Can You Handle the Feedback?
As a manager, you probably give feedback on a daily basis, but how good are you at
receiving feedback? Do you sometimes reject or deny the feedback you receive, do you
run or hide when feedback is given, or do you simply chose to ignore any feedback that
is given to you? If you answered yes to any of the above, you are in good company
because most managers utilize the fight, flight, or ignore method when they receive
feedback.
A manager who fights feedback is a manager who denies, rejects, or rationalizes away
any feedback offered to him. For example, Tom recently instituted changes in his
salespeople's commission rates. As usual, Tom heard negative feedback from the same
two whiny salespeople who always complain. Tom rationalized that since he only heard
feedback from the usual suspects, his new commission rates would be beneficial to both
the company and the sales staff. Tom's rationalization prevented him from eliciting
feedback from all of his sales staff. Hence, Tom made conclusions that the new
commission rates would be successful before he has gathered all the feedback available
to him.
A manager who engages in feedback flight is a manager who does not have time to listen,
listens while engaging in other projects, or continues to put off opportunities to
receive feedback. Mary has a tendency to ask for feedback at the very end of every
meeting; the only problem is that she frequently leaves the meeting before receiving the
feedback.
A manager who ignores feedback is a manager who fails to utilize feedback. Joan, the
CEO, loves to receive feedback from every person within the company. She simply puts
on her "happy face" and does a lot of nodding and smiling. Her favorite two phrases
are, "I'm glad you brought that to my attention." In addition, "I will bring that
suggestion up at the next manager's meeting." As soon as the employee leaves her
office, Joan forgets the feedback and goes on to her next task.
The reason that a manager engages in fighting feedback, feedback flight, or learns to
ignore feedback has to do with the word "wrong." In other words, most managers believe
that feedback is only given after one has screwed-up. If all is going well, managers
frequently believe that all should be quiet on the frontlines. Therefore, feedback
that occurs only when an error has been made, associates feedback with what one has
done wrong, and turns feedback into a negative one-way process. Utilizing feedback
only when someone has done sometime wrong, is to utilize feedback in a very limited
dimension.
A richer dimension in which to understand feedback is to think of feedback as a
"loop." A feedback loop analogy views feedback as an ongoing process of communication
and self-correction between all parties on the loop. Hence, a person who receives
feedback utilizes it to self-correct, which sends feedback on the loop back to the
sender, who then becomes the receiver, who utilizes it to self-correct. Feedback on
the loop is utilized until self-correction is no longer required. The feedback loop
then becomes dormant until it is necessary to reactive it.
To visualize a feedback loop in action, imagine that you are a doctor attempting to
diagnosis a patient with a serious illness. However, the patient is not able to
communicate to you his symptoms or where he feels pain. All you know is that the
patient has a serious health problem that will kill him if the correct action is not
taken. Just think how frustrated you would feel not being able to receive any
feedback from the patient each time you performed a medical procedure or test.
Without feedback from the patient, you would not know if you were going in the right
or wrong direction or when you were close to obtaining a cure. Without feedback from
the patient, you would probably either kill the patient or simply give up treating
the patient.
Just as doctors cannot diagnosis and cure a patient without feedback, a manager is
not able to create an organization that grows, changes, and profits without feedback.
Therefore, in order for a manager to correct his or her feedback style, the manager
needs to consider feedback as an indispensable commodity. When a manager views
feedback as being indispensable, a manager will start to crave and seek out a variety
of feedback loops, which will prevent him or her from fighting, running from, and
ignoring feedback. In addition, when a manager seeks out feedback, the manager will
establish the type of feedback loop that will help him fine-tune his managerial and
people skills.
Happy Working,
Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com
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