How To Structure An Improvement Conversation (9.2)
Fred Kofman
Executive Coach | President at Conscious Business Center International - CBC
"The term “feedback” has (be)come an euphemism for criticizing others, as in 'the boss gave me feedback on my presentation.' This use of feedback is not what we mean (...) Avoid describing the criticism you give or receive to others as feedback. Telling someone your opinion does not constitute feedback..." -- John Sterman, MIT Professor of System Dynamics
When you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. That's why an effective performance conversation starts way before you meet your counterpart.
You must come with the right spirit and the right information. You need to remind yourself that the goal is to improve performance and not tell the other what he's doing right or wrong.
Of course, to improve the performance, the relationship and the well-being of both of you, you must convey information about the impact of your counterpart's behavior on the goal and on you. But to maximize the value of this information you need to share it non-judgmentally.
You need to remind yourself further that just as you have reasons, so does your counterpart. Both of you have something to contribute. Thus, if you want to improve collaboratively, you would be better served using "safe" (non-exclusionary) language such as, “I would like...”, and not dangerous language such as, “You should...” And you would be also better served not only advocating for your view, but also inquire about your counterpart's perspective.
I suggest also that you complement your emotional preparation with a rational argument. If you want to explain to the other person what works well for you and what doesn't work so well in a way they can understand, you have to give them evidence.
People understand when they get facts, when they get reasons, and when they connect the facts and the reasons with the shared goal. That's the logical argument you must prepare in advance.
Of course, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. When you meet the other person, your logic is going to be challenged and complemented by the logic of the other.
In the following video, I explain how to conduct the conversation following a structure called "Plus/Delta".
Should you have any difficulty viewing the video please click here to view on Fred's Slideshare page.
Readers: What do you think of the Plus/Delta structure?
Fred Kofman is Vice President at Linkedin. This post is part 9.2 of Linkedin's Conscious Business Program. To find the introduction and full structure of this program visit Conscious Business Academy. To stay connected and get updates please and join our Conscious Business Friends group. Follow Fred Kofman on LinkedIn here.
Head of People and OD and Non Executive Director (Solace)
5 年This process is familiar to me, however, the way it's expressed here really emphasises this as a joint endeavour which values a two way conversation rather than simply one person leading the conversation and going through the process by rote. How many of us find it easy to welcome a genuine conversation about what we could do better or different as part of a performance conversation? Described in the language and context of previous modules this process makes perfect sense as a genuine conversation rather than just a 'process'.?
Technical Program Manager at Google
6 年This is the structure we were taught at LinkedIn, and it is way better and more effective than the way I was doing it before. The emotional and rational preparation is key. I used to practice any difficult or important things I needed to express in a mirror, and memorize key sentences and points so that I was less likely to be at a loss for words or forget something I intended to talk about. I also kept notes I used as a checklist. I found these practices helpful.
Create. Collaborate. Community
6 年The Plus/Delta is what we refer to as general to specific. It helps to set the mindset of the individual so they can be open to hearing what you are saying.
Managing Partner, Executive Coach/Facilitator - Programs with ??, ?? and ??(in Kenya!)
6 年Makes sense. I always start off discussions like this with the positive. It's a golden rule thing. I tend to be very hard on myself, so the impact of negative is way more than the impact of the positive. A huge does of positive gives the receiver more of an ability to hear less positive input.?
Driven and energetic learning professional. Focus on organizational needs, big picture, collaboration, and involvement.
6 年Plus/Delta is something we use for continuous improvement in our Learning and Development modules, so it makes perfect sense from a performance improvement perspective.