The Importance of Authentic Feedback

One of the things we regularly talk about in our seminar, Managing the Federal Employee Discipline and Performance Process, is the importance of supervisors giving authentic, honest, and constructive feedback to employees on their performance or conduct issues. 

This weekend’s post on LEADERSHIP FREAK by Blogger Dan Rockwell hit this head on.  http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/jack-welch-on-the-cruelest-environments/

Rockwell was inspired by listening to famed leadership guru and executive Jack Welch who noted, “If your employees don’t know where they stand, you have no right to call yourself a manager.” 

Rockwell followed that with his own observation that caught my eye:  

“Candor is kind; uncertainty is cruel.  Candor is kind because it generates clarity.”  

 There is no doubt that the ability to give authentic honest feedback is a key supervisory skill, but I had not thought of it as “kind.”  Though, as Rockwell further explains, it makes perfect sense.  “Credible leaders say what everyone already knows but are afraid to say.  …  Kind candor stabilizes organizations, validates performance, lowers stress, enables excellence, and simplifies relationships.”  

In our classes we teach the H- E- A- D- model to help supervisors successfully give constructive employee feedback. 

Now you can use our model to spread a little kindness by embracing Rockwell’s Kind Candor.