Ken Vaughan – Page 12 – New Horizon Partners

Four Choices for Feedback

One of the best ways to guide and direct the performance of team members is through consistent feedback. The annual review is too late to affect performance on day-to-day basis. People want to know whether they are meeting the standard, how their work or performance is perceived, and how they can grow and improve.

Here are four choices for the way that we, as leaders, might give feedback:

No Feedback– The absolute worst kind of feedback is none at all. People want to know where they stand. Most people want to perform well and meet the standard, if for no other reason than to stay employed. It would certainly be unfair to a person to reveal in an annual review that they have been missing the mark for the past year. Yet this is frequently done.

Negative Feedback– For some people, there is a reluctance to give negative feedback. Our mothers taught us that “If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.” For other people, they can only criticize. Negative feedback is a steady diet of not enough, not good enough, not acceptable. When presented in this way, it comes across as critical and is demoralizing. Negative feedback has no value and no place in effective leadership. Instead, keep reading.

Positive Feedback– While many people think of feedback as only presenting the bad news, there is always a need in relationship to express appreciation. This is what positive feedback does. As a leader, we need to find opportunities to both feel and express both gratitude and appreciation. It is easy to be so busy that we don’t take the time. Or we might have a subconscious thought that says a certain level of performance is what is expected. But expressing appreciation helps both the speaker and the hearer to have more positive thoughts. It strengthens the relationship between them. A culture of appreciation builds a motivated and enthusiastic team. Remember though that positive feedback should focus on specific action or behavior. “You’re so smart” is not nearly as valuable as “I really appreciated the way that you helped the team come to that conclusion.”

Corrective Feedback– There are also many opportunities for corrective feedback. Sometimes these are due to error or omission. But there are also many opportunities for growth and improvement. Corrective feedback is not intended to blame or criticize. Instead it is intended to understand the cause of a problem or shortfall and to prevent the problem or shortfall from reoccurring. While it may address a negative, such as a mistake or a problem behavior, corrective feedback is a gift to the recipient in that it is helping him/her grow or improve. It may improve the quality of their work, their productivity, or the quality of their life. Corrective feedback is a respectful dialogue that focuses on the problem. The best corrective feedback is done in a coaching mode, where the leader guides, through questions, a discussion in which the team member identifies the cause and the solution for prevention or improvement. When you might be tempted to use negative feedback, use corrective feedback instead.

Here are ten tips on giving effective feedback:

Focus on performance, not the personality.
Emphasize facts, not feelings.
Focus on the individual effort.
Feedback is best served warm, in other words, provide feedback as soon as possible after (or even during) the activity.
Be clear, direct, and specific.
Focus on the fix.
Use your words wisely.
Provide feedback in digestible doses.
Make it a two-way conversation.
Balance negative or corrective feedback with praise or positive feedback.

We will come back to these ten tips for a deeper discussion in another article.

The effective leader leads through a relationship of trust and respect. The effective leader demonstrates humility, caring deeply about the others, and is focused on the future, both of his/her organization and of the people that he/she leads. Applying liberal doses of feedback, both positive and corrective, builds the relationship and builds the followers.

Are you providing enough feedback to your team members, both positive and corrective?

Tell Me More About….

Stepping Into Negative Emotions

As a leader, what do you do when you meet with someone who is in a negative or heightened emotional state, perhaps either very angry or sad to the point of tears. A heightened emotional state in another person, frequently causes a heightened reaction, be it either the fight or flight reaction. We might react to an angry person with an angry reply ourselves, the fight mode. Or we might react by avoiding the person or dismissing the emotions that they are feeling, the flight mode. A better response from a strong, emotionally-mature leader is to step into the emotion.

While not easy, responding by stepping into the emotion tends to make the other person feel accepted and understood. This often diffuses the emotion and brings them back into a more rational thought process in which the underlying issue can then be discussed.

From a simple neuroscience point of view, every person has a window of tolerance, a range of emotions in which they are able to feel emotions while still thinking and functioning well. Within the window of tolerance, a person can feel and express anger, for example, without being controlled by that anger. Outside of the window of tolerance, there are two zones. In the hyper-aroused zone, emotions become so strong that our thinking brain shuts down and our emotional brain takes full control. What we say and do in this state is completely driven by our emotions. There is also a hypo-aroused zone in which a person basically shuts down because the body is unable to deal with the trauma or emotions.

