Transcript

I’m Tim Burningham. And this is The Culture Guide podcast. 

Hey everyone, and welcome to the show. Glad you’re tuned in. Today we are on Episode Seven of Season Three of The Culture Guide Podcast. 

So our podcast exists to help leaders create amazing organizational cultures, and we believe amazing organizational cultures can transform the results within any organization.  

So last week on the podcast we talked about the importance of one-on-one meetings and how effective one-on-one meetings can really help build and shape a strong organizational culture. So if you haven’t had a chance to listen to that episode, I really strongly encourage you to go back and listen to that one.  

So today we’re going to talk about giving tough feedback and giving tough feedback in a way that will help you build and strengthen your culture and your team. So in giving tough feedback, an important place to start is by acknowledging that giving tough feedback is important for you as a leader and is important for your organization.

  

Remember that. Ignoring problems or just allowing people to perform poorly or not complete their job really is not very kind in a lot of ways. It’s the worst thing you can do for a person to help them in their careers…to help them be successful. It’s one of the worst things you can do for your team and for your organization..to ignore problems…to ignore issues that need to be addressed.

 How to Give Tough Feedback

So, first and foremost when talking about giving tough feedback, I think it’s important for us as leaders to acknowledge how important it is that we do give that feedback. And I know at times it can be uncomfortable…we might believe that it might cause a lot of unnecessary tension or stress on our team, but providing tough feedback, giving tough feedback in correcting people who are performing poorly is extremely important again as a leader.  

And again, it’s really important to remember that ignoring problems doesn’t help anyone. So we must be willing to provide tough feedback as often as needed. And that means every time we see that there’s something that needs to be corrected, we can’t ignore things. Because when we do, others notice and people know when other team members maybe are letting the team down, aren’t meeting expectations, and they begin to talk…and so it’s really important to provide tough feedback to really help the individual be successful.  

There’s ways to provide feedback that can really help you as a leader and really help you establish a strong organizational culture.  And so we’re going to talk through 6 steps that you can take to most effectively provide this tough feedback to an individual.  

Clarify the Goal

So number one is to clarify the goal. You need to make sure that you and the person on the same page…that they’re clear with what the expectation is…they’re clear what the goal is out there. So again, you need to reaffirm that goal. Clarify that goal…What’s the thing that they should be accomplishing that they’re not. Or what’s the thing that they should be doing that they’re not.  

So let’s say, for example, that you have a receptionist who really needs to provide a high level of customer service. It’s really important that they are just off the charts in terms of providing great customer service and so you have a way to measure how you’re doing or how your receptionist is doing in terms of providing great customer service. 

 And so again to clarify, the goal for #1 maybe…”Hey, remember when we talked about how important customer service was in your role and that we want to be at a 4.5 out of five in terms of our customer service results and specifically in their interaction with you.” So, this would be the first place to start… again its to clarify the expectations, make sure that it’s very clear…that you and this individual are on the same page. 

Ask How They Think They are Doing?

So #2 is to ask how they’re doing, so ask the individual “how do you think it’s going?” So we’ve clarified our goal. This is our goal. How do you think it’s going? Are they on track? Are they off track? Are they meeting expectations? Are they not meeting expectations?  

You want to get a pulse for how this individual feels about how they’re doing at reaching the goal. And if they seem way off track, then you simply ask them how did they come to that conclusion? How did they come to that conclusion about where they’re at, and hopefully it should be very clear in terms of their results. 

 And if there is a disconnect, then you need to talk about that…make sure you’re on the same page.  Like, if your customer satisfaction results are 2.0 and the goal is to be at a 4.5… and they’re like, “yeah, no. I think we’re doing a really good job . I think I’m doing really great.” 

Of course, you need to have that conversation and suggest that the data indicates that things aren’t great, that you’re not having success and that you’re well below the goal of where they need to be. So you need to correct that…that disconnect. But again, hopefully results are clear and hopefully they own it. Hopefully, they say, yeah, we’re…we’re struggling. I’m struggling to reach the goal of 4.5 on our customer satisfaction scores. 

Ask Why They Think They Are Where They Are At

The next thing you do in providing tough feedback…#3 is ask why they think they are where they are. Like, if they’re struggling with customer service again, this is a great opportunity to ask,”Why do you think we’re not measuring up? What do you think’s holding us back.” Hear them out. Hear their side of the story. Learn what’s going on in their minds and what they believe may be keeping them from having great results.  

