Forbes-Youre-Giving-Bad-Feedback-Heres-One-Question-That-Can-Change-Everything

It’s the end of the year. You have performance review meetings scheduled with all seven of your direct reports. It’s good news: They are all getting their bonuses this year. For each of them, you have prepared a bulleted list of focus areas for the next year, usually the areas where they need to improve. Everyone gets their bonus and leaves knowing how they need to get better. Win-win, right?

Maybe not if you really want your employees to improve.

Before working with a company’s management team on their leadership development process, we conduct a company-wide cultural survey. Consistently, some of the lowest scores are reported on the question asking if employees receive “meaningful feedback on a regular basis.” This data is then anecdotally supported when I start coaching individuals who report that they have little to no idea how they are doing in the eyes of their manager.

They do receive plenty of feedback, though — at the end of the year. That’s 12 months of waiting. I won’t write specifically about the need to reconsider the practice of performance reviews entirely, but here is an interesting argument that the practice might need to be retired.

In 2018, Morten T. Hansen (Jim Collins’ co-writer of Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All) published Great At Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More with conclusions made from five years of research across 5,000 managers and employees. In it, he suggests that mastery of a field is not simply the result of 10,000 hours of practice as famously posited by Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.

Rather, Hansen states, “Individuals who progress the most meticulously assess outcomes, solicit feedback based on known standards of excellence, and strive to correct tiny flaws that the feedback has uncovered. This purposeful and informed way of practicing explains why some learn at a much faster rate than others.”

He goes on to say, “Deliberate practice requires that a manager or employee receives helpful feedback every day, yet most people only receive it during their annual review.”

It would be absurd for a champion caliber athlete to receive feedback only once a year from their coach. Just as a great basketball player gets daily feedback to improve their game, leaders can and should do the same.

Unfortunately, when employees receive regular feedback, it is often ineffective, according to a recent Harvard Business Review print cover story by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall.

“Telling people what we think of their performance, doesn’t help them thrive and excel,” claim Buckingham and Goodall, “and telling people how we think they should improve actually hinders learning.”

Hinders learning? That can sound counterintuitive, as we often offer feedback with the best of intentions to support a person’s development. How could it be that our feedback is stunting this growth?

Buckingham and Goodall explain it with neuroscience. When a person receives strong negative feedback, this can activate their sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight response that has been proven to cause “cognitive, emotional and perceptual impairment.” Basically, it shuts us down.

When a person receives constructive feedback pointing to what they did well, however, his has been shown to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Known as the “rest and digest system,” it has been shown to increase cognitive, emotional, and perceptual openness and stimulate the growth of new neurons. We’re more open to learning.

What does this mean? According to Buckingham and Goodall, it means feedback should focus on what is going well to support the activation of this learning system. They conclude, “We learn most when someone else pays attention to what’s working within us and asks us to cultivate it intelligently.”

So, we’re seeing that feedback needs to be given on a regular basis, and it needs to be affirming in nature. How do we do it?

Giving great feedback starts with one single important question, one that I have all of my clients ask on a regular basis: “What is going well?”

For most of my clients in overstressed environments, this simple question is actually quite foreign. Ask for a list of what’s going wrong and the conversation could go on for hours. Ask what’s going well, and they often slide back into listing problems pretty quickly. Shifting towards affirming feedback requires the discipline to ask “What is going well?” again and again so it replaces the habit of focusing on what is going wrong.

When giving feedback, think about the person and ask, “What is going well with them?” Share your answer to this question in direct conversation on a regular basis. By doing this, many of my clients start to notice improved work performance, motivation, enthusiasm and team collaboration. Notice the habit to slide back into answering, “What’s wrong?” Just because it’s a familiar habit, doesn’t mean it’s the right one.

