The Gift of Feedbacksix positive comments for every negative one. Getting the ratio of positive to negative feedback right is important. What made the greatest difference between the

T H E G I F T O F F E E D B A C K

The Giftof Feedback

T H E G I F T O F F E E D B A C KB L U E S K Y

The gift that keeps on giving “At the heart of receiving feedback is a clash of two core human needs. We’re wired to enjoy learning and growing – it’s a big part of what brings satisfaction and accomplishment to life, why video and app games are so addictive, and why people play golf with such dedication (the occasional great game only the more cherished for its unpredictable scarcity)”

(Shelia Heen)

Human beings also need to feel a sense of belonging, that they are accepted, respected, and safe. And that’s why feedback is such a conundrum. We can point to times that we’ve learned and grown from feedback in our own past, so we know we need it, and we (theoretically) want it. But it can be enormously threatening because “constructive” feedback suggests that how we are now is not quite okay. It can be painful and hurtful to see oneself the way others do; that’s true whether their perception is on target or terribly unfair.

The purpose of this article is to help people get better at receiving and giving feedback. The latter is important, but the former is critical.

Sean SpurginDirector of Learning Designlinkedin.com/in/seanspurgin

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The Gift of FeedbackAre your people as good at receiving as they are at giving? And I am not talking birthday presents, I’m talking about the gift of feedback!

There is a famous quote that says, ‘feedback is the breakfast of champions’, but how often do we go out of our way to seek feedback? And are we set up to receive it? Other people often give us gifts in conversations. Often, we miss these gifts or do not open and explore them further.

So, what is a feedback gift?

A feedback gift is something a person says to you that, if you acknowledge it, creates an opportunity to deepen your understanding of yourself or the other person. It helps you better understand how that person is feeling or thinking. It helps you explore each other’s needs.

What does a gift look like?

Some gifts come as compliments or subtle feedback. When someone says to you…”you did a great job at that sales meeting today”, it’s a great opportunity to explore further what was so good. So, to get your gift, you should acknowledge the compliment and ask your peer what specifically you did that was great.

Sometimes we miss valuable gifts because they are poorly wrapped; they are not delivered well or seem to come from a bad place. The key is to open all gifts and to explore them fully to understand what is being offered to you.

People want feebackResearch shows people want feedback and prefer it to be constructive, which is what we sometimes avoid giving. The graph below shows on average the degree to which the participants tend to avoid or prefer giving/receiving positive and corrective feedback.

Bit of a paradox.

No one likes to give negative feedback, but everyone wants to hear it

(Zenger/Folkman, HBR.org)

Tend to prefer

Tend to avoid

Give positive feedback

Receive positive feedback

Receive negative feedback

Give negative feedback

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Food for thoughtThe Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman research also shows the ideal ratio of praise to criticism is 6:1 - the highest-performing teams were given six positive comments for every negative one. Getting the ratio of positive to negative feedback right is important. What made

the greatest difference between the most and least successful teams, according to Zenger and Folkman, was the ratio of positive comments. This isn’t the same as ‘sugar coating’ or softening the message. It’s about achieving the right balance.

How good are we at receiving these gifts?A feedback culture is what a lot of companies want, some even say they’ve got it, but in reality, very few companies have.

Some companies are invested in empowering people to give feedback. These companies have often developed a ‘feedback giving’ model with all the associated language for effectiveness and consistency. In our experience, the majority of organisational spend goes on developing skill in giving feedback rather than on training to learn how to receive feedback, yet that makes up 50% of the experience.When done well, giving and

receiving feedback is a brilliant performance tool where the flow of information is balanced and controlled by both parties. When done badly it can affect self-esteem and leave both parties feeling demotivated, angry and upset.

Training people to be good at receiving feedback as well as delivering it has all sorts of advantages for businesses, improving things like motivation, engagement and productivity whilst sickness and attrition go down.

