Critique & People Management
“Critique is about iteration and improvement. So long as you’re looking to improve on whatever it is you’re doing, you’ve got an opportunity for critique.”
Anything that we’re thinking about trying to improve is an opportunity for critique. The critique content that adam connor and I have worked on has evolved over the past 10 years or so, and one of the themes that has started to emerge is in the area of people management.
One of the core competencies of an effective leader is the ability to grow and develop those that they’re leading. What a better way to do that than to use the principles and best practices surrounding critique to equip ourselves as leaders? We must give effective and actionable feedback to those we are leading in an effort to help grow them and to help develop their core competencies and skills.
This article is going to look at few main areas where we can apply the principles of critique to growing our team members through feedback.
If you are a leader who is not a people manager, you can still use these same principles to give effective feedback. This isn’t just for people managers, these principles apply any time that you need to give feedback to someone you work with, and equips you to do it in a productive and candid (but kind) way.
Setting Expectations
One of the key ways that we can ensure that we have a foundation for regular feedback conversations with our direct reports is to set expectations. We can use those expectations in regular conversations and provide feedback both for what’s working and what might be a growth opportunity.
Document and share your performance expectations, then hold all your team members to the same expectations. If you’re in a larger team, share this with the rest of your leadership team to establish consistency in what you expect across your organization.
It’s crucial to share expectations with your people manager. Personally speaking, it’s really important that my people manager knows the expectations I’ve shared with my team so that they can hold me accountable to making sure they’re getting feedback as they align and try to ladder up to those expectations. Ask your people manager for feedback, see if there’s expectations that they want for the organization that can be represented in the expectations that you set for your team.
Reference the expectations you set in one on one meetings and performance management. The structure will make feedback conversations easier, and a normal part of conversations between you and your direct report.
Lasty, I suggest reviewing the expectations quarterly to determine if there’s something that needs to change. You might need to edit them or add things because our work changes and evolves and the teams we are on shift and change. We want to make sure the expectations continue to align to the culture we want to create, our goals, and the OKRs we want to support.
Here is an example of the expectations that I’ve set for my leadership team so you have a point of reference.
Consistent, Structured Feedback Loops
The next thing to establish is how you would like to receive feedback on your direct reports. You can do this by establishing consistent, structured, feedback loops.
I suggest using skip level and partner one on one meetings to establish consistent opportunities for feedback. During skip level conversations, ask for feedback on their people manager so that you can support them through growing their people manager.
Be sure that you’re checking in with your partners and asking for feedback for your team members. Whether it’s related to growth opportunities or just general feedback, you will be equipped with information to help your team members grow. Make the effort to help partners and skip level team members feel comfortable providing feedback, and see that they understand that feedback is welcome and needed to support your direct report’s growth.
Ensuring that you’re getting examples and or specifics in the feedback you collect is crucial to having product feedback conversations. Dig deeper if the feedback is too general. For example, “they need to influence more,” or, “they are not showing up for their team,” may be true, but without digging into what’s happening there, it’s really hard to give actionable feedback. Ask for an example and question for clarity.
It’s also important to find the behaviors related to the feedback impact or what they put at risk. This will help your direct report understand the impact of the choices they are making (or not making, for that matter). We want to provide a clear picture of the impact of certain behaviors. Connecting the behaviors to their impact will help them see that the feedback is actionable, and that it does have an impact on the work and their teams and partners.
How feedback is shared determines if it’s feedback or gossip. If you or others are not sharing feedback with a team member or their manager directly, it is gossip.
Secondhand or hearsay feedback is not effective, and it’s rarely actionable.
If someone comes to you with feedback, ask if they’ve provided it to the team member or their manager yet, if they haven’t, give them guidance to go talk to them. If someone doesn’t feel comfortable sharing the feedback with the team member or their manager, then talk with them about it. Then as soon as possible go meet with the manager and/or the team member and have a conversation.
We want to ensure that a consistent message is being delivered, and feedback is successful when it’s often given as close to the context of where it’s needed. Feedback is a lot more helpful when it is as close to its context as possible so that it’s clear and fresh in everyone’s mind.
Delivering Feedback
Delivering feedback can be a challenge. A lot of interpersonal dynamics are often present, and giving someone a tough message about performance can be intimidating. These conversations aren’t easy, but they matter, and it’s really important because delivering direct clear feedback supports our team member’s success.
Use your structured one on one meetings for regular opportunities to deliver feedback. I try to make my one on ones a lot less about status updates and more about connecting with my direct report and building rapport. This helps feedback conversations go more smoothly, because we are connecting and we’re building a relationship. When I come to them with some feedback, we’re grounded in our relationship and I’ve got a rapport with them that makes the feedback conversation a little bit easier. I usually do a one on one with my direct reports every week for about 30 to 45 minutes. One of those per month is devoted to growth and development. Besides investing in their growth, it creates a great opportunity for feedback conversations.
When delivering the feedback you want to ensure that you are delivering the feedback in a clear way, in a direct and candid but kind way. Being direct is not the same as being harsh, condescending, or demeaning. When we’re clear and direct with our feedback and the impact of behaviors and choices that have been made, we’re supporting our team member’s growth. We help them see the bigger picture and see where they need action against our feedback.
It’s really important that we’re clear, direct, and kind. When we avoid feedback conversations we put our team member’s growth and performance at risk. As a people leader, we are responsible for their growth, development, and performance. If we are not being clear or direct about it, then we’re setting them up to repeat the same behaviors and choices that are garnering the feedback.
As a reminder to what I mentioned in the section about establishing feedback loops, as much as possible, you want to deliver feedback in real time. Don’t wait too long to share it. When we delay giving feedback, our team members continue with the behaviors and choices related to the feedback and feedback details get fuzzy over time, we want to give that feedback when the information is crisp and fresh in our mind.
It is crucial for us to give difficult feedback in a way that makes the team member feel like they can make the needed changes. We can do this by framing our feedback in a way that demonstrates that we see the potential for growth and are committed to help them achieve it.
Here is an example of direct, clear, and kind feedback
Manager: Hey Ron,
I wanted to share some feedback I received about your communication style. In the last meeting with Aaron you provided some feedback on his work that was perceived as harsh and condescending. I am not sure if you were aware that it was received that way, and want to talk with you about it, because your partner relationship with Aaron is crucial, I want you to be successful in that relationship.
Team Member: Wow, I didn’t see it that way, but now that I think of it I was a bit frustrated at the lack of progress and may have come across harsh.
Manager: I totally get it, let’s discuss some ways to be less reactionary in meetings or when you are feeling frustrated.
[Discussion ensues]
Manager: I’m glad we could come up with some ideas, and I want you to know I am here to support you in your growth and am confident that you are going to have a successful partner relationship with Aaron. What next steps are you going to take in response to this feedback?
I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences when it comes to feedback in the context of people management. The more we share our insights and experiences we can support one another in growing one of the key competencies we need to be successful people managers… Delivering candid (but kind), actionable, feedback.
