The Eric-Anna Principle: The Power of Positive Micro-Feedback.
Eric was not the best designer in the world. Nor was he the best project manager. But he had another particular skill. Whenever you worked with him, you had the honest feeling that you yourself were doing a great job.
Anna was a shark. She was brought into the company to change the company. To do whatever it takes. Fast. The meetings were intense and decisions focused. I did not achieve everything I wanted to achieve, but I always went out with the feeling that there was progress, no, not only that there “was progress” but that I made progress.
Anna and Eric were as different as it gets, but they had one thing in common. Whenever you talked to them, they mentioned at one point a word or sentence like this:
- Perfect
- That made me think.
- Thank you.
- That’s cool.
- This is a good solution.
- Awesome.
- This helps me a lot.
- Ok, this will work.
- Beautiful.
- That’s clever.
And many other variations I have sadly forgotten.
They both mentioned these sentences either at the end of our conversations, or during, but only after a short thinking pause. A brief moment when the conversation stopped, and you could see their brains working, and when you wonder what was coming next, you were surprised by super short honestly meant positive feedback.
Positive and honest.
That’s the point, they always meant it. They were reflecting on the conversations about the here and now, and the end of the reflection was a short honest sentence, an honest thank you, or a positive assessment of the current situation.
The difference.
I worked with bootlickers, suckups, and “Schleimer” (german) before. A person very very nice too other people only for getting into better positions. You all know them; you all hate them. Anna and Eric were definitely none of them. They never made statements about things that they didn’t have any knowledge about, only about the here and now, and only after a short reflection.
Bootlickers, on the other side, make assessments about things they don’t have sufficient knowledge about. They focus on you, ask superficially questions and shower you with meaningless compliments. My stomach turns when I even think about them.
Anna-Eric, on the other hand, I have fond memories of, and I enjoyed working with them. And even though both of them were definitely tricky characters, and I am sure as hell not easy to work with, too, we worked well together. We made progress on whatever task at hand.
The impact of positive micro feedback.
And that what it is all about. Due to their reflection, due to their point of view what they got out of the last half hour, I reflected on my progress, too. And yeah, we either made decisions, or we moved the needle or made us think. There always was something to take away. To go forward. Some progress. Some learnings. Something positive.
Without this reflection, it would just have been another meeting, another chat that held me back from real work. And the only difference was a word or a sentence.
The introverts guide to positive micro feedback.
My natural state is introvert. Don’t get me wrong. I do a great extrovert, but it takes me some energy to get into it. As an introvert, I think a lot. I praise myself that most things I think about other people are friendly. I try to see the upside (since grumpiness is inefficient), but I don't communicate these thoughts. So people percieve me as arrogant (which always surprises me, btw).
To break the habit of none communication, I started:
- Make a short (3 to 5s) thinking break during conversations. (As an introvert, I make those anyway.)
- End these thinking breaks with a short sentence of what the positive takeaway was until now.
- Mean it.
- At the end of the conversation, a short look back.
- Summarize it in one word or one sentence.
- Mean it.
This small amount of positive micro feedback is enough for me and the other side to see themselves valued and see the progress we are both making. And the end outcome is faster and better work together with more motivation on both sides.
And yeah, as a highly efficient introvert, I was wondering if its really a good investment of time and brainshare, and yeah, it definitely is.
About the author
Franz Enzenhofer changes the internet since 1998. Over his career he worked with startups, market leaders, startups then market leaders, market leaders that reinvented themselves as startups, state-owned companies, freelancers, concert halls, cities, political parties, betting companies, NGOs, economic chambers, TV stations, family-owned small businesses, Fintechs, old school banks, national and international newspapers and news agencies, media houses, media conglomerates, sport teams and more. He worked with organizations in the US, UK, D.A.CH, Ireland, India, Thailand, Peru, Colombia, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Gibraltar, Sweden, Cyprus and more. He cares about systems growth.
Mail: fe /at/ f19n /dot/ com