Justin Follin
Justin Follin is a founding partner and CEO at BLUECASE Strategic Partners. He is a CEO coach and organizational consultant with primary expertise in the areas of visionary leadership development, cross-functional strategic leadership, solving complex adaptive challenges and innovation. He is the primary designer of the BLUECASE Leadership Development Process for fast-scaling, mid-market companies and M&A environments. He has led hundreds of Executives, Directors, and Managers through cross-functional leadership development and has coached public and private CEOs, business leaders, TEDx presenters, academic professors, musicians, and athletes to perform at optimal levels. He has also designed or executed leadership development and consulting approaches delivered inside some of the world’s largest oil and gas, construction, and mining companies.
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Justin Follin
Justin Follin is a founding partner and CEO at BLUECASE Strategic Partners. He is a CEO coach and organizational consultant with primary expertise in the areas of visionary leadership development, cross-functional strategic leadership, solving complex adaptive challenges and innovation. He is the primary designer of the BLUECASE Leadership Development Process for fast-scaling, mid-market companies and M&A environments. He has led hundreds of Executives, Directors, and Managers through cross-functional leadership development and has coached public and private CEOs, business leaders, TEDx presenters, academic professors, musicians, and athletes to perform at optimal levels. He has also designed or executed leadership development and consulting approaches delivered inside some of the world’s largest oil and gas, construction, and mining companies.
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Christine Trevino
Christine Trevino is Chief Operating Officer and efficiency extraordinaire at BLUECASE Strategic Partners. She has a strong commitment to ensuring our processes create an exceptional experience for our clients and our internal team. After spending nearly a decade within one of the nation’s largest health systems, Christine knows the foundational infrastructure necessary for operational efficiency, conflict management, resolution strategies and creating connections to truly understand what is wanted and needed and how to best accomplish it, whether supporting the business or supporting people. Christine has served in other mission focused organizations, like Texas Exes (Hook Em’) and Whole Foods Market where she had the opportunity to be a servant leader and contribute to making an impact in the lives of others as she also does through our work at BLUECASE. Christine is married to her high school sweetheart and they have five children. She enjoys the outdoors, photography and volunteering in various organizations.
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David B. Greenspan
David Greenspan, Ph.D., is the Founder of BLUECASE Strategic Partners. He has a PH.D. in High-Performance Psychology with expertise in why certain individuals and teams perform at exceptional levels, even in suboptimal circumstances. BLUECASE facilitates strategic planning and teaches managers and executives at fast-growing companies how to create seamless cross-functional collaboration, feedback-rich cultures, and high levels of engagement. An expert in creating high-performance corporate cultures and teams, David is an energizing leader, coach, and facilitator known for his capacity to galvanize groups to generate breakthrough results. David has over fifteen years of experience working with senior executives at Fortune 100 companies and executive teams of fast-growing PE-backed companies with between $50 Million and $2 Billion in annual revenue. Notable clients include ESO, Vida Capital, Intersys, Four Hands, AffiniPay, Logix, University of Texas, Maidbot, Bypass Mobile, Austin Fitness Group/Orange Theory Fitness, Kerbey Lane Cafe, ShippingEasy, Triangle Services, Allegiance Mobile Health, and YPO.
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David B. Greenspan
David Greenspan, Ph.D., is the Founder of BLUECASE Strategic Partners. He has a PH.D. in High-Performance Psychology with expertise in why certain individuals and teams perform at exceptional levels, even in suboptimal circumstances. BLUECASE facilitates strategic planning and teaches managers and executives at fast-growing companies how to create seamless cross-functional collaboration, feedback-rich cultures, and high levels of engagement. An expert in creating high-performance corporate cultures and teams, David is an energizing leader, coach, and facilitator known for his capacity to galvanize groups to generate breakthrough results. David has over fifteen years of experience working with senior executives at Fortune 100 companies and executive teams of fast-growing PE-backed companies with between $50 Million and $2 Billion in annual revenue. Notable clients include ESO, Vida Capital, Intersys, Four Hands, AffiniPay, Logix, University of Texas, Maidbot, Bypass Mobile, Austin Fitness Group/Orange Theory Fitness, Kerbey Lane Cafe, ShippingEasy, Triangle Services, Allegiance Mobile Health, and YPO.
