In a recent post, The Breakfast of Champions, I suggested that it’s no coincidence that where possible we set up visual mechanisms to display what’s happening or what’s been achieved. Something that people can see in picture form is usually better than verbal or written descriptions of how well they are performing. As the saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.
Ken Blanchard is said to have coined the phrase, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” A great line, which is surprisingly accurate.
In last week’s post, “What’s the Difference between Feedback and Feedforward”, I noted that discussions that are mostly past focussed feel more like an interrogation that creates defensiveness. On the other hand, discussions that are mostly future focussed feel like a supportive coaching discussion that emphasises problem solving and creates opportunities. Consequently, in many situations you face day-to-day, feedforward makes much more sense than feedback.
We know what feedback is, even if we frequently don’t like receiving it. And we don’t like receiving it for good reason. Imagine a time in the past when you held a job in another organisation. The ‘phone rings and when you pick it up your boss is on the line. He says something like, “I want to see you in my office. Got some feedback for you.” What would you be expecting to hear about?
Generally leadership development is focussed on an event, such as a training workshop. However, Effective Leadership development is more of a process which occurs over time. This means that it requires much more than attending a training workshop. It requires on-going support, follow-up and feedback. In short, it requires on-going contact.