Impactful Feedback
The people stuff is the topic of discussion which most comes up in my mentor meetings with entrepreneurial business owners. When we are discussing how we build capability and invest in our people through training, I often get the question, “What happens if we spend all this money and they leave?” I always give the same cliched response, “What if we don’t spend this money and they stay?”
To transition through the entrepreneurial ceiling and move from chaos and overwhelm towards structured and process-driven, we must invest in building capability in our people, but where to start?
Each person must be keenly aware of their specific role, how it fits in the broader team and how it contributes to the overall organisational outcomes. They must be aware of where their delegated authority and those boundaries that define their autonomy and decision making in the role. They must understand where they fit within their team structure, and above all else, they must feel safe.
In his book, The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle says that a critical element of feeling safe is to positively interpret belonging cues. In doing so, we ask three basic questions. “Do we share a future? Are we connected? Are we safe?” In the book, Coyle sites the findings from a Stanford University study where Researchers asked middle school students to write an essay, after which teachers provided different types of feedback. Researchers identified that of the numerous kinds of feedback, one particular feedback they termed “magical feedback” stood out.
The performance of students who received this feedback improved significantly. It consisted of one simple phrase, “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations, and I know that you can reach them.”
According to Coyle, this feedback was so successful and impactful because it provides three specific belonging cues. They are:
1. You are part of the group,
2. This group is special; we have high standards here.
3. I believe you can reach those standards.
Coyle identifies that these cues play directly to our unconscious brain, telling us this is a safe place to give effort.
How are you providing feedback in your organisation?