"I feel it's so fucked. Here's the central conundrum that I wanted your help with today," says CEO of Mermer, John MacIntosh. "Research tells us that feedback doesn't work very well unless it's about building on strengths and sort of working on the positive." And ultimately you need a system where people are able to keep commitments and can perform in their roles, he adds. 'You know that if you just give them critical feedback about the lack of that, a lot like eight times out of 10, it's not going to work'
We’ve covered feedback before on the show, because learning how to give and receive it is a key part of team growth and success. But establishing an entire system that lets different flavors of feedback flourish? That’s a different can of worms. So, how do we cultivate feedback-related agreements and norms in a self-managing culture?
In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans have some solid ideas—and some spicy questions:
- Why creating a feedback-rich culture is hard—and why not having one is harder
- Why experiences in and around feedback can feel so perilous and panicky
- How to build containers in which intense, even critical feedback can happen safely
- The three different types of feedback we most often run into at work
- How power dynamics and personal preference play a part in this game
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