Give Constructive Feedback

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Adam Bryant’s Corner Office interviews with leaders often reveal how communication is such a critical component of excellent leadership.  In Q&A with Alastair Mitchell, CEO of Huddle, Adam asks: What were some early management lessons for you?  Alastair includes lessons around communication.  He mentions learning about “being too vague or not strong enough or clear enough when you’re giving feedback.”  I hear this often from leaders who want to be kind in giving feedback, but then later learn that they didn’t give the follower enough information to make the needed change.

In Peter Northouse’s textbook on Leadership that I use for teaching Leadership Communication at San Francisco State, he sites research, “When done correctly, constructive feedback allows group members to look at themselves honestly and know what they need to maintain or improve (LaFasto & Larson 2001).”

There are 5 steps for giving effective constructive feedback:

  1. Address behaviors, not personal traits.
  2. Describe specifics of what you observed, not interpretations or analysis.
  3. Use “I” language, not “You” language.
  4. Give feedback in calm, unemotional tones and language.
  5. Check to ensure effective communication has occurred by asking very specific questions.

A bad example of feedback is, “You are always late with projects and you make clients mad! For goodness sake, just get your stuff done on time!  Got it?”

A good example of constructive feedback is,  “I see that the project came in behind schedule. It was due Monday and was completed Friday.  I find clients don’t come back to us when projects are late.  Now that we have implemented time-tracking software, I am confident you will manage your time more effectively, ask for more resources if you need them, and complete projects on time.  Can you please go over the steps you need to take to complete projects on time in the future?”

Being clear, specific, and kind in giving feedback results in followers knowing what they need to change and feeling motivated to make that change.

In the Q&A, Alastair goes on to comment, “. . .you have to give people a sense of mission and a clear scope of what we do and don’t do and then allow people to be as entrepreneurial as they like within those guidelines.” Fostering a sense of autonomy within organizational structure creates motivated followers willing to take risks.  Think of progress as a virtuous circle, where people understand the higher goal, take risks and sometimes fail, then receive constructive feedback and continue to work towards the goal in a motivated manner.   That is effective leadership made possible through excellence in communication.

Connect with Your Audience

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My Sunday morning ritual includes reading the New York Times and the article, Introvert on the Podium caught my attention. The wisdom in this article is that connecting with the audience leads to greater ease in speaking, even for an introvert.  Laura Vanderkam, author of “168 Hours” explains how she has gone from paranoid to practiced on the podium.  Being an introvert who loves 1:1 interactions, she shares how connecting with individual members of her audience in advance makes her more comfortable on the podium.  It also makes her audience more engaged.  Introvert of not, this is a wise strategy.

Many speakers are so concentrated on themselves and their material that they forget the whole reason they are speaking is for the audience.  Putting yourself in your audience’s shoes improves their experience and your experience.  Laura’s way of doing that was to have the conference organizer make audience introductions far in advance, which is an excellent idea if you have that luxury.  Another way to learn about your audience in advance is getting the list of companies attending the conference or workshop and then scanning their websites for recent news and case studies.  This gives you a good sense of what might be on their minds.  You can then add relevant examples to your speech that will foster a connection.

Asking audience questions at the beginning of your speech – either through electronic survey that is now common or through old fashion hand raising – is a smart way to gauge their awareness or interest in a particular subject.  Just remember to pause and acknowledge the results of your survey aloud so the audience hears what you see.  For example if you are speaking to fellow entrepreneurs on raising capital, you might ask, “How many people here raised money in the past 12 months?”  Then say, “I see it is about 25% of you, which likely means that most of you will be looking to raise in the next year when capital is flush and you can be selective about your investors.  Let me share with you a few best practices about raising funds in this environment.”  Now if 75% of the audience had raised their hand, you would adjust your speech and possibly say, “I see most of us have raised in the past year, so I will start with a few of my best practices and then open the conversation to hear some of your experiences of what worked and what you would change next time.”

In her article, Laura ends with the advice of giving audience members time to talk to one another to improve audience connection and satisfaction.  Some people think this only works with small audiences, but I have seen it be very effective even in a very large audience.  The key to success if giving very specific instructions and setting (and keeping) a specific time limit.  In the above example, after you’ve shared your experience, you could state, “Let’s now pair up and share with your neighbor one thing you would do differently in raising capital next time.  Take 2 minutes each in explaining your one lesson learned, and then we will discuss just a few of these with the whole group.  I will tell you when 2 minutes are up so that you can switch people.”  Notice that in this example the instructions were simple and the time limit clear.

Techniques for connecting with your audience can be implemented without too much effort and they really pay off for you and your audience. Success in speaking is not only you feeling good when you step away from the podium, but also your audience walking away loving the experience.

Connect with Your Audience

/in /by

My Sunday morning ritual includes reading the New York Times and the article, Introvert on the Podium caught my attention. The wisdom in this article is that connecting with the audience leads to greater ease in speaking, even for an introvert. Laura Vanderkam, author of “168 Hours” explains how she has gone from paranoid to practiced on the podium. Being an introvert who loves 1:1 interactions, she shares how connecting with individual members of her audience in advance makes her more comfortable on the podium. It also makes her audience more engaged. Introvert of not, this is a wise strategy.

