L
LEARNING
F
or organisational psychologist Tasha Ulrich,
this capability is also a key component of
becoming fully self-aware as a leader. Ulrich’s
research has identified two types of
self-awareness: internal (how we see ourselves) and
external (understanding how others see us). Leaders
more skilled in external self-awareness tended
to be more skilled at empathy and have better
relationships with their staff.
In Ulrich’s view, experience alone does not equate
to self-awareness, and introspection does not
necessarily mean more of it. Leaders need to build both
elements of self-awareness in tandem. When it comes
to feedback, they need to walk the walk themselves,
practising observation and self-reflection and
understanding when to open up to feedback about
their own performance and behaviours.
In the end, the trick to delivering effective feedback
may be deceptively simple: feedback is a dish that
should not be served cold. It’s part of a manager’s
Five books on feedback
Marcus Buckingham and
Ashley Goodall,
Nine Lies About Work:
A Freethinking Leader’s Guide
to the Real World, Harvard
Business Review Press, 2019.
Douglas Stone and Sheila
Heen, Thanks for the
Feedback:
The Science and Art of
Receiving Feedback Well,
Penguin, 2014.
Dawn Sillett,
The Feedback Book:
LID Publishing, 2016.
Ray Dalio,
Principles:
Life and Work,
Simon & Schuster, 2017.
88 // Future Talent
When it comes to
feedback, leaders
need to walk the walk
themselves
wider — and central — role of building relationships and
trust, offering the psychological safety to create open
feedback cultures that support learning and growth.
Many of the tools and models under attack —
including the annual appraisal — are not, in and of
themselves, the disasters we believe. But they are just
that: tools and processes that will continue to disappoint
if used in isolation, haphazardly or in the wrong context.
What really matters is how leaders and managers
develop the self-awareness to master the art of giving
regular, forward-facing feedback to their people to help
them learn and grow. As with so many aspects of
management, trust holds the key.
Kim Scott, Radical Candor:
How to Get What You Want by
Saying What You Mean,
Pan Books, revised paperback
edition, 2019.