When we encounter someone in a heightened emotional state, they are often operating outside of their window of tolerance or in a hyper-aroused state. Therefore, they may be speaking from emotions only. If we fall into the trap of reacting and replying in a highly emotional manner, we run the risk of conducting a dialogue in which neither person is using their thinking brain but only their emotional brain.

Stepping into a discussion with a person operating in a heightened state of emotions requires that we accept, contain, explore the emotions. One of the methods to do so is to respond with exploratory questions, such as, “I see that you are very angry. Can I ask what is causing this anger?” In such a discussion, one of the great coaching questions to draw out the emotion is “Tell me more about….” By drawing out the anger, you essentially contain some of it without internalizing it. Once the person has had the opportunity to share and feel understood, they are most frequently able to move back into their window of tolerance. They likely still feel some anger, but at a level in which they are able to effectively use their thinking brain. Once the emotion is diffused, it can be time to explore the underlying causes of the emotion.

How does one develop this ability to step into emotions? The most difficult part for most people is developing a sense of comfort with and acceptance of negative emotions. From an early age we are often taught that negative emotions are wrong, weak, or unacceptable. Before a person can step into negative emotions they must first be convinced that they are natural and acceptable. Here are some steps to grow in our ability to step into negative emotions:

Self-awareness – Develop an understanding of your own emotions including your mindset about them and your ability to recognize and identify your own emotions. Recognize your own emotional triggers.
Expand your own window of tolerance – As we gain increasing levels of emotional maturity, our own window of tolerance expands. We are able to function with a broader range of emotions and are more comfortable with them.
Develop a coaching mindset – A coaching mindset seeks to understand and to draw out from another person their own understanding. A coaching mindset loves to ask probing questions in a positive, professional relationship.
Grow your ability to recognize emotions in others – As one of the domains of emotional intelligence, before you can step into emotions in others you must first be aware and able to recognize them.
Practice stepping in – Understanding your own emotions and growing more emotionally mature are big steps, but it can still be scary to step into someone else’s negative emotions. The only way to grow comfortable doing so is to resolve to develop that capability. Then step in whenever you see the opportunity. And “tell me more about how scary that felt to step into someone’s negative emotions.”

The ability to step into heightened or negative emotions is a part of emotional intelligence and is an essential part of effective leadership. By doing so, a leader can help team members to be more effective at work and in life. Stepping in with a healthy response builds a relationship whereas reacting in fight or flight tears down relationships. This ability to step in is important for every type of relationship.

Are you able to step into negative or heightened emotions? What is your next step to improving this ability?

Keep the Change!

The best leaders continually seek to grow in order to become even more effective. They seek new skills and they seek to build their character so that tomorrow’s version is better than today’s.

As a part of growth comes change. In delving into our self-awareness, we often find traits that do not serve us well and need to be improved or replaced. These traits might be anything in our character or personality or in the way that we function. Some common examples might be a fear of conflict, a tendency towards self-criticism, some weakness in listening skills, an inability to accept feedback, lack of respect for others, being too quick to offer solutions, or many other things. (If we are not finding opportunities for growth and improvement, then we are not being truthful in our self-assessment.)

Some people relish change. Some people fear and run from change. Most of us are in the middle. We know that change is necessary and helpful in the long-run but challenging or unsettling in the short-term.

Change requires sustained effort. It is said that it typically takes six weeks to build a new habit and six months to make that new habit a lifetime change. During those first six weeks, change requires a constant awareness and intentional effort. During that period between the six weeks and the six months, we need to be on guard that we don’t revert back to the old habit in a moment of stress or weakness.

In the book, The Servant Leader, authors Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges offer seven reactions that people often have to change:

People will feel awkward, ill at ease, and self-conscious when confronted by change.
People will feel alone, even if everyone around them is going through the same change.
People will think first about what they will need to give up.
People will think that they can only handle so much change at once.
People will be concerned that they don’t have enough resources in terms of time, money, skills, energy, etc. to implement the change.
People will be at different levels of readiness for any particular change.
If pressure is taken off, people will revert to old behaviors.

When first identifying the need for change, we might feel a negative energy. We become aware of the trait or practice that is having a negative effect and we feel regret or a desire not to be held back or suffer the consequence of this weakness. But mostly we just want the effect to go away or to be negated. Once we come to terms with the cause and effect, we might accept that change is necessary. If so, we identify the old pattern and define a new desired behavior. Then we define a plan for change. This plan must include a way to recognize and short-circuit the old behavior and to consciously replace it with the new, desired behavior.

