Executive Leadership and Team Coach with Executive Coaching Space.
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In my experience as a leadership and team coach, the topic of soliciting and receiving feedback comes up often as a challenge for many. Even the very mention of feedback can cause individuals to feel anxious, nervous and even frustrated, knowing that they are about to be told everything they have been doing wrong.
Recently, an executive team asked if I could put together a program specifically around soliciting feedback from the members of their team, as it was a challenge for their leaders to hold these conversations in a way that reflected a positive mindset. But they knew it could be a powerful tool if conducted consistently to create a development-focused culture.
When looking at the recent research, did you know that 65% of employees desire more feedback and that 80% who received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged? Neither did the leaders of this team we were working with. Below are the three areas that we identified and walked through together to build upon their skills in this area.
Building Trust To Earn The Right
The first step was to get the team curious about how they can consistently build trust with their employees so that they could earn the right to solicit feedback. All too often, leaders fail to build trust and psychological safety so that their team can show up and say the things they need to say, not what they feel you want to hear.
Trust is a critical driver of engagement and is directly correlated to the type of feedback you will receive—if you even have the trust of your team to do so. Without trust, team members might conceal their weaknesses, hesitate to ask for help and most likely not provide you with their honest opinions when asked. Next time you are with your team, ask the questions below and work together on how you can improve in building trust.
• What specific steps can we take as a leadership team to earn trust from our team?
• How will we measure our progress in building trust together?
• What are our commitments in spending consistent time to build trust?
Uniqueness Of Team Members
Each member of your team has a unique personality and communicates differently, so giving and receiving feedback cannot be looked at as a paint-by-numbers process. You need to uncover the way that each one receives communication and "flex" to their emotional need instead of speaking on your own.
Tools such as a DISC assessment can support your leadership team in understanding the natural strengths of your team members and how to approach conversations around feedback. For example, someone with a high D style is going to have needs different than a high S style. So as a leader, how do you recognize and construct your approach differently, knowing what you know about their communication preferences? Here are some questions to get curious about the leaders on your team next time you are together.
• As a leadership team, how will we share our understanding of different team members' personalities?
• What will we do specifically to strengthen our abilities in this area?
• How will we collaborate as a team and hold each other accountable to grow our skills in recognizing others' communication styles and preferences?
Developing A Coaching Mindset To Solicit Feedback
This last area is one that I coach leaders and their teams on frequently. When you go to give or receive feedback, there is usually some amount of judgment. You may have the best of intentions, but the feedback you receive from a team member may not be something you agree with at all. Uh oh, now we can tend to get defensive and even provide examples to counter their feedback.
This is where building a positive culture around feedback comes into play. Let go, and know what you receive is what your team member feels. Prepare yourself in advance to be open and curious and to receive feedback without judgment. This is no easy task for leaders, so work together as a leadership team on the following questions.
• How will we prepare ourselves to let go of our judgment?
• What do we need to do so that we can be fully present and practice active listening?
• What can we do as a leadership team to get comfortable in asking questions we do not have the answers to?
Building a positive culture of soliciting feedback takes time, consistency and commitment. Think about how you can sway the emotions of the team from anxiety or nervousness to positivity as fuel for growth.
Final Thoughts
A few things that I will leave you with to think about.
• You can control how you focus on building trust.
• You can control how you begin to understand the unique communication style of your team.
• You can control developing a coaching mindset.
By focusing on the three areas in this article, you can begin to build a game plan to help your team grow into a culture that celebrates consistent feedback because they know it is meant to support their growth and development, not knock them down for past failures.
I always provide options to the leaders and teams I coach so I will ask you, too: What type of feedback culture do you want to create with your teams?
You always have a choice.
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