 Share a Related Story

#4 is to share a story. Now this story should possibly be a personal experience, or if not a personal experience, than perhaps an experience of someone that you worked with before or someone that you’re close with. So again, if my receptionist is struggling with customer service, I may say, “I remember a time when I really had a hard time providing great customer service. I was super busy. I had a lot going on and so whenever I interacted with customers I was constantly thinking about all the things on my To Do List and what I needed to get done. So I remember being there.” So sharing a personal story or story of someone else who you knew who had the same issue or the same problems that the person is struggling with is really, really important in providing this tough feedback effectively. 

Certainly they’re not the only ones in the world that have ever made this mistake.  So, in preparing to give this tough feedback you need to think about and prepare a story of someone who struggled with the same issue and hopefully that person’s you. 

 Provide a Path

#5 is to provide a path. To provide a path to greater results. To provide a path to reaching the goal, whatever that goal might be. So again, if you’re sharing that story about…you remember when you struggled with that same issue or…or you remember when a certain person struggled with that same issue. You need to also, hopefully, have a story about how someone overcame that issue…what they did to kind of triumph over that problem this person is struggling with. And so again, going back to my example I made, share,” So what I had to do whenever I saw a customer is I just had to immediately count to three and make my mind blank. That would help my mind go blank so I wouldn’t worry about the things on my To Do List and I could focus completely on the person in front of me.”  So share whatever it is that you’ve done or that someone has done in the past to overcome the same issue. 

Let Them Know You Care

#6 is to make sure you help them know that that you care..right? So you want to separate the person from the issue.  

So we want to make sure that you say things like, “look I, I really enjoy having you on the team, but this item that we’re struggling with is so important to our business. It’s so important to our success and here’s why….” Or share things lik, “gosh, everything else you do, you’re just nailing. You’re knocking it out of the park, but with this one issue, it’s so critical to this specific position that you’re in.” 

So you want to make sure that you’re separating the person from the issue and that you help them know that you care about them as a..as a person. You might also want to share things like, “I really hate to see this holding you back. You have so much potential. Or gosh, it bothers me that you’re not being more successful in your position and I want to do everything I can to help you be successful.”And what you’re doing…so again, help them know that you care.  

And so that’s it. Those are the steps for providing tough feedback.  

Again, number one you want to clarify the goal. 

#2 you want to ask how they think that they are doing. 

#3 you want to ask why they may be where they’re at, like get their side of the story. What’s going on? Is there things that are distracting them or things that they believe are keeping them from reaching the goal? 

 #4 is to share a story. Talk about someone else who’s struggled with that same issue, whether it’s yourself or someone you’ve worked with in the past or someone that you know.

#5 is to provide a path. Share with them what people have done in the past to overcome the issue that they’re having problems with. 

And then finally #6 is make sure you help them know that you care about them as an individual, that you’re sharing a tough feedback because you want to see them succeed. You want to see your team succeed. You want to see the organization succeed and this issue doesn’t define them, but you’re really there to help them be successful.  

How Giving Tough Feedback Applies to The 4 C’s Model

Remember giving tough feedback is essential. We can’t avoid it as leaders. We can’t ignore issues as leaders and so tough feedback…providing tough feedback can’t be and shouldn’t be avoided. Following these steps will help you provide tough feedback in a way that will help you build your culture. The reason why is because following these steps will help you reinforce the 4 C’s and the 4 C’s model to building a strong and effective organizational culture. 

It will help establish clarity if you provide feedback consistently. In this way it will help reinforce consistency within your organization. It also allows you to celebrate the good things that the person is doing by making sure that you’re focusing just on the issue at hand and then finally showing kindness will help you established charity within the organization.  

Again, anything you do to help strengthen the 4 C’s model within your organization…each of the 4 C’s will help you strengthen your organizational culture, and anything you do that takes away from those 4 C’s will have a negative impact on your culture.  And that’s why providing towel feedback in this way will result in a stronger organizational culture and much better results within your organization. 

Thanks for your time today. I appreciate you tuning in. If you haven’t had a chance to leave us a review yet on iTunes, I’d encourage you to do that. If you have any questions or comments about this podcast, please reach out to me and let me know. Also, please share our podcast with anyone who you feel might benefit from the things that we talk about on our podcast. 

Again, thanks everyone. Good luck out there providing that tough feedback to your people. I hope you have a great day and we’ll catch you next time.