Change is best accomplished as a team effort. The actual change process requires resources, often the greatest of which is energy. Recruiting an accountability partner or pursuing change in a group setting, such as a peer advisory group, adds energy from others around us and holds us accountable to continue the effort necessary for change. Without such a support team, it is often too easy to give up when we are partially up the slope towards the new behavior.

Change is often uncomfortable and requires considerable effort. But if we desire to be the best that we can be, we will constantly be in a state of change as we grow.

Where do you need to grow? How can you make change effective and lasting?

Strategic Focus

Strategic focus is essential to business success. It is the ability to identify the one path that the business intends to take to accomplish its objective and to then relentlessly pursue that path while ignoring other paths along the way.

Many businesses fail to focus which dilutes their resources and can eventually drain or drown the business. The reason that companies fail to focus is a fear of missing a business opportunity. This is especially true for young entrepreneurial businesses. Granted, we hear of stories in which a business pursued something out of their ordinary line of business and serendipitously found a great business opportunity. But this is the exception rather than the rule.

Lack of strategic focus dilutes resources because the organization spends its resources pursuing opportunities that have cross purposes. The danger comes in when one day the organization is pursuing business that requires lowest costs, the next day they pursue business that requires higher levels of production capabilities, then they pursue some business that requires unique customer service commitments, and so forth. As these different customer requirements come into the business, the organization spends time, money, and energy to develop each of them. And the result is that resources are cast about and the capabilities are given (at no cost) to customers who do not value them.

We should clarify here that strategic focus is a different, although similar, concept than a focus strategy. In the classic book, Competitive Strategy, author Michael Porter defines three broad or generic choices for strategy:

Cost leadership strategy in which the business pursues the lowest cost of producing or delivering its product or services.
Differentiation strategy in which the business pursues unique design or production capabilities that provided added value in meeting customer needs.
Focus strategy in which the business pursues a well-defined segment of the market in which it is able to develop either a cost leadership or differentiation advantage for a certain set of customers.

The smart business finds a business strategy in which they have faith and relentlessly pursues it. Strategic focus is this ability to define and pursue a clearly defined strategy that delivers value to a clearly defined set of customers. Strategic focus causes the organization to ignore business opportunities that do not fit within the strategy and the customer definition. It unites the organization in its effort to continually build the capabilities that make it unique. Strategic focus drives the organization to identify and pursue the customers that value the firm’s capabilities or product/service offering.

One of the purposes of strategic planning is to communicate and unite the organization to pursue the defined strategy based on the belief that this strategy will produce results that meet the firm’s objectives. In turn, the organization needs to have a culture that draws the organization together in pursuit of this strategic focus.

Does your organization have strategic focus? Is everyone on the same page and pursuing the same strategy?

Volume or Vision

What sort of a boss are you? How do you motivate your team members?

For some people, their leadership practice consists of volume. Using a command and control style, they attempt to drive people to perform. Some of the command and control bosses think that the volume of their commands or stating them emphatically with colorful language, makes them more effective. These bosses demand respect and demand that their team members perform.

When speaking about leadership, we often talk about leaders and their followers. But the command and control boss doesn’t have followers, those that willingly contribute. Their team members are more like subjects or fiefs under the rule of the boss. This type of boss sees people as assets to be utilized.

Another choice for leadership could be termed the “vision” model. These leaders value their team members. They treat their team members with respect and build a relationship with them. In return, the team members respect and trust their leader. This leader communicates a vision to the team and the team willingly embraces the vision and follows the respected leader.

To some, this route to leadership may seem to require more effort. The right to lead is earned through character and effort. But the end result is much better. Team members in the “vision” model buy in to the vision and are willing to go the extra mile to achieve the leader’s goals. The team members are more satisfied and more fulfilled, leading to higher productivity and innovation. But in the final analysis, it isn’t just the performance achieved; rather, it is the way that people deserve to be treated.

What sort of a boss are you? How do you motivate your team members?

What Is Servant Leadership? – Part 2

Servant leadership turns the old perception of leadership upside down. Instead of being served by his or her followers, the servant leader is focused on serving those whom he or she is leading, helping them maximize their potential in life and on the job. In Part 1 of this article, we described what servant leadership is and made the point that servant leadership is not a set of skills but, rather, is an outflow of the character of a true servant leader.

If servant leadership grows out of the character of a certain sort of person, what are the traits of servant leadership? We can divide the traits of a servant leader into two categories – the internal traits and the external traits.