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Empowering people to control how they receive feedback. Creating a balance of power in a feedback conversation will protect self-esteem on a personal level and drive higher quality and productivity at a company level. We typically expect to have feedback conversations in a formal or informal way in the workplace and our automatic assumption is that people know how to deal with what they hear. This is often not the case; past experiences influence how we give and receive feedback. As children we all receive lots of messages from our parents and significant others, through education and from friends – some of what we hear serves us well in adult life, some of it does not.

“What will other people think?” “If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all”, “don’t be angry”, “be perfect”, “don’t make trouble”, “grit your teeth and bear it”, “don’t fight back”, “older people know better than you”.

We’ve all heard a few of these and it’s a soundtrack that can drive low self-esteem and a strong need to gain the approval of others. In extreme cases, the need to gain approval spirals into a trap where feeling unable to please other people fuels further feelings of low self-esteem and so on. Feedback for people in these situations, however well delivered or intentioned can be very challenging.

For some people, self-image is affected by how other people view them so when they find out what another person thinks about them, it can be devastating. Receiving feedback can take us outside our comfort zone and we construct emotional guards to protect ourselves from it. This displays in things like anger, grief, apathy and pride because shouting, crying or withdrawing into silence builds a protective wall between us and the feedback. nErD

cOrNeR

Do you get triggered? Something happens when we get tough feedback. It can leave us confused or enraged, with a pounding heart and racing thoughts. We get triggered. Of all the thousands of triggers that may upset us, there are three main reasons it makes us want to keep feedback at bay.

1. Truth. The feedback seems wrong or off target. It’s based on incomplete information or poorly aligned with our intent so we don’t accept it because it seems unfair or lousy. But by pausing and asking questions to find out more about we’re hearing, we get a much better understanding of what it actually means.

2. Relationship. Regardless of the feedback itself, there’s something about our relationship with the person giving us the feedback that throws us off. The giver may be ungrateful for our efforts, not appreciating what we do well or it maybe

we simply don’t trust their expertise or motives. It can be very hard to separate the feedback from the relationship but again, if we pause, disentangle the what from the who, it can make the conversation a whole lot more straightforward.

3. Identity. When we feel too overwhelmed by the feedback to really engage in the conversation because it undermines how we see ourselves, or threatens our sense of safety or wellbeing. We can’t learn because we can’t think, and the feedback becomes distorted. Dealing with identity triggers means being able to see the feedback you get at ‘actual size’ and cultivating a growth mindset means we see the potential to evolve and change from the feedback we’re given.

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Be aware of your blind spots: There are certain things about ourselves we are blind to, and what’s more, we’re blind to the fact that we are blind to these things! Before you resist feedback, realise that it’s complicated and others might see something in us that we don’t see.

(Douglas Stone)

Who wants to give feedback when the result is so dramatic?To truly create a feedback culture, we need to unlearn ingrained responses as ‘feedback victims’ and help people learn to receive feedback as well as deliver it. Put simply, we do not have to accept the feedback we’re hearing, or the way it is delivered. With this understanding comes a realisation that we can choose our response, even when feedback is badly delivered, and this changes the balance of power in the conversation enabling us to look for the learning that will help our own development.

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nErDcOrNeR

Why do negative comments and conversations stick with us so much longer than positive ones? Feedback from a manager, a disagreement with a colleague, a fight with a friend – the sting from any of these can make you forget a month’s worth of praise in a second and sometimes we can hold on to this stuff for ages and find it hard to let go.

Chemistry plays a big role in how we take on feedback and react to it. When we face criticism, rejection or fear, our bodies produce higher levels of cortisol – a hormone that shuts down the thinking centre of our brains and activates the flight or fight mode.

We become more reactive and sensitive. We often perceive even greater judgement, threat and negativity than exists. We start to run negative scripts in our heads and blow things out of proportion. These effects can last for 26 hours or more, imprinting the interaction on our memories and magnifying the impact it has on our future behaviour.

