Transformational Feedback – What are the rules?

This is the third part of the 3 part series on Transformation Feedback Part 1 – Transformational Feedback: Taking the next step to the 21st-century culture Part 2 – A what culture? Part 3 – Transformational Feedback

Transformational Feedback – What are the rules?

These following rules and outlines need to be explained and experienced prior to using the Transformational Feedback:

Know your apples from your oranges:

There is a prevalent misconception that there is a single type of feedback, in fact, there are 3 (Stone & Heen, 2015):

1. Appreciation – Sharing your gratitude or thanks to another person: e.g., “Thank you”, but better yet a more specific appreciation: “I was so happy to see you prepared the presentation before the deadline.”
2. Coaching – giving directions and asking questions to improve the employee’s performance e.g., “Is there a better way to do what you did?”
3. Evaluation – e.g., “here is where you are right now”.

Feedback Mismatch – This is a state in which, for example, an Evaluation is given when Coaching is needed or expected. When giving feedback, one should be aware of the type given and/or expected to prevent a rupture in communication. Feedback Types, Timing, and Frequency – Coaching and Appreciation should be given as close as possible to the related event; there is no need to wait for a mid-year review to show appreciation or give a piece of corrective coaching advice. As Netflix’s CEO shares in his slide deck: “As a leader, no one in your group should be materially surprised of your views”. (Netflix, 2009) Evaluation, on the other hand, is crucial in order for the employee to know where they stand. Yet Evaluations also lead by definition to a performance-oriented state, as shown in Section 4, and should be given sparsely and scheduled apart from other types of feedback. Similarly, while Evaluation Feedback is often given as part of the compensation or promotion process, Coaching and Appreciation should be avoided or minimized in order to allow learning to occur, for example: most people would be less open to learn immediately after being told they received 3 out of 5 on their evaluation and will not get a raise this year.

1. Be Specific, not personnel – Nobody likes to be criticized, but as we saw in section 4, a feedback against a personal trait of any kind is very often perceived as a threat. Focused task-related feedback that is not perceived as dangerous for the Self would allow the receiver to accept, be open, and learn from this experience.
2. Cultivate VSL awareness – Transformation Feedback is based on the pillars of Validation, Safety, and openness to Learning (VSL). This does not mean that we do not give feedback at all, or that the feedback is “sugar-coating” (e.g., the way too common “sandwich feedback method”), but that the process of feedback is not a technical one and that the giver pauses to verify that the feedback he or she is about to give is aligned with the current VSL level of the relationship.
3. Receiver trumps Giver – Try this simple experiment, open your favorite browser and type in google search “How to give good feedback” (incl. parenthesis). You will find six times more webpages that answer this question then the question “How to receive good feedback.” Why is it that we focus so much in books, lectures, and workshops on the best ways to give feedback and so little on receiving it? In a TF culture the focus is on the receiver. Improving the ability to receive feedback, especially in managers, models that behavior for the rest of the team. It also allows more feedback to be given and heard and is the basis for the VSL environment that is so crucial to build on when giving feedback. The receiver is also taught how he or she can choose to accept or decline the feedback.

Summary

In this work, we have demonstrated that one of the main impediments to successful organizations in a VUCA world is a culture shift that would focus on the people and their interconnectedness and open communication. We outlined the three main pillars that create the basis of such a culture: Safety, Learning, and Transformational Feedback, and focused, in the scope of this work, on Transformational Feedback as a group intervention for middle managers in a large multinational organization in England. We concluded with possible issues or problems during the intervention and how we plan to handle them.  

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