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Christel Frietsch
Christel Frietsch is the Operations Administrator at BLUECASE Strategic Partners. She has 30 years of administrative experience with expertise in scheduling, correspondence, logistics and project coordination. Prior to joining the BLUECASE team, she was the Director of Operations for an Austin based CPG healthy lifestyle company, an Executive Administrator for a land use consulting firm, and an Executive Assistant to the CEO of an international disease prevention and wellness company. Originally from Austin, TX, Christel graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry, and completed her minor study in Psychology. She is an IIN Certified Integrative Holistic Health Coach and an IPHM Certified Energy Healer. Christel currently lives in New Braunfels, TX with her partner and two rescued dogs. She enjoys spending time in nature, gardening and reading.
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Lori Darley
Lori brings nearly two decades of experience as a transformational coach and consultant and has worked extensively with leaders and C-suite executives in many industries. She coaches organizations from multi-national corporations, such as Ferro Chemical, a global cosmetics firm and a Fortune 500 “Class One” rail transportation company. She has also worked with a wide variety of entrepreneurial ventures and individuals in non-profits, manufacturing, financial services, management consulting, commercial real estate, and the arts. Lori is a certified somatic coach, recognized by the Strozzi Institute, and a certified Peak Potentials trainer. Additional certifications include Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership, Gallup Strengths-Finder, the Myers/Briggs Personality Assessment, and the EQi-2 (an Emotional Intelligence assessment and 360 feedback model).
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Lori Darley
Lori brings nearly two decades of experience as a transformational coach and consultant and has worked extensively with leaders and C-suite executives in many industries. She coaches organizations from multi-national corporations, such as Ferro Chemical, a global cosmetics firm and a Fortune 500 “Class One” rail transportation company. She has also worked with a wide variety of entrepreneurial ventures and individuals in non-profits, manufacturing, financial services, management consulting, commercial real estate and the arts. Lori is a certified somatic coach, recognized by the Strozzi Institute, and a certified Peak Potentials trainer. Additional certifications include Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership, Gallup Strengths-Finder, the Myers/Briggs Personality Assessment and the EQi-2 (an Emotional Intelligence assessment and 360 feedback model).
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Robin Knudsen
Robin combines 20 years of international corporate experience with that of leadership development to bring insight into creating diverse and inclusive cultures and improving how teams function. As a coach and facilitator, Robin has worked with a broad range of companies across industries from Fortune 100’s through to entrepreneurs and SME’s. Robin holds a BA from The University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Organization Development from St. Edward’s University. She is a certified executive coach, trained in NLP, HeartMath, and Reiki.
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Robin Knudsen
Robin combines 20 years of international corporate experience with that of leadership development to bring insight into creating diverse and inclusive cultures and improving how teams function. As a coach and facilitator, Robin has worked with a broad range of companies across industries from Fortune 100’s through to entrepreneurs and SME’s. Robin holds a BA from The University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Organization Development from St. Edward’s University. She is a certified executive coach, trained in NLP, HeartMath, and Reiki.
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Shawn Clark
Shawn Clark is a certified executive coach who brings extensive hands-on leadership experience to every coaching session. His business background includes senior leadership roles with global Fortune 500 companies and U.S. Federal Government agencies. Shawn delivers powerful and effective coaching experiences using proven tools, resources, and personal experiences to help his clients reach their goals.