It takes a certain kind of person to be a true servant leader. Some of the internal traits that are typical of servant leaders are as follows:

Self-aware– servant leaders tend to be highly self-aware, know their strengths and weaknesses and comfortable with who they are and who they are not.
Mission-driven– servant leaders tend to have a clear understanding of their purpose in life and follow that purpose relentlessly.
Forward-focused– servant leaders face the future with anticipation and expectation, seeing what can be with vision and expectation.
Competent– servant leaders tend to be highly capable and constantly growing and developing themselves.
A person of character – a servant leader is trustworthy, demonstrates integrity and high moral standards.

While these internal traits are often true of any highly effective leader, what really sets a servant leader apart is the way in which he or she interacts or views their relationship with the people around them. The following traits are typical of the relationships of servant leaders with people in their sphere of influence:

Humility– servant leaders focus on the other people, not themselves. Their mindset is “you, not me.”
Value of people– servant leaders have a general belief in the value of every person. No matter the role or personality of the other, the servant leader sees their value as a created being. Their focus goes beyond the role of the other person; they value the whole person. They express appreciation and demonstrate inclusiveness.
Belief in people– not only is every person valued, but the servant leader sees potential in the other person. As a leader, they want each person to find the best opportunity to utilize their potential. They are encouraging and empowering.
Stewardship– servant leaders understand the privilege and responsibility of caring for others and contributing to the development of the other person.
Development of others– servant leaders make it a priority to help others in their personal growth. They look for potential and bring it out. They multiply themselves by developing leadership within others.
Communicators– servant leaders are good communicators. They seek and provide feedback. They seek to hear and know others and they communicate vision and direction.
Relational– servant leaders are open and inviting in relationship. They seek to know and be known. They are authentic and empathetic. They care about the other person.

One does not become a servant leader by simply practicing these skills. Rather these practices are a natural way of behaving because of the values and beliefs of the servant leader. If you wish to be an effective servant leader, you must first grow your character into the sort of person that naturally practices these traits.

The natural result of servant leadership is a team that is empowered and cohesive, valuing each other and working collaboratively toward the shared vision.

Is servant leadership a natural pattern for you? Are you growing your character towards becoming a more complete servant leader?

What Is Servant Leadership? – Part 1

Servant leadership turns the usual perception of leadership upside down. The common conception of leadership is a pyramid where the leader sits at the top and the hierarchy below supports and follows the leader. On the other hand, in servant leadership the leader supports those whom he or she leads. Servant leadership can be defined as leading in such a way as to meet the greatest needs and therefore maximizing the potential of those within one’s sphere of influence.

Some people are motivated to lead by a hunger for power or control. Some seek leadership because they desire recognition and what might be considered the high profile of a leadership position. Either of these types of leader is typified by seeking to develop the presence or charisma that leads to the leadership position; their focus is on themselves. On the other hand, a servant leader is most recognized by the humility demonstrated in leading; their focus is on the ones that they lead.

While we can find lists of the skills of servant leaders, true servant leadership goes deeper than a few skills. Servant leadership is an outpouring of the inner traits or character of a person that drives him or her to live in such a way. The most fundamental trait of a servant leader is that of valuing and believing in other people. This, after all, is true humility. Someone once said, humility is not thinking less of yourself, rather, it is thinking of yourself less.

The idea of servant leadership is not new. We can find the idea throughout history. In the Gospel of Mark, the concept of servant leadership is described in the tenth chapter, “⁴²And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever would be first among you must be slave (or servant) of all.” (from ESV, published by Crossway Bibles)

The term ‘servant leader’ was coined in the 1970’s by Robert Greenleaf as he proposed it as a philosophy of business leadership. Greenleaf said, “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

Servant leadership can be described as stewardship, in which the leader is entrusted with, and accepts a great deal of the responsibility for, the growth and develop of the people whom he or she leads.

We have focused here in Part 1 on the definition of servant leadership. In Part 2 we will dig into how servant leadership plays out in our daily practice.

Are you driven to use others or to serve others as you lead?

Team or Simply Workgroup?

In recent years the use of the word team has become more popular in organizations. Instead of the executive staff we now have the leadership team. Instead of the sales department or the salesforce we have the sales team. When we need to work on a process improvement project or plan the Christmas party we pull together a team to make it happen. There are project teams, work teams, functional teams, review teams, and so forth.