Higher and prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream driven by the stress of replaying negative thoughts has been shown to have negative effects on our health.

As managers we need to be mindful of the impact this can have on our teams.

“Positive comments and conversations produce a chemical reaction too. They spur the production of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that raises our ability to communicate, collaborate and trust others by activating networks in our prefrontal cortex. But oxytocin metabolises in our bodies more quickly than cortisol, so its effects are less dramatic and long-lasting. Positive comments will also produce other ‘happy’ chemicals in our bodies, such as dopamine, endorphins and serotonin”.

(Source: HBR)

People become defensive I used to be very reasonable when it came to feedback, which sounds like a positive thing. I would always find a reason for my actions. “Ah, well the reason I did that was because…”. It was not until a colleague said to me, “You are very reasonable aren’t you? you’ve always got a reason for everything” that I realised my reasons were just me trying to find explanations that dissolved any personal responsibility. I have since found management groups are often a very ‘reasonable’ lot!

Many people respond to any negative feedback by getting defensive or trying to turn the tables to attack the giver of the feedback. It is easy to interrupt, deny the feedback and then just switch off, making no attempt to understand what is being said.But you can choose to respond to feedback differently.

By actively listening without interrupting, accepting the point of view without denial, being thoughtful and asking questions to truly understand the feedback, and responding graciously you can find the gifts in the conversation that will help you grow.

All these skills can be learned and, whilst it may be hard for some people, they’re not impossible.

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Going down the ‘no’ route on this model can be the right thing to do. It may be perfectly valid to decide not to do anything about the feedback or to go back and challenge what you’ve heard. On reflection you may discover the person giving the feedback was panicked or stressed themselves. You may have other feedback or examples to demonstrate this feedback is invalid or inaccurate. The important thing is to make sure you explore why this feedback was given, removing the emotion and taking down the usual ‘filters’ we use to excuse ourselves.

That is not to say you can use these ideas as excuses for never taking on board feedback. If you receive the same piece of feedback from several sources (and you are interested in self-development!) there is a case for exploring it. The point is that

as a receiver of feedback, you can be in control and you can choose how you react.

As a manager, trying to create a real feedback culture, our message is simple: train your people to receive feedback as well as give it. Whilst, they are not in control of the quantity or quality of feedback coming their way, they can certainly be in control of how they respond to it and use it.

The payoff for your business? Productivity, quality, sickness, attrition and motivation levels will all be positively affected in a true feedback culture.

A model for receiving feedback Blue Sky have developed a useful approach to follow when receiving feedback. It is intended to put the receiver in control and avoid reacting like a ‘feedback victim’.

You get the feedback

You check whether you want

to do anything about it (now)

You check whether you want

to do anything about it (now)

Do nothing and explore why

Park for another time and

explore why

Do nothing and explore why

You check whether it applies to you

(in non emotional way)

Start here:

If Yes

Yes

If No

No

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• If the feedback isn’t constructive, or is vague and unspecific, take control of your feelings and be assertive. Ask questions that make the person giving feedback provide you with examples that demonstrate their view, e.g. “you say I’m impulsive, what is it that I actually do that makes you feel that way?”

• Remind yourself that feedback is integral to learning. Whilst you don’t have to accept feedback without question, you do owe it to yourself to think about it and evaluate it

Guidelines for receiving feedbackSome people experience feedback as criticism and do not want to hear it. Others see it as crushing or a confirmation of their worthlessness. Others only want to hear positives and nothing that might suggest imperfections.

Other people view it very differently – accepting feedback even if it is sometimes disturbing because they believe they can grow from it.

It comes down to whether you believe feedback will harm you or benefit you.

Establishing and contracting the ground rules of feedback is important, whether it is 1:1 or with your team. If everyone is clear on ‘what good looks like’ when giving and especially receiving feedback, it means you can start to have some real, honest and open developmental conversations.

