6. 6
Management Trinity
Essentials
Praise and Punishment
Feedback A to Z
4 Simple Steps
Feedbackable Behaviors
PIPCIP
Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Q&A
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
7. 7
Feedback | Essentials
Feedback
• Results = aggregated behavior of your directs + you.
• No arguing. No threatening. Not saying someone is
bad, someone is wrong.
• Focus on future!
• The goal of feedback is to encourage effective
future behavior.
• Positive and negative feedback should sound the
same.
• Second and third same feedback sounds the same.
• There’s no need to wait to give a feedback. Give
feedback about small things.
8. 8
Management Trinity
Essentials
Praise and Punishment
Feedback A to Z
4 Simple Steps
Feedbackable Behaviors
PIPCIP
Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Q&A
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
9. 9
Feedback | Praise and Punishment
Feedback
Punishment causes future avoidance of
punishment.
Praise is as ineffective as punishment:
• It’s not specific.
• Can be misinterpreted.
• Cannot be reproduced.
Happy employees are not more
productive than unhappy employees.
Productive employees are happier than
unproductive.
10. 10
Management Trinity
Essentials
Praise and Punishment
Feedback A to Z
4 Simple Steps
Feedbackable Behaviors
PIPCIP
Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Q&A
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
11. 11
Feedback | Step 1: Can I give you a feedback?
Feedback
• It’s great when they say “no”.
They trust you honoring their
response.
• Who controls your direct’s
behavior?
• One week is a long as you
should go.
• If you feel “yes, but...” –
perceive it as “no”.
12. 12
Feedback | Step 2: When you do X…
Feedback
• Don’t start with “I noticed”, “I
think”, “I feel”…
• Describe the behavior - not
the attitude.
13. 13
Feedback | Feedbackable Behaviors
Feedback
• the words you say
• how you say those words
• your facial expressions
• your body language
• your work product
14. 14
Feedback | Step 3: …here’s what happens
Feedback
• Outcome should be sizable to
the behavior.
• If you don’t know the outcome,
describe the impact on yourself.
• If you do the feedback perfectly
right, only step 3 is when the
direct knows whether the
feedback is positive or negative.
15. 15
Feedback | Step 4
Feedback
• if positive: “Thank you!” and/or
“Keep it up!”
• if negative: “Will you change
that?”
• You want to get their
commitment.
16. 16
Management Trinity
Essentials
Praise and Punishment
Feedback A to Z
4 Simple Steps
Feedbackable Behaviors
PIPCIP
Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Q&A
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
18. 18
Management Trinity
Essentials
Praise and Punishment
Feedback A to Z
4 Simple Steps
Feedbackable Behaviors
PIPCIP
Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Q&A
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
19. 19
Feedback | Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Feedback
• Am I angry?
• Do I want to remind or punish?
• Can I let it go?
Don’t let the immediacy violate the purpose.
20. 20
Management Trinity
Essentials
Praise and Punishment
Feedback A to Z
4 Simple Steps
Feedbackable Behaviors
PIPCIP
Pre-feedback Check-up Questions
Q&A
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
21. 21
Feedback | Q&A
Feedback
Subordinate: “I don’t have time to do this.”
Manager: “I’m not asking to do more. I’m
asking to do this differently.”
Subordinate: “Great idea! I’ll think about it.”
Manager: “I’m not asking to think about it.
I’m asking to do this differently. I can’t see
you thinking - I can see you changing your
behavior.”
Q: What if they commit, but then do nothing?
A: Give the same feedback 3-4-5 more
times… Then give them feedback about not
following commitments and not willing to
change.
Steering wheel analogy: in 90 seconds you will be off the road.
Autopilot works the same way. Immediately! Why waste the gas?
Managers usually think about feedback… usually about negative feedback
Don’t want to hurt feelings…Don’t do.
Some managers don’t give feedback because they are afraid to make their directs unhappy by giving a negative feedback.
Managers avoid this responsibility because they are afraid.
2. Do in a heartbeat. Takes stuff off their mind. But not effective.
Unlike some other skills, feedback is something EVERY manager can do. MUST do!
Feedback - the way to talk to directs about their performance.
Question to the audience: who wants to know, to hear how they are doing regularly? Do your directs want to hear the same about themselves?
Managers! You are paid for the performance of your directs.
Your directs are more likely to deliver effective behavior when they are getting frequent feedback on what they are doing.
Manager’s job is to achieve results. Results = aggregated behavior of directs + you. So go and talk to your directs about their behavior.
No arguing. No threatening. Not saying someone is bad, someone is wrong. Not attacking anyone personally.
Casual, relaxed - great! Everything you can do to remove the distance. Friendly. Professional.
“You attacked me!” - False! Work is not you! There’s no one in the world for whom their work is them. You might feel that way, but that doesn’t make it so. Your work exists outside of you.
Mistake: focusing on what happened (on the past)
What words can you say? How creatively, effectively, loudly, damagingly, viciously, nicely, sweetly… in what possible way can you deliver a discussion with Mike about what he did this morning, that will change what happened this morning? There’s nothing you can do!
The goal of feedback: encourage effective future behavior.
You cannot encourage the past. Feedback is all about the future. Hence the intonation: you need to picture your direct doing things right next time.If you cannot picture that - get rid of that direct.
If someone made a mistake, we’re fine with that. If you are angry about mistake - you are angry about the difference between the mistake and a positive outcome. Don’t remind your directs about their mistakes.
