What Every Leader Must Do to Drive Greater Performance

A few months ago, John, a General Manger of a division of a large company hired me to be his executive coach. John was concerned that his career had plateaued. He worried he was being seen at corporate as a “Steady Eddie” and had fallen from the fast track. Concerned that he was being seen as a B player, he wished to accelerate the performance for himself and his team. John needed a fresh set of eyes to look for the opportunity.

I sought feedback on how John was viewed by his direct reports and his direct manager. His manager saw him as capable, but less effective at rallying and focusing his team to discover new markets and new products that would significantly lift the performance of his business. The feedback from his direct reports was more telling. When John and I reviewed the feedback from his direct reports, he was not surprised to learn their greatest concern about him: a lack of feedback from John on their individual performance as executives. During the four years John had been in his role, his direct reports bemoaned the fact they received little positive or corrective acknowledgement from him, other than the mandatory year end performance appraisal which usually consisted of a “vanilla” overview of the year’s performance. Nothing telling or insightful.

When asked about this perception of a feedback void, John acknowledged that he “wasn’t much of a feedback giver”. He went on to say that he didn’t personally care to receive or give feedback. He shared a story about earlier in his career when a hyper-critical boss dogged him endlessly with complaints, causing John to dread his job and interactions with his manager. He told me that he vowed never to create that type of negative situation with his direct reports; thus, he swore off what he saw as micro-managing his staff and didn’t provide much of any kind of feedback, except when absolutely necessary, such as at the year-end review.

It’s easy to understand how an overly critical boss can cause a toxic working climate. I shared with John that he wasn’t the only leader who didn’t like to give or get feedback. We discussed some recent research that showed nearly 2/3rds of employees felt they hear too little feedback and have too little interaction with their direct manager. The same study showed that 65% of the respondents felt they received too little positive feedback from their boss and 51% said they received too little constructive feedback. We also discussed that nearly everyone views the annual performance appraisal as being a broken process for delivering and receiving feedback and John acknowledged that was his experience, also. And we discussed the uncertainty that can result when manager and employee aren’t on the same page.

John came to the realization that his belief about feedback, perpetuated by the ghost of his overly critical boss, might be one he needed to let go of. The reality was that John’s people were asking him to be a leader who both connected with them and who challenged them to be their best. To help them be their best, they required frequent feedback to know they were aligned with John and how he viewed their efforts and performance. This was an “ah ha” moment.

It was time to introduce the Ladder of Feedback.

First, when we provide feedback to others, it’s useful to use a guideline of four positive remarks to one constructive comment. The 4:1 ratio has been proven to be effective in ensuring a positive connection is maintained between leader and direct report and that the quantity of constructive feedback comments doesn’t outweigh the positive. It’s positive eyes vs negative eyes. Catching people doing things right and making the feedback process one of recognition and mutual learning vs a punishing experience.

Secondly, the Ladder of Feedback provides a model of providing feedback that allows for important information to be exchanged on a progressive basis, from easiest to deliver (less critical) to more challenging to deliver (most critical).

When climbing a ladder, the easiest step is the first step. The first feedback step is to simply say, “Thanks!” for a job well done. A simple sincere and genuine thanks.

The second step on the Ladder of Feedback is asking as simple question, “What’s your view?” Following the sales call, “What’s your view on how things went? What went well, what could have gone better from your perspective?”

The third step is feedforward. Feedforward is simply a suggestion for the future and can be, “In the future, when you make that presentation, consider cutting the slides in half and doubling the time for interaction with the audience.”

The fourth step is “May I tell you what I saw?” I ask for permission. “Is it convenient now or after lunch?” “When you started discussing features and benefits, I believe it was too early. The discussion with the client on his needs and concerns wasn’t complete. There was more he had to say.”

The final step is step five. There’s one issue, observation, behavior that is getting in your way of optimal performance. Here’s an example, “Mary, if you were to ask your team at the end of each meeting if we’ve discussed all the critical issues – left no undiscussables out there — that would help build commitment and engagement.”

Equipped with his new framework for delivering feedback, John was motivated to commit to a new way of engaging and raising the performance of his direct reports. He saw how he could make real-time feedback part of his repertoire as a leader and see the alignment and performance gains. A better way to both connect and challenge his team. The Ladder of Feedback should be in every successful leader’s portfolio of skills.