• Remember it’s just as difficult to give feedback as it is to receive it!

• Listen and try not to be defensive. Keep an open mind; take the feedback as it’s intended - an opportunity to improve, not a personal attack. Listen attentively and make good eye contact

• Ask questions, discuss suggestions, and ask for examples that will help you to understand specifically what people are saying to you

• Volunteer your own suggestions on areas in which you feel you could improve; don’t just talk about your strengths!

• Be specific about what help you need. For example, saying “what do you think of this call” is asking people to judge you. Instead, try “listen to this call with me and give me some guidance on how I could control it more effectively”

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Don’t forget - Praise lifts people People are often quick to notice what’s wrong, but it’s equally important to pay attention to and provide input on what is working well to support development.

Many of us are used to looking out for things that go wrong. After all, if something’s wrong it needs to be fixed before it impacts on culture, productivity or affects the bottom line. But do you actively look out for things that are going right? How often do you show your appreciation for people who are performing well, even if you’re not their manager?

Many people don’t give enough praise in the workplace. However, almost everyone, including team members, colleagues, customers, suppliers and your boss, love to receive sincere recognition for a job well done.

Research shows that when we hear something we like; a burst of Dopamine is released in our brains. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and is associated with feelings of joy, pride, satisfaction and well-being.

When you praise someone else, not only does that person feel great, but it leads them to want to experience that same feeling again. Giving praise cements good working habits and behaviour both chemically and intellectually.

This does not mean you avoid developmental feedback. Quite the opposite. We need both praise and developmental feedback if we are to grow. So, go on, amplify awesome, catch people doing things right and watch people thrive!

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• I’m unsure of how the other person is going to respond to my feedback so I avoid giving it

• I’m not perfect so who am I to judge anyone else’s behaviour

• If I give my boss any negative feedback it may be used against me in my next 1:1

• I’ve let the situation go on for too long now and I am so angry I will probably blow up and mishandle the situation

You may be familiar with best practice for giving feedback and have practiced using the phrases and models, but find you are still resisting giving feedback, so just do a quick check to make sure you’re not hiding behind one of these barriers.

Remember your comfort zone is guarded by fear, upset, pride, apathy and anger and these guards try to stop you going into stretch. Thank them for letting you know you are in stretch, then turn them off and get into stretch anyway… this is where you learn the most. No-one creates a feedback culture if everybody stays in their comfort zone!

CCL research has shown that - “Ignoring one’s weaknesses is one of the greatest contributors to individual derailment in organisations. No matter how well-tuned a leader’s strengths are, one unaddressed ‘fatal flaw’ (e.g. arrogance, inability to build a team or difficulty adapting to a new context) can lead to failure - particularly if it is unacknowledged by the individual.”

When you focus only on strengths, you lull people into believing there are no areas in which they need to improve. It also lets managers off the hook for fostering necessary, and sometimes difficult development conversations in their teams - this can ultimately compromises performance. So, instead of encouraging people to avoid developmental feedback, we should focus on upskilling people in how to deliver and receive feedback in ways that minimise the threat response. We should also simultaneously foster a climate of psychological safety where learning and personal growth thrives. It takes time and effort, but the payoff is immense.

The Art of Giving Feedback Research from the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL): “Feedback; both positive and negative, is essential to helping managers enhance their best qualities, address their worst so they can excel at leading and growing others”.

Feedback (both positive and negative) is an indispensable part of our lives. If we can understand and use it, this feedback can empower us to communicate more openly and improve.

Think of a time when you gave feedback to someone and it was successful. What did YOU do that made it go well?

Now, think of a time when you gave some feedback that was not successful? What did YOU do that prevented it from going well? Chances are you did that quite easily. It is likely that you can list what makes feedback good and what doesn’t work in theory.

Can you think of a time when you wanted to give someone some feedback, but you didn’t do it?

There are so many barriers we can put up to stop us from giving feedback to others, even if we know in theory how to do it.