Besides the fact that it is the popular thing to do, most likely we use the term “team” in hopes that it will motivate the members to work collaboratively, as if calling it a team will make it a team. And perhaps there is some psychological effect that encourages the people who are on a team to behave in a more team-like fashion.

A team is a number of persons associated together in work or activity according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Wikipedia defines a team as a group of individuals working together to achieve a goal, but then goes on to describe those team members as having complementary skills and generating synergy through a coordinated effort. Most simple definitions of a team would describe it as a group of people who share these traits:

Clear, common goals.The team members know what goal is to be achieved and they agree upon what that goal encompasses. This might be achieving a certain level of sales if they are the sales team, developing a better business process if they are a re-engineering team, or having a successful and enjoyable Christmas party if they are the party planning team.

Relevant and complementary skills.The team members each bring a variety of skills and strengths to the team with the idea that together they represent a full and robust set of skills required to achieve the goal. They are able to use these skills cooperatively as the team requires.

Good communication skills and habits.The team members are able to work together because they are able to communicate effectively within the group, describing the work to be accomplished, the part that each will play in that effort, and the assistance that each need from other members of the group.

The definition above would represent most people’s understanding of a team. Yet, these definitions fall short of defining a true and effective team. In 2017 the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team attempted to build a championship team by signing a number of all-star players to surround the great player already on the team. These players all understood the goal, had the skills, and were able to communicate, yet they failed miserably because they did not coalesce into a team. They remained individuals and were not able to operate in unison as a team.

The above description of what is commonly termed a team is actually more of a workgroup. They are together because the work that they do can be more effective with some synergy between the group members. A true and effective team is built upon a strong relationship or bond between the team members, so that they can operate in unison, or as one body with different parts.

To become a true and effective team, requiring this strong relationship, all of the members must share the following traits:

Know and be known by each other.This requires that all members must be authentic, bringing their true self to the team, and vulnerable, willing to share their humanity with the team, including failures and weaknesses.

Accept each other.When the team members fully know each other, they must be able to accept the whole person represented within each of their team members. This requires knowing and valuing both the strengths and weaknesses of each other.

Trust each other.This level of trust is an extension of acceptance. It is the knowledge that no one on the team is going to be judged by their thoughts or actions or their successes or failures. This trust then enables debate on issues that does not move into personal conflict. It allows every team member to fully participate without any fear of judgement.

Love each other.The word love may be the most misused and misunderstood word in the English language. The definition from Paul Tripp, although originally intended for marriage, is applicable to the way that team members regard each other: “Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.” Team members demonstrate the humility that values the other team members above themselves.

Submit to the group.In this team environment every thought is acceptable, but the team needs to make collective decisions. In a true and effective team, the members are each able to voice and argue for their point of view. But at the end of the day, every team member must be able to fully support the decision of the team, even when it is far different from their own opinion or recommendation.

Be accountable to each other.Each team member is diligent about carrying their share of the load and following through on commitments. While the team is able to trust each other and each one can submit to the team consensus, there are times when a team member might inadvertently stray from what is best for the team. True and effective teams are able to address, correct, and move past any failures or missteps.

Be committed to each other.A true and effective team requires a level of humility that places both the collective team and the other members of the team above each individual member’s own interests. Together the team members recognize the value and strength that is represented in the team and are committed to building and maintaining the relationships. Through the team, each member is committed to the collective goals of the team.

In his book “The Advantage”, author Patrick Lencioni argues that organizational health is the most important determinant of success. A true and effective team at the leadership level is one of the key elements of organizational health. It is easy to see how this model of a leadership team can be more effective than the so common group of executives fighting political battles for their personal agendas. The true and effective team requires considerable effort and a careful selection of team members, but the benefit is enormous, both for the leadership of the organization and for the organizational culture.

Thanks to my friend, Kevin McHugh, one of the country’s top executive coaches, serving CEO’s of Fortune 500 and other major corporations. This article grew out of a recent wide-ranging breakfast discussion with Kevin on the topics of leadership, emotional intelligence, character growth, and peer groups.

Is your organization’s leadership a team or a work group?

