By Chally Kacelnik
A few months ago, as an incidental part of a project I was undertaking for another client, I had a chat with a past participant from one of our leadership development programs. As an aside, I mentioned how positively her work on the program was seen by senior leaders in her organisation, and that we’d heard lots of comments about the efficacy of her leadership for her organisation. When I tell you this person was totally taken aback…! I’d heard this feedback lots of times. This person, who it was actually about, had not heard it at all, and never would have if it hadn’t been for a chance meeting.
In LKS Quaero’s formally accredited (Certificate IV and Diploma Leadership & Management) leadership development programs, one of the assessment tasks requires participants to give positive feedback at work. It’s not a skill that people are widely taught to practise – or expect, for that matter. How often do you mentally insert “negative” when you hear the “I need to give you some feedback,” after all? Giving positive feedback, however, is a critical skill for enabling the perpetuation of effective performance and also keeping the right people wanting to stay on your team.
I think part of the problem also lies in a tendency of some broader cultures (although I couldn’t tell you which) in which directness is seen as too intimate or impolite, and positive affirmation at work can seem a bit embarrassing; it’s also a bit about how we see ourselves. One of my colleagues at LKS Quaero – he knows who he is – is great at giving useful positive feedback, and also looks like he’s about to implode into a singularity if he’s subject to it himself. It can be really uncomfortable to hear positive things about your behaviour and achievements. That’s something to keep in mind when you plan what you will say – you want your message to come across in your feedback, not for someone to be overly self-conscious.
Tell people what they need to hear directly. Their experience at work, and the results for your organisation, will be the better for it.
At LKS Quaero, we help leaders to get feedback right. For more information, visit us at lksquaero.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
