishes successful business cultures from mediocre ones. Especially feedback that is led, given, and welcomed by leaders.
So why don’t people use this great tonic?
Because leaders (and others) are NOT forthcoming with feedback. You may recognize some of the reasons for this:
-Beliefs, such as: “I shouldn’t de-motivate anyone,” or: “the other person might have an emotional outburst & that would be unproductive.”
-Fear & avoidance that is generated by a fight-or-flight response in your brain
-Culture: “We haven’t done much feedback in this company” &/or “my boss never gives feedback”
-Lack of experience and skills in giving and receiving feedback
-Seeing feedback as eating up time (rather than saving time)
How to overcome these barriers
Jump in and have some feedback conversations with a couple of your team members. Stick to items that are most relevant to your shared goals and be sure to ask for their feedback in return. Follow it up in a week to update the feedback and help each other further. Notice how well it goes. Notice how your fears didn’t turn into reality.
Results from the feedback tonic
As you keep these feedback conversations going, you will notice a clear difference in the health of your business and in the quality of your relationships with co-workers. Whether it’s been good times or bad times for your organization, you are definitely moving your team forward through the life-giving qualities of feedback!
January 28, 2016
Feedback is Money
Most would say that feedback costs money. It’s a waste of time and a drain on productivity. Whether you’re a leader or team member, you’re stressed about all that time needed to worry & prepare for a “crucial conversation” with someone who is not getting it. Or….taking time to pat all those approval-starved people on the back…
Wrong. If you’re thinking that way, you don’t understand the potential of feedback to save time and money today and dramatically improve your product or service.
Feedback gives you crucial information you need to stop or improve the things that don’t work, and increase the things that do work! When your co-worker lets you know how something you are doing affects their work (and how to improve that impact), it’s a win-win. When you ask your boss or project manager to shift the way they lead, the improvement will probably help the whole team.
Think about the most valuable companies today. Like Google, Facebook, etc. They have accurate up-to-date information about what people want and are willing to pay for.
In your own job, frequent and honest information about how you, your employees, and your colleague is doing their job is super, super valuable. Like money, gold, valuation, lowered costs, higher profits,……wealth!
Go for feedback, and the money will follow!
January 19, 2016
Seek Feedback In Easy Waters First…..
You may be very curious about how your co-workers, direct reports, or bosses see you. You just want to know what you can improve or tweak, and what’s already going well.
Don’t Wait for BFD’s
But you don’t want to wait for a big feedback deal like performance review, 360 survey or employee engagement survey. These can be an overwhelming blast of ratings and comments that take up a lot of time and psychic energy. These BFD’s (Big Feedback Dives) can be stressful and make you feel like you’ve been pushed off the high dive. The worst thing is that they don’t occur very often and you may have to wait too long to satiate your curiosity.
Start easy and you’ll be eager to dive in again and again:
Level One: Chat with one colleague
Pick out a co-worker or direct report who fits these three criteria: 1) someone you trust 2) a person who sees your work pretty closely 3) someone who’s not too nicey-nice and trying to keep everybody happy. Have a simple feedback conversation. Tell them you want to develop yourself in a few specific areas and you’d like their feedback about which ones are most important. Suggest a few options, like how you lead meetings and how well you communicate the company’s strategy. After they provide feedback–whether positive, constructive criticism, or both–ask for specific suggestions about how to do even better. Since most people are new to giving direct feedback, be OK that you may have to prime the pump–and provide your own best guesses on where you need to improve. Use the phrase “Which would be a better focus–X or Y?” and then have them clarify.
Level Two: Ask your boss
Ask your boss for a short meeting. Have a similar conversation to the one in Level One, but add in your purpose for the feedback: “In addition to developing my skills as a leader, I’d like to learn more about the financial side of our work. Can you give me feedback about how I can use financial information to improve my area?” Also ask about how you are doing in two selected areas of your current job. If your boss tells you “You’re doing a great job,” propose a couple of ways you think you could take it to the next level and get feedback on your ideas. All of these prompting strategies can make your boss more comfortable.
Level Three: Mention what you are working on, and ask for me
Once they’ve given you some feedback, refer to it a few times in one-on-one conversations or team meeting. Acknowledge how they helped you with some suggestions, and share how you are implementing these. Then widen your feedback search to additional areas. You’ll discover that once you have received and appreciated their feedback, they will be more open and helpful to you.
By starting easy and diving a little deeper, you are getting everyone comfortable–not only giving you feedback, but also seeing the value of asking for it themselves! Soon everyone’s in the water and feeling refreshed!
January 14, 2016
Oh no – more feedback! How to make feedback work for you—From LindaFordPhD.com
author of The Feedback Imperative
Linda: What do leaders’ find the most challenging about getting feedback?
Anna: By far, the greatest challenge for everybody in the organization (not just leaders) is not getting enough frequent, honest feedback that will help you learn and improve.
Linda: How can leaders get more feedback?
Anna: Ask for feedback every day and every way you can—as you work with people on specific goals. The counter-intuitive truth here is that the more feedback you collect on a more frequent basis, the easier the feedback is to understand and apply.
Maybe best of all, your team members will trust you more and be way more open to receiving the feedback you provide to them. They will see you as a great role model for the value of exchanging helpful feedback.
Linda: How should a manager respond to feedback ?
Anna: First, avoid being defensive or arguing with people who may have made some of the comments. Why? If they hear defensiveness in your voice, they will be very reluctant to be open with you in the future and they will see you as insecure and closed to their suggestions.
Thank people for giving you feedback . Believe it or not, most employees want to help you become a better leader and it took some effort and courage for them to share their thoughts—no matter how off-base you may perceive them.
If you can find something you’re willing to act on, change your behavior in very visible ways. This will win over the hearts and minds of your team members and improve your leadership impact.
Linda: But what if the manager doesn’t agree with the feedback?
Anna: Stay in a curious, open mindset and continue to clarify what they are saying and look for the truth you can use within the message. For instance, if someone tells you that you are a micromanager, ask them more about how they would prefer you to work with them. If they don’t want you to meet and question them so often, find a way to ensure quality and teach them through checklists or other tools.
If there is a business reason why you can’t act on their exact feedback, acknowledge the concern and show appreciation for their raising the issue.
Before talking with the feedback-givers you don’t agree with, prepare yourself by making a list of positive thoughts you’d like to convey in your upcoming conversation. This will get you in a good mindset and help you respond positively.
Linda: So, Anna, what’s your bottom line in all this?
Anna: feedback is a good thing. You need more of it and you can almost always benefit from it.
Linda: I really hope leaders will head your advice, Anna. Your book offers much more depth and lots of examples for leaders who want to pursue this.
Published, January 14, 2016, Linda Ford PHD Blog
