Forums

 I am looking for some thoughts and guidance on giving feedback to one of my directs - also my longest serving direct at my company - regarding his lack of contributions in his Individual Update during our Weekly Staff.

Some background.

I have been doing Weekly One-on-Ones for 3 years and have also been giving Feedback in the MT model for about 18 months.  Probably 80% of the feedback I have given this individual is reinforcement of positive behaviors / 20% corrective.  He responds well to the model and both types of feedback.

After doing ineffective Monthly Team Meetings for a long time, I replaced that meeting with the MT Weekly Staff 4 weeks ago.  We have not missed, started and ended on time each week, had a pre-published agenda 4 business days in advance, and have the format of the Individual Updates (Accomplishments, Collaboration, & Radar) on a slide while each direct is giving his or her update.  In short, expectations and format are consistent and clear.

This gets me back to my Direct.  Due to his tenure and professional experience, he is looked up to by the rest of the team.  His Individual Update for the past 3 weeks have typically been 1-3 minutes, seem to be a quick summary of  things he has done (different than accomplishments), but does not cover anything related to Collaboration, nor Radar.

I am struggling with finding the right phrasing on how to word my feedback to him and would love some thoughts from my colleagues on this forum.  I was thinking of breaking it down into what not sharing - Radar or Collaboration - means to the Team, rather than focusing on not following the format (since the format isn't the Purpose of the update).  While my real goal is to help him be effective at all three sections, I was thinking rather than pilling-on feedback about all three, I would focus on improving segment at a time (“With People, Slow is Fast.”)

Here is what I have so far:

"Can I share something with you? When you skip the Radar section of your Individual Update in our Weekly Staff and don't share what  you've read, heard, learned, or think, here's what happens: I think about all the stuff you share with me every day and how you help me understand what it means for us.  I think the rest of the team is missing out by not hearing your thoughts during your Weekly Update.  What can you do differently?"

I am looking for your feedback on both approach and with the specific words and phrasing.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Davis Staedtler's picture

Howdy RyanEM,

Honestly? The feedback you wrote sounds great to me. I see this as a test for you as well. Providing this feedback is very important in sustaining the value of how you hold your meetings. To quote Drucker, as we all love to do, "Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things."