Feedback Tips for Less Grumbling, More Growth

"That's wrong." "You don't understand." Do these performance review reactions sound familiar? Why is it that managers and subordinates alike find feedback conversations so difficult? After 15 years of working with clients, the author believes that efforts to improve these conversations by teaching managers how to give feedback have been misdirected. The best way to achieve more productive feedback conversations is for everyone to become more active and skilled receivers of the feedback they get. This requires overcoming three challenges: understanding what is actually being said, being able to separate the message from the messenger and, finally, knowing the triggers that will make you more or less receptive to the advice being given. The aim is to change the feedback culture so that everyone can accelerate their ability to learn, improve and grow.