Take Feedback from Those Who Share Responsibility

How much do you insist that people who work with you share responsibility for success?

I think it's one of the key agreements for centered, high performance leaders. How willingly our teams share responsibility for success determines our workload, our balance, our goal achievement, and even our happiness.

As leaders we should be open to feedback. We work best when we allow perspectives to inform us how we're doing, how our team is doing, and how our organization is doing. But not all feedback is equal. Some is valuable. Some is useful. And some is simply of no use at all. Knowing how to differentiate is how strong leaders can make the most of their feedback.

I care mostly about feedback from people who are willing to share responsibility for success.

They collaborate. They cooperate. They work with me on solving problems and achieving goals. They don't complain or attack without constructive suggestions. They share responsibility for success.

How do you decide what feedback to use?

-- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: High performance leadership training

doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

Comments

Let Them See You Work

If you can't seem to hire good performers with a solid work ethic, you might need to develop them. Maybe start by showing them what that looks like, or as John Maxwell has said "Know the way, show the way, and go the way." You know, walk the talk. I know a LOT of leaders who complain about work ethic. Maybe they need to let their people see them work... -- doug smith

Leadership Warning

If you visit the dark side, don't get stuck there. -- doug smith

Careful Expectations

Change agents don't always play by the rules. Expecting them to is the act of a fool. -- doug smith

Celebrate Progress

When was the last time that you were frustrated in trying to learn something? If you can't remember, maybe it's time to learn something new -- something tough and challenging. Truly worthwhile endeavors are often struggles. The satisfaction comes not only in the final result, but also in the progress toward that final result. The best way to avoid a sad let-down once a goal is achieved is to enjoy the journey all the way thru. Celebrate your progress! Not so much that you feel finished, but enough so that you feel able. Celebrate progress, and then keep on progressing. As that beat poet and philosopher Harry X. Tudas once said, "Feel in the groove but continue to improve." -- doug smith

Start Positive

I went thru a grumpy period in my life. It was like a rut that was so deep no light could get in. It fed on its own bumpy grumpiness until that's all I could feel. Yuck. Forget that now. Now, I start with a positive thought. I could be wrong about finding the silver lining, but I've learned that I won't see the silver lining unless I look for it, and that's the place to start. Even the smallest positive effort has a positive impact. Let's start there. -- doug smith

Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom without responsibility produces more harm than good. Responsibility without freedom sparks certain revolution. High performance leaders don't FIND the balance, they CREATE the balance. Start by listening. -- doug smith

Feedback Takes Practice

How good are you at providing feedback? If you're not sure, ask your team members. If you are good at it, they'll tell you. If you're not good at it, then maybe they will and maybe they won't. Feedback does not come easy. Skillful, useful feedback that improves both performance AND self-esteem is a delicate balance of recognizing positives and occasionally providing insights on areas of improvement -- all placed into the context of why it matters. Without the "why" -- why the feedback matters, why the improvement matters, why the performance matters, all the feedback you can muster will only fluster whoever you provide it to. Tell them what they did that was great, ask how they could make it even greater, and share with them why it all makes a difference. Because unless it really makes a difference who cares? Feedback, like any skill, takes practice. -- doug smith

Courageous Creativity!

Others might fear your creativity, but you don't need to. Stay courageous, stay creative, stay compassionate, stay clear. Sing your song no matter who listens! -- doug smith

Keep Going

Obvious, yet essential: The closer you get to a goal the less distance you have to go. Keep going. -- doug smith

Step Up Creatively

How's your creativity doing today? We all have days that are more creative than others. If we're not careful and if we let the non-creative days become routine it can squeeze the creativity right out of our lives. Suddenly we stop drawing, stop paining, stop writing, stop exploring fun conversations, stop doing the extraordinary. Let's not let that happen. We're more creative than that. Sometimes when we feel the least creative we need to be the most creative. Overcome the routine. Break out of the rut. Draw anything. Draw it again, better. Write a poem about anything - then write it again with a deeper meaning. Force yourself out of the mundane. Imagine yourself in a room with five of the most people you can think of. You wouldn't want to be the lump on the log who sits there doing nothing creative, would you? You need never be that person. Creativity is always there for the developing. We just need to disconnect from the routine and reconnect to that chi

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