Fearless Feedback
Stop walking on eggshells.
Start saying what needs to be said - without losing the relationship.
What is Fearless Feedback?
Fearless Feedback is about saying what ought to be said while ensuring trust and safety remains in the relationship.
Managers can more fearlessly deliver feedback when they learn the 3 core ingredients to a successful feedback conversation:
Mindset - consciously casting aside assumptions, fear, and settling into the understanding that you have information that will help someone be their best.
Relationship - intentionally building relationships and then maintaining trust and safety while in conversation.
Delivery - the deliberate word choices that ensure your message is delivered directly and with care.
How It Works
While Delivery is just 1 component of the Fearless Feedback Model, it is the element that causes the most stress for managers.
Headline, Observation, Ask (HOA) is a proven framework for structuring your delivery. Here’s a brief preview:
Headline - opens your conversation while also naming what it is you want to discuss, all in a way that sends a message of trust, safety, and investment in their growth.
Observation - is where you objectively convey the behavior, performance challenge, or growth opportunity.
Ask - is about shifting into Coach Mode and engaging in meaningful discussion, using questions that both builds their awareness and gets them to identify actions to be taken.
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HOA is particularly effective, and different than other frameworks for 3 key reasons:
1. The hardest part about a feedback conversation is knowing how to start. This framework prioritizes an effective opening, giving you the tools to succeed.
2. Over-talking and beating around the bush deteriorates your message. This framework gives you confidence to speak clearly, and kindly, about the behavior/performance being observed.
3. Feedback without action is simply criticism. This framework ensures the feedback you share is actionable, never leaving someone feeling, “what am I supposed to do with this?”
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Here’s a sample of how HOA can come together for a meaningful feedback conversation:
Headline
For where you’re wanting to drive your career, and the impact you want to have, I’m seeing an opportunity to set you up for more success. And the topic I want to chat through is leadership presence. Do you have a few minutes to connect?
Observation
I noticed during our team meeting today you had a reaction to the upcoming changes in how we’re handling client fulfillment. Your body language sent a powerful message and I don’t believe it was the message you intended to send. And because the team looks up to you, and I know how much you want to be an impactful leader, I wanted to shine a light on today as an opportunity for growth.
Ask
I’d love to get curious with you and then chat through how you can strike a balance between staying true to how you’re feeling while showing up as a leader who can impact those around you.
[Shift to Coach Mode]
Can you connect back to that moment? What activated that response?
[Listen and encourage self-reflection]
When you think about your brand as a leader within this team, what do you want that to be?
[Listen and stay curious]
What actions contribute to creating that brand? Can you also see how today’s actions inadvertently can detract from that brand?
[Listen and continue encouraging exploration]
Let’s assume there will be other times in which you disagree or have an opportunity to react, what do you want to do differently next time so that it better aligns with the leader you want to be within this team?
And what role would you like me to play in helping you in this area?
Learn to Deliver Fearless Feedback
Online Course
Learn at your own pace, on your own schedule.
Stop beating around the bush. Start making feedback more direct & actionable. Dive into 22 video lessons that will teach proven tactics and take your management to the next level.
Live Group Training
Join a cohort of managers for hands-on learning.
Offered quarterly, managers can register for my Fearless Feedback Mastery: Driving Performance for Managers & Leaders course. Just 3 90-min sessions over the course of two weeks will elevate the impact of your feedback delivery.
Fearless Feedback Book
Coming soon…a practical, tactical book that teaches the how of feedback.
Everything managers have never been taught about feedback. Learn from real situations, gain nuanced insights, and become the manager who shares feedback that elevates performance, development, and engagement.
