Sources of Feedback

It may seem unnecessary to say it, but feedback requires data—some kind of observation of your peoples’ decisions and behaviors and the results that stem from them—to be examined against expectations and judged accordingly. While “judgment” may seem like a harsh word to use, it’s the correct one, as many of goals and expectations will still require a certain amount of interpretation and/or human evaluation. (We talk more about this in the “Metrics” section.)

Personal observations

It really should go without saying that your own personal observations of your direct report will be useful. What may require saying, though, is that this should not be your only source of feedback. Although it will be easier to just “trust your own eyes and ears” and use that, remember that you’re part of management now, and like it or not, people treat their boss a little differently than they do others around them.

King of the Room: As a consultant, it’s often the case that I’m escorted into a meeting room with little to no background on who all the meeting participants are. Even so, I’ve found it possible to identify the relative positions in the org structure by observing communication patterns, and in particular who “closes out” a particular topic—the biggest boss is the one that people are either hesitant to disagree with, or who has their opinions most often accepted directly without challenge. I’ve noticed this behavior even in myself when I’ve worked full-time roles. It’s hard to tell the person who holds your paycheck in their hands (figuratively speaking) that they’re wrong. (And in many cases, that’s why they hired a consultant in the first place: to tell the boss that they’re wrong, and here’s why.) Keep this in mind when you’re ...