Why Feedback Matters
Feedback is a must do for all people managers. Any reputable source about managing people and it’s near the top of the topic list. In Mark Horstmann’s Effective Manager books and podcasts, “feedback” is an essential component the “holy trinity”:
- Know Your People (1-1’s)
- Talk About Performance (Feedback)
- Ask For More (Coaching)
- Push Work Down (Delegation)
How else will your people know how they’re doing? How else will they know what to keep doing, and what to change? How else will they understand that it is your job to provide that clarity?
Is it because it’s the “good” thing to do? It’s how you make your people better, sure! But you are not a life-coach, you are a manager. You need to keep your house in order, ensuring that your direct reports are delivering results the business wants and want to stick around. That is not coldness, not callous, that’s kindness. Just like telling someone they have a parsley leaf in their teeth. Similarly they need guidance about their performance in the eyes of the organization. What’s working well? What needs tuning? It can be uncomfortable in that moment, but necessary for that person to understand for the sake of their career. If you want to grow in your career, it’s necessary to keep your house in order.
Environment Discipline
Ever walk into a messy room? Whether it’s a restaurant kitchen, your kid’s room, or a neighbor’s garage. Clutter, dusty, dirty, unkept. These are not bad people (some of the kindest people are messes), they are externally disorganized. The impression is that they’re not on top of their environment.
A team operating without regular feedback is perceived similarly. If you don’t have a visible reputation of soliciting, tracking, delivering and acting on feedback with your team, the perception of you builds negatively.
Feedback is For You as Much as Them
If your team is receiving feedback often from you, that will reflect on your ability as a people manager. Even more so if your feedback is effective. That is, it actually changes behaviors (reinforcing positive ones, correcting negative). Doing so gets results that others can feel and see, inside and outside your team. Building that reputation is vital for your career.