Everybody wants to know sooner. If anyone doesn’t, just wait for a few years - the life will punch you in the nose.
1. Punishment is GROSSLY ineffective. Punishment causes future avoidance of punishment. It doesn’t prevent from the repeating behavior.
2. Praise is as ineffective as punishment. Why would you want a direct to know what they did was good?
2.1 Want them to feel good. It’s not specific. Can be misinterpreted. Cannot be reproduced. You don’t seem to know what exactly they did to get good results - so they don’t know what to reproduce.
Happy employees are not more productive than unhappy employees.
Productive employees are happier than unproductive.
Productivity drives happiness, not the other way around.
Productivity is the measure of results = behavior. Focus on behavior, not praise!
2.2 Want them to repeat that performance. - So why don’t you talk to them about repeating?! Be explicit!
Some managers believe that shame encourages better performance in future.
Avoiding terrible performance is not the same as achieving positive performance.
When you give negative feedback - smile. It won’t allow you to deliver shame.
A question:
Can I give you a feedback?
May I give you a feedback?
Can we talk about that?
Can we talk about what just happened?
Can I share something with you?
Can I make an observation?
It’s great when they say “no”. They trust you honoring their response.
Never ask your directs a question, whose answer you do not intend to honor.
By the question you imply the answer matters.
If you ever asked your directs on a meeting: “What do you think?” - and no one responded…
They don’t laugh at your jokes because they are funny, they laugh because they’re yours.
The reason of the question is in the reason of the feedback: encouraging their effective future behavior
Who controls your directs behavior? You don’t control it. Control is an illusion. Your directs do.
What good would that do if they are not listening?
For communication to happen, they have to listen. There’re multitude of reasons to be distracted. They will all stand between you and the message you want to deliver. The communication won’t happen.
Feedback is not a big deal! Steering wheel analogy: you can skip one or two.
Is it important to have a conversation? Or for the future behavior to be corrected? Purpose!
1 week is a long as you should go. 99% of what people do is applicable for feedback.
While giving feedback don’t mention something that happened more than a week ago.
Answer: “No” - just go away. Honor the “No”
In 95% of the cases people will come at your desk themselves later to ask what that feedback was about.
If you feel “yes, but...” - perceive it as “no”. If the feedback is positive now - it’s great!
We describe what the direct did. Behavior - not the attitude.
“You behave like a jerk...”, “When you are angry...” - no way! It might be true, but not effective.
We don’t pay for “why”, we pay for the outcome.
The best 2 words: “when you...”
“I noticed”, “I think”, “I feel” - wrong, because it’s your interpretation. The direct begins to make YOU the problem.
We are not trying to avoid hurting their feelings. Organizational behavior is built on healthy psychology.
We don’t talk about their motivation, about their intentions, we talk about what they did.
verifiable on a videotape
5 behaviors:
the words you say
- I will do this
- I think I probably will do this
how you say those words
- I didn’t say you had an attitude problem
- I didn’t say you had an attitude problem
- I didn’t say you had an attitude problem
your facial expressions
your body language
your work product
- quantity
- quality
- meeting a specific standard
- timeliness
- every document
“we did this, and here’s the outcome”
As a manager you speak on behalf of the company. No company is being paid for intent.
Faster is better! Drop in the ocean.
Outcome should be sizable to the behavior. Companies don’t become less profitable because of someone arriving late to meetings.
If you don’t know the outcome, describe the impact on yourself. You can describe how you feel here.
If you do the feedback perfectly right, only step 3 is when the direct knows whether the feedback is positive or negative.
Affirming and adjusting feedback. When the language has to murdered to make the point, the point is what ought to be murdered.
If positive: “Thank you!” and/or “Keep it up!”
If negative: 1. recommended - “Will you change that?”/”Could you change that?”/”Can you do that differently?”
we want to get their commitment
less than 1% will respond “no” - “I can’t believe you said no. Let’s discuss this later.”
2. “What could you do differently (next time)?”
If they are not comfortable, relaxed - it shuts down their ability to be creative.
Public criticism doesn’t work. Let’s make it private then!
Praise is the opposite to criticism. Let’s make it public!
~50% of your team don’t like being called out in front of the team
focus on awardee, not the audience
The big problem with criticism is criticism. Public or private doesn’t matter. It’s focused on the past failure.
3 questions to yourself before giving feedback:
Am I angry?
If yes, don’t give feedback. You’re not in a delivering state of mind. You cannot act yourself out of it. It’s now about yourself. It’s OK to be angry, it’s not OK to express your anger.
Do I want to remind or punish?
If either of these, don’t give feedback. Punishment/reminder is not the purpose of the feedback. You are giving additional mental images of failure, you need to wash that clean instead.
You can take more than you give, but only for a little while until they run you out of town.
Can I let it go?
If you can’t - don’t give feedback. Don’t confuse giving feedback quickly with the urge to do so. If we’re in a rush, we’re not in the right mindset
If you passed the check - go ahead.
If you failed - delay or defer. Quickly is better, but a few hours won’t hurt. Don’t let the immediacy violate the purpose.
If they repeat the behavior - that’s another chance to give feedback. If they don’t - great, credit yourself for encouraging more efficient behavior by simply thinking of it.
If you always fail the check, you need to change your job.
If employee says something you think is designed to get under your skin, the best way to respond is to not let it get under my skin.
Managers being angry is just a terribly ineffective state of mind.