Coaching expertise: Managing conflict • Change management • Time management • Turn-arounds for under-performing teams • Strategy development • Building stronger teams • Stress management • Executive presence • Communication skills 

Client List (partial): NASA • American Airlines • Hilton • Kohler • LinkedIn • TripAdvisor • Virgin Galactic • Xcel Energy • Google • U.S. Air Force • U.S. Department of Education • Department of Homeland Security • Department of the Interior • Department of Justice • Small Business Administration • U.S. Department of the Treasury 

Past leadership roles: U.S. Department of the Treasury (OCC) - Chief Learning Officer (CLO)Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) - Vice President for Technical TrainingNorthwest / Delta Air Lines - Director of Technical and Flight Operations TrainingFedEx - Manager of Air Operations Training and Lead MD11 Instructional Designer

Executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith personally selected Shawn from more than 3,000 coaches to work directly with his top clients.
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Shawn Clark
Shawn Clark is a certified Executive Coach who brings extensive hands-on leadership experience to every coaching session. His business background includes senior leadership roles for mission-critical teams and initiatives with global Fortune 500 companies and U.S. Government agencies. Shawn delivers powerful, effective and efficient coaching experiences which enables his clients to achieve results that were previously unattainable. Shawn strives to ensure the coaching journey is a fulfilling and enjoyable experience loaded with exploration, discovery, creativity, growth and achievement.
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Trish Perevich
Trish brings over 10 years of experience as an Executive Coach and has coached a range of professionals from emerging leaders to C-Suite Executives. Her experience includes individual and group coaching; design and delivery of corporate training and coaching programs; and facilitation of SVP and C-Level Peer Advisory Groups. Trish has worked with a range of organizations from startups to Enterprise Fortune 100 companies including Genentech/Roche, Google, NASA and the United States Airforce. She has served dozens of industries including technology, finance, life science, construction, healthcare, education and more. Supporting her experience is a BS Degree in Business/Marketing from The Rochester Institute of Technology. Trish holds the PCC coaching credential along with certificates in Conscious Business Coaching and Team Advantage Coaching. Outside of work Trish enjoys golf, hiking, yoga, fitness classes, cooking and travel.
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Trish Perevich
Trish brings over 10 years of experience as an Executive Coach and has coached a range of professionals from emerging leaders to C-Suite Executives. Her experience includes individual and group coaching; design and delivery of corporate training and coaching programs; and facilitation of SVP and C-Level Peer Advisory Groups. Trish has worked with a range of organizations from startups to Enterprise Fortune 100 companies including Genentech/Roche, Google, NASA and the United States Airforce. She has served dozens of industries including technology, finance, life science, construction, healthcare, education and more. Supporting her experience is a BS Degree in Business/Marketing from The Rochester Institute of Technology. Trish holds the PCC coaching credential along with certificates in Conscious Business Coaching and Team Advantage Coaching. Outside of work Trish enjoys golf, hiking, yoga, fitness classes, cooking and travel.
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Kan Yan
Kan has coached leaders in organizations at various stages of development—from startup founders to C-suite executives at multi-billion dollar companies. He has implemented leadership development programs at several organizations that enabled them to strengthen their culture during periods of massive growth. In his previous lives, Kan worked as a lawyer for the United Nations and US Federal Courts and as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company where he consulted Fortune 500 clients across numerous industries with a focus on strategy, organizational health, and leadership development. Kan has spent more than two decades cultivating wisdom practices. He has spent hundreds of days in silent meditation retreat. He designed and facilitated McKinsey’s Inner Wisdom Retreat which convened C-suite executives from some of the largest organizations in the world to learn about mindful leadership. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a masters of diplomacy from the Tufts Fletcher School.
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Kan Yan
Kan has worked as an international humanitarian for the United Nations, a lawyer for the US Federal Courts, and a management consultant for McKinsey & Company where he consulted Fortune 500 clients across numerous industries with a focus on organizational health and leadership development. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a Masters of Law and Diplomacy from the Tufts Fletcher School.
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Paulin Laberge