These include: • If I wait long enough the

situation will resolve itself so I do not have to get involved

• Since I don’t like to receive feedback, I can’t imagine anyone else would so I will keep quiet

• I give feedback indirectly by using sarcasm and jokes

• There just never seems to be the right time to give feedback and I keep putting it off

• It takes too much time to provide feedback effectively I’d rather pick up the slack than take the time to do it

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What should you say?How to give feedback-

1. Step one – Check out why you are providing the feedback?

2. Step two – Research the facts and plan your feedback

3. Step three – Be immediate

4. Step four – Be specific

Guidelines for giving feedback Effective/Positive delivery• Intent – The intent is good,

and the desire is to help the other person

• Supportive – Delivered in a non-threatening encouraging manner

• Direct – Focus of feedback clearly stated

• Sensitive – Delivered with sensitivity to the needs of the other person

• Considerate – Not intended to insult or demean

• Descriptive – Focused on behaviour that can be changed, rather than personality

• Specific – Feedback focused on specific event or behaviour

• Healthy timing – Given as close to the prompting event as possible at an opportune time

• Thoughtful – Well considered rather than impulsive

• Helpful – Feedback is intended to be of value to the other person

• Speak for yourself – Not others

• Consider language – If you say never do you mean never? Or sometimes?

• Seek permission – Secure the other persons permission to give the feedback

Ineffective/Negative delivery• Attacking – Hard hitting

and aggressive, focuses on the weakness of the other person

• Indirect – Feedback is vague, and issues hinted at rather than addressed directly

• Insensitive – Little compassion or concern for the needs of the other person

• Disrespectful – Feedback is demeaning, bordering on insulting

• Judgemental – Feedback is evaluative, judging personality rather than behaviour

• General – Aimed at broad issues not easily defined

• Poor timing – Given long after the event or at the worst possible time

• Impulsive – Given thoughtlessly with little regard for consequences

• Selfish – Meets givers needs rather than needs of other person

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Remember that any positives should be given as feedback as well. Developmental feedback will be better received if your ‘emotional bank account’ with that person is in credit.

A useful quote to bear in mind from Dr James Dobson’s book ‘What wives wish their husbands knew’:“The right to criticise must be earned, even if the advice is constructive in nature. Before you are entitled to tinker with another person’s self-esteem, you are obligated first to demonstrate your respect for them as a person. When a relationship of confidence has been carefully constructed, you will have earned the right to discuss a potentially threatening topic. Your motives will therefore have been clarified.”

Excellent advice… not only for personal relationships, but for professional ones too. You have not gained the right to give feedback to someone merely because you have a certain title or position. You must earn the right through your relationship with them. When planning your feedback, it is important to avoid the feedback sandwich; actually, advocated by some people.

This approach sandwiches negative feedback between two positive pieces of feedback, e.g.“The report over all looks pretty good. Could you please change the statistics in the diagram on page 6? They do not match the text. By the way, I really like the way you conducted the research for the report. It shows real evidence for the points we are trying to make.”

Did the receiver get the developmental feedback? Will they walk away thinking about it? If you use this style the next time you give positive feedback to someone, they will automatically assume you will follow it with critical feedback. Unfortunately, the sandwich approach negates any positive reinforcement you try to provide.

An alternative approach to the scenario above would be:

“On the report you completed for me, I noticed an error on page 6 with the statistics. They do not match the text on that page. I would like you to change the stats so they coincide with the text. Once you change that error, the report will bring home the points we are trying to make. Thanks for your hard work.”

Step one: Check out why you are giving the feedbackReasons to give feedback:• To continually improve team

performance and behaviour • To correct an individual’s

poor performance or behaviour

• To grow, motivate and inspire people

• To stretch people, so they do their best work

• To address toxic or negative behaviour

• To learn from past mistakes

Reasons not to give feedback:• To make yourself feel

superior and/or right

Feedback is never purely objective since it is delivered from a human being with a unique perspective. However, for a great manager, knowing how others see and experience each other is incredibly valuable. People make decisions based on their perceptions - decisions about who to listen to, cooperate with, trust, support and promote.