Many speakers are so concentrated on themselves and their material that they forget the whole reason they are speaking is for the audience. Putting yourself in your audience’s shoes improves their experience and your experience. Laura’s way of doing that was to have the conference organizer make audience introductions far in advance, which is an excellent idea if you have that luxury. Another way to learn about your audience in advance is getting the list of companies attending the conference or workshop and then scanning their websites for recent news and case studies. This gives you a good sense of what might be on their minds. You can then add relevant examples to your speech that will foster a connection.

Asking audience questions at the beginning of your speech – either through electronic survey that is now common or through old fashion hand raising – is a smart way to gauge their awareness or interest in a particular subject. Just remember to pause and acknowledge the results of your survey aloud so the audience hears what you see. For example if you are speaking to fellow entrepreneurs on raising capital, you might ask, “How many people here raised money in the past 12 months?” Then say, “I see it is about 25% of you, which likely means that most of you will be looking to raise in the next year when capital is flush and you can be selective about your investors. Let me share with you a few best practices about raising funds in this environment.” Now if 75% of the audience had raised their hand, you would adjust your speech and possibly say, “I see most of us have raised in the past year, so I will start with a few of my best practices and then open the conversation to hear some of your experiences of what worked and what you would change next time.”

In her article, Laura ends with the advice of giving audience members time to talk to one another to improve audience connection and satisfaction. Some people think this only works with small audiences, but I have seen it be very effective even in a very large audience. The key to success if giving very specific instructions and setting (and keeping) a specific time limit. In the above example, after you’ve shared your experience, you could state, “Let’s now pair up and share with your neighbor one thing you would do differently in raising capital next time. Take 2 minutes each in explaining your one lesson learned, and then we will discuss just a few of these with the whole group. I will tell you when 2 minutes are up so that you can switch people.” Notice that in this example the instructions were simple and the time limit clear.

Techniques for connecting with your audience can be implemented without too much effort and they really pay off for you and your audience. Success in speaking is not only you feeling good when you step away from the podium, but also your audience walking away loving the experience.

Boost Team Meetings

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We sit in meetings all the time and complain most of the time.  According to research, an average team meeting includes 69 counteractive statements and only 17 proactive statements. That is a 4:1 ratio of bad to good in meetings! We know we can make it better, but we are not exactly sure how.  Newly published research reveals that procedural communication is the key.

The Journal of Applied Communication Research recently published, “A Sequential Analysis of Procedural Meeting Communication: How Teams Facilitate Their Meetings” by researchers Lehmann-Willenbrock, Allen, and Kauffeld. Unless you are a communication scholar, you probably don’t want to wade through the hypothesis and methods of the research, so I will pull out the gems for you. First, let me share their definition of procedural communication.

Procedural behaviors in team meetings are statements that point out or lead back to the topic, clarify to ensure contributions are to the point, pose questions or suggestions on procedure, reference time, delegate tasks, visualize process, and summarize results. Another way to look at it is that procedural communication is the meta communication that controls the meeting.

This research study of 59 teams found that procedural communication promotes supportive statements and proactive communication, reduces dysfunctional meeting behaviors, and increases meeting satisfaction (if many people in the meeting are contributing to the procedural communication).  Simply put, if everyone in the meeting helps move the meeting along towards it’s stated goal, then that goal is more likely to be reached and participants will be happy. Here are the details:

More Supportive Statements

The study found that procedural statements are often followed by supporting statements from others in the meeting.  For example, if one meeting participant makes a clarifying statement, such as “So essentially you are saying that . . .”, then others in the meeting respond in a positive manner.

More Proactive Communication – who will do what and when

Procedural communication also promotes proactive communication, or talk about who will do what and when.  For example, if a participant makes a time reference such as, “And we should come to a decision, we only have five minutes left.” then other participants respond with what should be done and who should do it.

Less Complaining, Criticizing, and Losing Track

Those are two examples on the positive side, but procedural communication also reduces dysfunctional meeting behaviors, such as complaining, criticizing, and losing train of thought.  For example, after a goal orientation statement, such as “All right, back to the topic.” it is unlikely that the group will lose train of thought in the meeting.  If a participant makes a procedural suggestion, such as “Let’s talk about  . . . first.” it is unlikely another group member will complain or criticize.  In this study, all types of procedural communication had an influence in reducing bad behaviors.

Happier Participants

People report being more satisfied with meetings when procedural communication is shared by meeting participants.  This is important.  It doesn’t work to have one bossy person who is telling everyone what to do and keeping track of time. The responsibility of the meta communication needs to be shared across the group.  “ . . .the distribution of procedural behaviors across members of a meeting is an important factor for promoting meeting satisfaction.”

 

Make a change.  If you are a manager, encourage all meeting participants to help guide the process of the meeting in addition to contributing content.  If you are a participant, speak up.  Make a goal-oriented, clarifying, prioritizing, time management, or task distribution comment. Not only are others in the meeting likely to respond in a positive manner and complain less, but they will leave the meeting feeling more satisfied.

 
Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Allen, J.A. & Kauffeld, S. (2013). A Sequential Analysis of Procedural Meeting Communication: How Teams Facilitate Their Meetings. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 41, 365-388