Helen Amery set a challenge recently to think about why feedback doesn’t happen all the time. I couldn’t decide on one thing to write, so I didn’t write about one thing.
So feedback would happen all the time if….
Every company was a talking shop and we didn’t have any work to do
If we made time for the important things
If we stopped thinking of it as formal and a defined activity and making it complicated and started ‘no label coaching’, otherwise known as chatting
If companies could make profit based on hot air
If line managers were better equipped to do it
If people cared more
If people were less self centred
If there was more trust in organisations
If we valued education and growth as much as delivery
If organisations had leadership teams that modelled it
If we could articulate the value of it more
If we were more grown up about how we received it
If we just had more time
If we invited it more often
If we measured it’s presence in organisations
If we stopped measuring everything we can in organisations and freed up time for feedback
If we were as concerned for the careers of others as we are for our own
If we were confident in our abilities to give the tough messages without causing harm
If we were more arrogant and valued our own opinions more
All and any of the above
The big bear I have with the 360 movement is precisely this. Work is a place for work – the clue is in the title. Feedback matters immensely as my own post on this topic will show, but, like all things it’s a balance. When feedback >>>>> work, we have got the balance wrong. It’s a means to an end and not an end in itself.