Step two: Research the facts and plan your feedbackBe sure you have accurate (observed) information about what the person did and why. You will need to listen to others and focus on their intent rather than their style (although sometimes it is appropriate to give feedback about style too).

Seek more understanding through clarification, be curious and ask questions to check you have not misunderstood the situation or the facts.

If appropriate make sure you and others know and understand what is expected of them and what the standards are.

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Step four: Be Specific, using the AID ModelUsing ‘I’ messages is one of the best techniques for giving feedback. Normally people have a tendency to use ‘you – blaming’ statements such as “you never promote our products in your customer conversations” or “why are you always late to our meetings?”. In contrast to ‘you – blaming’ statements we need to take responsibility to express our own feelings and let the person know the effect of their behaviour on us.

AID can help you to do this (There are many other models out there i.e. SBI, FBI etc. The key is to enter the conversation with the right intent and skill, regardless of the model).

But before the conversation, check your intent, is it clean or dirty? Why are you having this conversation? Also, you need to be curious!

Being curious often gets missed. Our impressions of a situation can be misinterpreted, so it’s important we ‘test’ any assumptions we may have made.

What ‘meaning’ have we attached to a situation? When someone ignores us, we may attach the meaning he or she doesn’t like us, but that may not be the case. It’s important to test any assumptions you have made, and be curious about the circumstances that might have caused the behaviour in the first place.

When we are giving feedback, it really works to remain curious. Being curious is a state of mind, and a very powerful way to remain open to new information that might help you to read a situation more accurately. Instead of coming to conclusions in your mind that you are clear are the truth, you remain open to the fact that there could be different truths and interpretations than the one you have come to.

Being curious can help us avoid taking a fixed position based on the views we have with the information we have now. Other people don’t tend to react well when we have fixed opinions about what they have done that we don’t like.

Step three: Be immediateOnce you have checked your intentions for giving the feedback, checked your facts and planned how to say it, you are ready to give positive or developmental feedback. If someone has done a good job praise that person for it. Positive feedback should be given as close to the event as possible to have the greatest impact. However, for developmental feedback you need to consider your timing.

You can do it immediately following the behaviour, as constructive feedback or you can do it just prior to the next opportunity to improve or grow, as advice.

Be short and specific. Select a good time, but do not save up your comments until you have lots to reel off. When giving feedback you should not be asking for a complete change of lots of behaviours. It is far more effective to address one thing at a time. Small changes make a big difference.

It is important to be sensitive to personal timing when you give developmental feedback. If the situation already involves stress for the person, you may correctly decide to wait until the other person is in a better frame of mind to listen, and do something about your feedback. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and ask yourself when you would prefer to receive the feedback. Giving effective feedback requires care, compassion, insight and tact.

However, beware against putting the feedback off. If you wait and wait, hoping that someone will change on their own you will probably be disappointed. Storing it up is more likely to make you get frustrated and lash out, rather than planning your feedback appropriately and just because something has been on our minds for ages does not mean you can expect overnight change. Be mindful of ‘mind readers syndrome’.

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Being curious allows you to be open to seeing a situation in a new way.

Sometimes we make assumptions and judgements against people, and then write the person off or write the relationship off. If we can be curious, we can see the world in a new, more accurate way, based on reality. Being curious can be hard. It takes courage to be curious. It means saying, “This is what I have observed. This is the assumption I am making based on that, but I am willing to be wrong here.”

Great managers are genuinely interested in finding out more about how things are going, what kinds of problems people are running into, where the gaps and opportunities are, and what needs to be done better. Typically, they don’t need to be taught how to ask questions because it’s a natural strength. This curiosity facilitates the coaching conversations, the give-and-take between coach and learner in which the learner freely shares his or her perceptions, doubts, mistakes, and successes so that they together reflect on what’s happening.

