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After 4 weeks of consistently (OK, over 50%) asking at the end of the O3s for feedback on my performance, I finally got a real response (i.e., other than, no . . . I think you're doing great). It was from my most trusted direct -- one who I promoted twice now behind me.
The feedback I got was specific and it was not positive. He did not make a big deal about it, but let me know about something he saw me doing consistently that was not effectve. It was all I could do not to argue my point, but I just said thanks and told him a day later that I had thought about what he said (I had) and that I appreciated his willingness to share it. I think he felt it was a real risk to offer it. This has helped make me a believer in what Mark says about the fear that my "boss hat" inspires and how guarded most people are in their speech around me.
I am interested to hear others' experiences with feedback from your directs.
Lou
Getting feedback from directs
I had about 3 weeks before they really started opening up. I don't get much for specific feedback for me, but they are asking questions that I don't believe they would without a good deal of trust. Things along the lines of 'Why did you ask me to do this here? So you could hear me?' and 'When you asked about this, were you looking for this ?' Which is good, and I will build on it and wait for that feedback on MY behavior.
Getting feedback from directs
Lou-
Your experience is fairly typical. Interesting, though, that directs are a lot like bosses....they define feedback as inherently negative. We all seem to miss that there IS a difference between not doing anything wrong and doing stuff right.
Mark