Reply To: Exercise 12: Feedforward
#12 Feed Forward (Marshall Goldsmith)
My Topic: Improving as a public speaker and speaking as a leader to a group.
I had 3 runs of the recommended 10, since people I want to speak with were out of the office until next week. I intend to set up the remaining sessions in the following week to get the practice. As well, I want to test this tool in higher stakes circumstances. That means engaging my boss and others who are in authority positions.
The 3 sessions went well. (2 from the Leadership group, 1 employee who reports to me). I realize this simple tool has great utility.
• The responders were willing/wanted to help.
• I learned things about how I come across to others that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise.
• All of the advice was useful. Some of it I knew already but those were good reminders and usually I received an additional perspective on how to proceed in applying the principle.
• The advice givers learned something about me that helped build our relationship.
• People were willing to share their references and I felt they wanted me to succeed.
I believe this tool solves part of a systemic official company feedback problem. The vast majority of companies have some sort of formal yearly employee performance evaluation process but often the power dynamic embedded in the organizational structure creates problems or the feedback from your boss and others is often not very relevant or useful or it can be a fearful process full of anguish, or things are not said that should be but they go on your record without you knowing so you are marked or you made a mistake at some point but don’t realize it but others in power do and don’t tell you because it is not their place (or it is their place but they just don’t want to) or you are trying to improve your capability but your efforts are miss-interpreted or are a bit off the mark as seen in the eyes of others and no one is willing to tell you.
The current approach in many companies starts with the statement that employees are responsible for their own development. It can be a very unsatisfying process for the leader and the employee who wants to progress but I believe the feeling is often that they (employee) are more or less left on their own to try to figure it out by stumbling forward as best they can.
The feed forward process may not solve all these problems but it at least represents a positive channel that is withing the power of the employee to access and utilize.
REFLECTION
1. Did you notice differences from feedback you might have gotten?
• Each person gave their perspective on the topic so the responses were different from each other.
• The feedback had a much more helpful tone than in other circumstances
• I want to test it further in higher stakes circumstances to me but I suspect it will be a more positive experience in general
2. Who is the leader in Feed Forward?
• The advise giver in terms of the comments provided
• I think there is also an element of shared leadership. The requester is taking the initiative on something important to them and the responsibility for listening. The advice giver is taking responsibility for providing useful advice and not judgement.
3. How did others seem to feel during Feed Forward?
• You can tell the advice givers are focused on giving meaningful advice and that builds trust between the two.
• Asking someone for advice makes then feel happy and recognized/important that someone wants to hear what they have to say.
4. How did you feel during Feed Forward?
• Motivated because I picked the topic I wanted and or was ready to hear feedback about.
• Grateful for the information and somewhat surprised at some of the responses that challenged my beliefs
• Safe and encouraged
5. Did you get any useless advice? Was that a problem?
• Some information was more useful than others but none of it was useless. The process is not just about giving and receiving advice but also about building a trusting relationship and learning more about each other.
6. Where and how might you apply your experience in the rest of your life?
• I can see broad application of this tool in my leadership work, personal life and teaching it to others to help them.