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Personal perspectives to stimulate thinking, change,...and even controversy
Giving and receiving feedback has long been considered an essential skill for leaders. As they strive to achieve the goals of the organization, employees need to know how they are doing. They need to know if their performance is what their leaders expect from them and, if not, they need suggestions on how to improve it. Traditionally, this information has been communicated in the form of feedback from leaders to their employees. And, leaders themselves need feedback from their employees, in the form of suggestions for how to improve procedures and processes, innovative ideas for new products and services, and input on their own leadership styles. This has become increasingly common with the advent of 360[degrees] feedback.
But there is a fundamental problem with feedback: it focuses on that past, on what has already occurred -not on the infinite variety of things that can be in the future. As such, feedback can be limited and static, as opposed to expansive and dynamic.
In recent years, I have observed more than 5,000 leaders as they participated in a fascinating experiential exercise. In the exercise, participants are each asked to play two roles. In one role, they are asked provide feedforward1 - that is, to give someone else suggestions for the future and help as much as they can. In the second role, they are asked to accept feedforward -that is, to listen to the suggestions for the future and learn as much as they can. The exercise typically lasts for 10 to 15 minutes, and the average participant has six to seven dialogue sessions. In the exercise participants are asked to:
* Pick one behavior that they would like to change. Change in this behavior should make a significant, positive difference in their lives.
* Describe this behavior to randomly selected fellow participants in one-on-one dialogues. It can be done quite simply, such as, "I want to be a better listener."
* Ask for feedforward - for two suggestions for the future that might help them achieve a positive change in their selected behavior. If participants have worked together in the past, they are not allowed to give any feedback about the past. They are only allowed...