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In conclusion Like learning any new skill, giving and receiving feedback may be uncomfortable at first and you will do it unskillfully. We learn by trying, getting it wrong, and then trying again. Since feedback involves other people, there will more than likely be a few misunderstandings, hurt feelings, or other kinds of conflict.

Don’t expect yourself to skip this part of your learning or for this to feel natural or easy. Neither will happen. Your discomfort and mistakes mean you’re on the right path to perfect your feedback skills and being coachable. Making mistakes is natural. Not repairing any damage you may cause is unkind. If you hurt someone’s feelings, apologise. If you are misunderstood, own your part in the confusion, explain your intent and apologise for any upset the confusion caused.

As a manager, trying to create a real feedback culture, our message is:

Train your people to receive feedback as well as give it. The benefit for your business? Productivity, quality, sickness, attrition and motivation levels will all be positively affected in a true feedback culture.

Using the AID framework:Knowing the importance of giving and receiving feedback is one thing. However, it’s another thing to know whether you do it well. The AID feedback model is a great tool to help you create great feedback conversations. And yes, they are just conversations!

Action• What was done or said• What was not done or said• What I noticed was…• What I observed / saw was…• What I heard you say was…• When you said (or did)…• When you didn’t say / (didn’t

do)…• I observed/noticed…

Impact• What impact or effect it had

on the me, your colleague, the task or the team

• It had the effect of…• It caused…• The impact on me, the task

or the team was…• It made me feel…

Do (Desired Outcome)• What should be done even

more (motivational)• What should be done

differently (developmental)• I’d encourage you to do or

say that more often…• I’d like you to keep doing or

saying that…• What I would have liked…• What I would encourage you

to do next time…• What I suggest you do

differently is…• What would make you more

effective is…• A suggestion for the future

is…

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How can we help you?We’ve spent 20 years in performance improvement. It is widely accepted that managers are pivotal to performance or any change in your organisation. What we know is that there are gaps in managers knowledge about how to specifically drive a healthy and high performing work climate. We can also see a gap in the development that businesses want to give their managers. Additionally, there’s a gap between what you need them to do now and what you need them to do in the future.

The million-dollar question: how do you give your managers the development they need to build great climates, to drive performance now, the development they need for the future, whilst keeping them out with their people making it happen today?

There is an answer.

It’s Management Development

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The 9 characteristics of a great managerAnd we have cracked the Management Development code. After conducting 400 diagnostics in FTSE 250 companies we have identified the top performing management behaviours that create successful, healthy and thriving cultures.

There are 9 critical characteristics that make a great manager. These characteristics make a profound difference to how people lead and manage teams. They are game-changers that make a difference to people at work, at home and to their personal well-being. Each characteristic is made up of several different modules. Combined in the right way they can build great climates and make a tangible difference to performance. Our solutions are configured to transform the everyday for your managers, their teams, peers and colleagues.

Two ways we can help:

Custom Management Development learning solutions

We are specialists in creating bespoke, award winning, Management Development solutions that drive behavioural change, deliver results and an ROI. Our creative design team can build a solution that is tailored to you and your context using a unique programme design approach

based upon our Embedded Learning Methodology™. What you get is pragmatic, blended learning, that helps inspire your managers to be experts in the skills and behaviours needed to create a highly engaged workforce and deliver great customer outcomes.

90-minute Learning bites

People and organisations are time-poor and don’t have a lot of time to devote to learning. Blue Sky recognise that fundamental ‘business truth’ and have created learning experiences that are designed to meet the requirement and time constraints of today’s workforce and, they’re easy to deploy in your business.We have distilled the best of our tried and tested learning content, proven to deliver

significant people and business impact, into pragmatic 90-minute face to face workshops. Each session is full of powerful learning, steeped in behavioural science and psychology. Our Learning Bites allow you to build a learning journey that is relevant to the needs of your managers. They will offer challenge, whilst developing the behaviours that deliver results.