Resilience and Business Strategy

Resiliency is often spoken of as an important character trait of an individual. A healthy person is expected to be highly resilient. Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity or change. The Oxford Dictionary defines resilience as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”

There is a similar concept of organizational resilience that can apply to business strategy. This organizational or corporate resilience is the strength and speed with which an organization is able to respond to changes in the competitive or market environment or other events that might affect the health and well-being of the firm. These changes could be technology-driven changes, economic changes, changes in the competitive landscape, or anything else that might affect the organization’s ability to compete effectively. Some examples of the types of adversity that organizations might face could be a decision by a major customer to vertically integrate the product that the organization supplies, the entrance of a new and powerful competitor, a technology that makes the organization’s product obsolete, or a decision by a customer to move production or sourcing off-shore. Other types of adversity could include a fire that damages production capability or the death of a key member of the organization. Resiliency includes both the ability to foresee or prepare for possible adverse situations and to respond and recover when they do happen.

Part of the strategic planning process should include a risk assessment. The thought process for this assessment is to consider the various potential risks and the likelihood of occurrence. For the highest potential risks or those with the greatest potential impact on the viability of the organization, the planning process should give some thought to either contingency plans or implementing actions beforehand that mitigate any potential impact of the higher-risk potential adversities.

Strategic planning should lay out a course of action and allocate resources to improve the organization’s ability to compete. As such, strategy and the strategic planning process provide focus. Yet, the need for resiliency requires that the organization sometimes explores or experiments with other potential strategies, business models, or courses of action. It is not inconsistent, in fact it is wise, to explore alternatives that might unfold into the future, either because of a change in the environment or due to the discovery of a strategic path that generates higher value. The bottom line: an organization, like an individual, cannot be complacent but must be taking in and processing information and considering the impact and the alternatives in a changing world.

Is your organization working to build its resilience?

Value People, Evaluate Performance

It is very easy to intermingle our view of people with our view of their actions, especially when we need to give corrective feedback. When we do so, the natural result is conflict as the other person feels personally attacked and most likely will defend themselves. When we fail to value the person, we make it impossible to build the relationship or trust and respect that effective leadership requires.

I learned the difference between criticizing the person and criticizing the action from my father-in-law, who was a great example of what it meant to be a man and a leader. On the two occasions where my actions angered him, we had discussions. In those discussions it was quite clear that he loved me personally but that he was disappointed in my actions. The discussions centered on my actions and the choices that I had made.

As a leader we need to always value the individual. This is common decency and a necessity for co-existing. It is also a command. In Scripture, the second part of the Greatest Commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself.^”An effective leader demonstrates humility, valuing others as much as they value themselves.

How do we as leaders demonstrate the value that we place in the people on our team? Here are some suggested practices to incorporate into our daily interactions with the people around us:

Demonstrate a genuine interest.
Value their uniqueness.
Respect their values and beliefs.
Listen to their thoughts, opinions, and emotions.
Express gratitude for their contributions.

In her book, Radical Candor, author Kim Scott defines a model of leadership built on radical candor, which she defines as caring personally and challenging directly. This “challenging directly” is a matter of providing clear and proper guidance. We could also describe this type of relationship as “speaking the truth in love.”

How do we then provide guidance that values the person and evaluates performance? Here are some guidelines for effective guidance that evaluates performance:

Provide guidance from a relationship of personal caring. As mentioned, guidance is best received within a relationship of trust and respect. Therefore, there must be an ongoing dialogue that demonstrates this relationship. Obviously, if the only conversations are those delivering criticism, the guidance will likely not be welcomed or valued.
Don’t personalize guidance. It is not “you did….” or “you are….” but rather a focus on the actions or behavior. Avoid the fundamental attribution error, that is using perceived personality attributes, such as smart, stupid, lazy, greedy, etc.
Address specific action or behavior. Guidance is not focused on the person, for example, “you are so smart.” Neither is the best guidance given as general statements, such as “The presentation was good.” Rather, the best guidance focuses on the specific actions or behavior, such as “the logic that was shown in the presentation made it easy to follow” or “the presentation could have explored the alternatives more fully.”
Frame guidance based on the future. The purpose of guidance is to reinforce the positive performance or to improve the negative. Leaders use past action or behavior to guide people into a better future performance. Therefore, guidance uses the observed performance to either make recommendations for the future or to elicit thoughts about improving performance for the future.

Leadership based on valuing the person and evaluating the performance doesn’t mean that leaders need to accept performance that does not meet requirements or expectations. Part of caring personally is encouraging people to perform to their best. If their best is less than what is required or expected for the position, then perhaps they are in the wrong position. Helping and encouraging them to either grow to meet the position requirements or to find a different, more suitable position is the caring thing to do. This can mean firing a person who is better suited for an opportunity elsewhere. Even firing can be done in a way that expresses the value that we hold for the other person.

Is the feedback that you give helping your team reach their potential and meet expectations?