People Coaching @ Andela — The Feedback Ride
Coaching isn’t purely for People Managers. We constantly find ourselves in situations where we can develop, coach and lead others. In our increasingly metric-driven worlds, the importance of mentorship and people management can be heavily overlooked — and so let’s deep dive and open the discussion.
A recent team discussion led to Andela’s Talent Acquisition team “defining our ‘why.’” Consensus on ours was that “we challenge the narrative by believing in people and recognising the power of diversity.”
In tune with this theme, I hosted a reverse-presentation (#audiencecreatingcontent) which for once didn’t revolve around spreadsheets, data or recruitment strategies. It instead turned out to be a healthy debate around negating some challenging people coaching scenarios. It opened up a thread that combined our diverse styles and experiences as well as learnings from incredible external resources — focusing here on the importance of feedback.
The Feedback Ride
Challenge:
Why do managers & peers fear giving feedback?
This was met with a plethora of responses; “Who am I to give feedback?” “What if I’m wrong?” “What if they take it badly and like me less?” The frontrunner concerns eventually alluding to impostor syndrome and fear of being disliked.
Guide (our 4 steps):
i) ASK — Actionable, Specific, Kind
Actionable feedback is key in that we focus on an action, an event, or a decision — not feedback of the person themself.
Specific feedback avoids generalist, sweeping statements. Much more credibly and usefully, it focuses on instances, with data of a specific event being quoted.
Kind feedback in that we remember to show it’s to help and should be delivered positively. In that it’s either positive (reinforcement) or constructive (suggesting an alternate action could lead to a more positive future outcome). We do it because we care and so we have to remember to be kind.
ii) Give positive and constructive feedback, regularly.
Don’t:
Focus solely on positive feedback — despite the inevitable confidence boosts that will result. Not considering areas to improve is a genuine disservice and lack of care, whether it’s upwards, downwards or sideways feedback. There’s only so much we can notice through data and being self-aware, and that’s assuming we’re looking — which is why receiving and giving constructive feedback is critical.
Focus solely on constructive feedback — despite the inevitable improvement that will result. A continued scrutiny and focus on areas to improve will certainly lead to development but also hinder confidence. Focussing purely on the weaknesses, and the areas a recipient is naturally bound to fall short on, can have the demoralizing effect of too greatly spotlighting flaws. Spreading the dreaded ‘impostor syndrome’ even further. We won’t excel at everything all the time, so it’s important to remember the positives.
Do:
Focus on both as they come up — and keep constructive feedback constructive. It’s not negative feedback but future actions and areas to level up on.
Be regular — without giving feedback regularly, it’s hard to trust if the feedback is fair and whether a comment is an anomaly, regardless of whether it’s towards a positive event or one that needs improvement. Be genuine — don’t let great work or areas to improve on go unnoticed regularly.
Give positive and constructive feedback, regularly.
iii) Target Radical Candor
Our group’s favourite external resource on the topic is Radical Candor. Read this book!
Regularly target getting to the upper right quadrant — challenging directly while genuinely showing you care. Ask (your manager/peers/mentees/reports) where you may be placing and what could you do to get closer to that nirvana state.
iv) Build a culture of asking and incorporating feedback from all angles
Regularly ask for feedback top, down, sideways and from every direction you can find.
Insist on ensuring you receive feedback. It may take an extra nudge to have it delivered. Show that it’s a safe space — and show that feedback, preferences and guidance will be incorporated or discussed further. Each and every suggestion may not be feasible to incorporate, but is certainly feasible to be looked into. Incorporation or further discussion shows that feedback is valued, appreciated and acted on — and these actions speak louder than words ever could.
Encourage clarity is always sought when needed — given feedback may not always be understood at first instance. Information without context can be nuclear in damage.
Beyond adding credibility, giving feedback and learning from all human angles available as opposed to purely from data, metrics and output is a surefire way to keep growing others and yourself.
References / kudos:
Radical Candor (link)
Re:Work (link)
Andela’s Talent Managers
Please send us your feedback so we can keep growing. This is Andela. #TIA!
Photo credit: Braddox Ogilo (face paint at Offsites is pretty normal)
Offsite credit: Mercy Jane Orangi — thank you Mercy!