Paulin has co-founded two technology companies and has served as CEO of five. After more than 30 years of senior leadership roles in the technology industry, Paulin recently made the transition from running companies to helping teams grow their companies. His most recent engagement was as CEO of iCompass Technologies, a SaaS company that delivers solutions that strengthen open and efficient government, and which resulted in a successful exit at the end of 2017. He has been an advisor and mentor to numerous technology companies. Paulin has firsthand experience in building organizations, developing effective strategies, securing financing, developing market-leading products, establishing strategic alliances, marketing, and selling domestically and internationally. He has worked with boards and management teams to help them precisely execute critical corporate objectives and business strategies, create performance-centric cultures, and engaged, motivated teams, focused on driving results. Paulin has been an Entrepreneur in Residence at the British Columbia Innovation Council, where he established a province-wide mentor program. He was also actively involved in the development and delivery of growth, strategy, and market validation programs widely used by several technology accelerators. Paulin started his career as an Electrical Engineer after graduating from the University of Alberta. Throughout his career, Paulin has trained in numerous areas including, strategy, finance, sales, marketing, negotiations, organizational development, mentoring, and coaching. He resides with his wife, Lea, and their dog Huxley, on the west coast near Vancouver, BC.
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Paulin Laberge
Paulin has co-founded two technology companies and has served as CEO of five. After more than 30 years of senior leadership roles in the technology industry, Paulin recently made the transition from running companies to helping teams grow their companies. His most recent engagement was as CEO of iCompass Technologies, a SaaS company that delivers solutions that strengthen open and efficient government, and which resulted in a successful exit at the end of 2017. He has been an advisor and mentor to numerous technology companies. Paulin has firsthand experience in building organizations, developing effective strategies, securing financing, developing market-leading products, establishing strategic alliances, marketing, and selling domestically and internationally. He has worked with boards and management teams to help them precisely execute critical corporate objectives and business strategies, create performance-centric cultures, and engaged, motivated teams, focused on driving results. Paulin has been an Entrepreneur in Residence at the British Columbia Innovation Council, where he established a province-wide mentor program. He was also actively involved in the development and delivery of growth, strategy, and market validation programs widely used by several technology accelerators. Paulin started his career as an Electrical Engineer after graduating from the University of Alberta. Throughout his career, Paulin has trained in numerous areas including, strategy, finance, sales, marketing, negotiations, organizational development, mentoring, and coaching. He resides with his wife, Lea, and their dog Huxley, on the west coast near Vancouver, BC.
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Lisa Jaecklein
Lisa is well-known in high-tech industries for her work in developing and leading high-performance teams. She has “walked the talk” as President and CEO for private and public engineering-based companies in Satellite Communications, Telecom, and Commercial Enterprise markets. Lisa’s corporate background includes leading an IPO, Strategic Planning, Mergers and Acquisitions, and integration of global teams. She draws from her diverse market experience and passion for coaching to support the professional development of executives and senior management teams. Her focus areas include supporting the development/ refinement of strategic plans, executive coaching to advance leadership capabilities, and organization alignment necessary to support strategy implementation. Lisa brings a unique understanding of the interdependencies of people and business that drive results and ways to sustain a positive level of energy in her client's personal and professional lives. Lisa holds a BS in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and has served as a director on several corporate and not-for-profit boards.
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Lisa Jaecklein
Lisa is well known in high tech industries for her work in developing and leading high-performance teams. She has “walked the talk” as President and CEO for private and public engineering based companies in Satellite Communications, Telecom and Commercial Enterprise markets. Lisa’s corporate background includes leading an IPO, Strategic Planning, Mergers and Acquisitions and integration of global teams. She draws from her diverse market experience and passion for coaching to support professional development of executives and senior management teams. Her focus areas include supporting development/ refinement of strategic plans, executive coaching to advance leadership capabilities and organization alignment necessary to support strategy implementation. Lisa brings a unique understanding of the interdependencies of people and business that drives results and ways to sustain a positive level of energy in her clients personal and professional lives. Lisa holds a BS in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and has served as Director on a number of corporate and not for profit Boards.
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