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WickesWickes is a £1.5bn home improvement business, operating in a unique sales space - technically retail, but with a strong merchant bias.

In 2015, they had a challenge around their induction and also sought to understand why some of their design consultants (DCs) in their kitchen and bathroom division were selling £200,000 and some £1million. With Blue Sky’s help, they identified an opportunity to close the gap on a potential £40million of business revenue.

Subsequently Blue Sky were engaged to design and deliver a new induction programme, closely followed by a leader-led pilot programme to understand the difference between the behaviour of its high and low performers and ultimately raise sales and service capability across the group.

The pilot engaged 63 DCs and 34 Store Managers in the London region, which had been their lowest performing area for 10 years. It kicked-off with senior stakeholders taking ownership and responsibility for setting the direction and tone of the programme.

The pilot successfully outperformed against target reducing employee attrition in the London region from 33% in 2015 to 8% for the first year and the new DCs are hitting target in half the time. Sales are also up 57% YOY.

Following the success of the induction training and pilot, Blue Sky’s involvement has been rolled-out across all 189 stores across the UK.

We identified the nine common traits that were consistently displayed across all top performers. These differences became known as the ‘silver bullets’. Blue Sky believed if the behaviours of the top performing £1million DCs were common and identifiable then these silver bullets could be recreated and encouraged throughout the wider salesforce. In 2014 Wickes had 7 £1million DCs; by January 2017 they had 34. Latest results are 71.

All these sales improvements have combined to create a massive £67 million uplift in turnover.

“ £67m uplift in turnover”• £67m uplift in turnover• 5900% ROI annualised • Increase from 7 to 71

£1million DCs• Underperforming DCs have

reduced from 98 to 24 • Employee attrition has

decreased from 33% to 8%• 2016 Autumn sales figures

are up 57% YOY • Average order value is up £1070

YOY • £11.2m increase in sales for

first 6 weeks YOY

• Became Europe’s largest installation service – from 22,000 to 33,000 (2015 to17)

• 44% improvement in stores where the manager received training, Action Learning Sets and coaching

• 33% improvement in stores where the manager attended training and ALS only

• 22% improvement in stores where the manager attended only training

WickesBlueprint for a £1-million DC

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Be aware of tangibility bias147% higher earnings per share than the competition when companies increase their numbers of ‘talented’ managers (Harvard Business Review)

Intuitively we know great leaders and managers make a difference. Yet something called the ‘tangibility bias’ is at play. Senior leaders can be unwilling to invest in leadership and management development because they falsely consider it to be woolly and fluffy. Leaders put a priority on the tangible – what they can see, touch and measure - such as technology investments.

Putting an exact value on people is more difficult, even though people directly influence the value of technology, innovation, products, sales and service. Investing in leadership and management development can be perceived as intangible and hard to determine an ROI.

We disagree, the investment is tangible. Let’s not forget that according to Gallup, ‘great managers produce 48% higher profits’ and with the finding that ‘only 10% of managers today feel their organisation’s current training sets them up for success and to truly lead their teams’.

(Bartram)

The business case is laid bare. You can develop the right management behaviours and more importantly replicate them across the business. Management training embraces more than the individual. It’s an investment in the whole team because your managers learn how to coach and develop their people. When managers become skilled leaders, results improve, attrition reduces, and everyone feels more valued. And happy staff means happy customers.

‘Leaders everywhere in the world have a tendency to name the wrong person manager and then train them on administrative things – not on how to maximise human potential’

(Jim Clifton, CEO Gallup)

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Totally tangible:

Magnificent managers = organisational health and exceptional performance

To find out more about our award winning Management Development programmes contact [email protected] or call 01483 739400 blue-sky.co.uk

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