the bossbabe podcast - 318. How to Have The “Hard” Conversations + Give Feedback

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

One of the most important skills to cultivate as a leader is being able to effectively give + receive feedback. Today Natalie is sharing her exact “ACTIVE” framework to help you master the art of feedback so you can cultivate an amazing culture of authenticity + candor on your team. Feedback can often feel intimidating, which is why most leaders shy away from giving it – or worse, they go about it in the completely wrong way… so today, you’re going to learn a powerful + highly-effective way to turn it into one of your superpowers as a leader.  HIGHLIGHTS Natalie’s specific ACTIVE framework for giving feedback that empowers + strengthens your team How to create a culture of feedback in your business + give feedback that is both effective and nurturing Real life examples + stories to show the power of feedback when it’s done really well (and how it leads to your team being even more committed to your company vision)  Why it’s essential to receive feedback as a leader + how to use it to become even more effective in your role LINKS Join Growth Day - GrowthDay.com/bossbabe FOLLOW bossbabe: @bossbabe.inc Natalie Ellis: @iamnatalie

Welcome back to the Boss Babe podcast. I am back in Austin. Feels like it's been a long time, but I'm finally back home. I've been away all summer and I'm so glad that I did this trip. I'm so glad that we got to visit so many countries and spend so much time together as a family. It's been just a summer full of memories and being able to have an operating system really running my life and business in the background has been an absolute game changer and taken a lot of the stress out of travel and logistics and scheduling and getting back into rhythms and routines and making sure the business still runs and achieves its goals and all the things. So that's been going really, really well. What I haven't shared yet is actually three

quarters of the way through our trip, our nanny quit. And I mean, there was a whole host of reasons, but ultimately I don't think our lifestyle was one that really suited her. Her lifestyle is changing and she wants to be more, I guess, at home and not travel so much. And for us, we're going to be traveling a lot. Every single summer, we plan to take months, like two to three months to travel, probably three. And then every single month, I am traveling for work and I like to bring my baby with me. And it's really important that I have support so that she's not sitting bored when I'm doing calls or podcast interviews and all things. So it's really important that we have a nanny that can travel with us. And on reflection, as Stephen and I have been reflecting when it comes to hiring our next nanny, one thing that we really have realized throughout this whole

process is we hired someone really young. And there's a lot of pros and cons, I think, to having someone that's on the younger side to someone who's a bit older and more experienced. And one of the key things is feedback. So when she quit, she had a ton of feedback, which was really interesting because we have been sitting down every single week to give and receive feedback and trying to really cultivate that culture of feedback. And what I realize is you can create an amazing culture of feedback, but feedback has to be a skill that is cultivated on both sides. And what I've really realized is if the person doesn't have the skill, you can create that space for them to share.

But if they don't have the skill, sometimes our anxiety might hold them back from sharing or fear of things not being received a certain way. Even if you're constantly giving feedback in a really conscious way. And when you do receive feedback, you take it really gracefully and you act upon it. Still doesn't mean that every single person around you is going to be willing to give and receive feedback. And that's something that I really realized with this hire, going into my next hire is something that I want it to be top of mind. I want to have that conversation up front of, are you experienced in giving feedback? Are you willing to give feedback? And if not, how can we work on that skill? So I'm really excited to have this episode go live because it is all about giving and receiving feedback and

actually creating a culture of feedback because it is really, really important that you know how people are feeling in your company and that also you're able to give feedback so that you can get people on the right track so that you can adjust if necessary. I think it's vital to your personal success, your business success. And as I share this, I'm giving a lot of tips of how you as a leader can really support your team members in being able to receive feedback and give it to you. But what I'm not covering so much in this one is if someone in your organization is perhaps really young, maybe it's their first job, they haven't had a lot of experience. What I'm not covering here is how you can support them. And after this experience myself,

what I realized is, it probably would have been really good to get that person some training and then do some practice rounds. And so that's something I will definitely implement again, if I do bring on a team member that's a little more what we call green, or they're a little less experienced in some areas that is definitely something that I will do but this episode we go really deep into a framework that I've created it was a talk that I gave on growth day which by the way if you're not a member yet you should be it is incredible I'm going to put the link in the show notes it is incredible for staying motivated being productive I use the journaling app on there every single day

without fail. And I also listen to Daily Fire every morning when I'm getting ready and it really does fire me up. Growth Day is incredible. So links to my show notes for you to check that out. But I really hope that you enjoy this episode. The framework that I'm about to teach you, you really can apply to your personal and your professional life. So what we're going to do today is talk about the active growth feedback framework, which is a way of giving feedback that takes into account what conscious leadership looks like. So conscious leadership is, you know, the kind of leadership that's holistic, empathetic, and growth centric, that benefits both the employee and the organization. And so I came up with the active growth feedback framework, when I was trying to think about how I could infuse

the elements of conscious leadership that I really love into a way of giving feedback. So the roadmap we're going to have for today is we're going to understand what the essence of conscious leadership that I really love into a way of giving feedback. So the roadmap we're going to have for today is we're going to understand what the essence of conscious leadership is, which I have talked about in growth day before. Then we'll dive into why feedback is important. And then we'll explore the active framework. So conscious leadership is a leadership style that emphasizes personal growth, empathy, and a genuine connection. It's not just what we achieve, but it's how we achieve it. So if you could think about a leader you've admired in your life, and maybe you could put someone down in the chat, what made them different? Most likely, it was their conscious approach. It was their approach that did emphasize growth. It was their

approach that did have empathy. It was their approach that did emphasize growth. It was their approach that did have empathy. It was their approach that does foster genuine connections. I feel like Brendan is a perfect example of a conscious leader. You know, we're all in growth day because of how much he emphasizes personal and professional growth. And then feedback, like I said at the beginning, is a cornerstone of professional growth. So it's like imagine driving without a GPS or cooking without tasting along the way. That's a career without feedback. So feedback, when it's seen in the right way, is actually a gift to your employees. It's not just a gift to your organization so that you're able to get better results,

but it's a gift to your employees. Or if you don't run your own company, it's a gift to your organization so that you're able to get better results, but it's a gift to your employees. Or if you don't run your own company, it's a gift to your team. If you are the one being given feedback, it's a gift to you. Tiffany said, intentional action and conversation stand out to me in great leaders. 100%. 100%. So what we need to do is ensure that feedback is effective and nurturing, right? And really, it's ideal if we create a culture of feedback where we give feedback in the moment, we give feedback when it's timely, we give feedback on a continuous basis so that we are all able to continue growing and learning and those around us all able to continue growing and learning and those around us are able to continue growing and learning. And so the active framework, it stands for awareness, clarity, trust building, intention, value add, empowerment, and evolution. So each component is a pillar that can turn feedback into a really

transformative process. And I hope that it can take the fear away from giving or receiving feedback because I think when the right environment is not set up and when feedback maybe isn't given through the right lens or framework, like you've heard everyone speak about, especially Brendan this month. When it's not given in the right way, feedback can then turn someone into feeling very defensive. It could turn someone into completely shutting down. Or if it's given to us in the wrong way, it can make us feel really criticized, not good enough. It can bring up all of our things. It can bring up all of our things.

It can bring up all of our stuff. And so we have to really consider the whole person when we are giving feedback. And so when I walk you through the active framework, my hope is that you don't just think about this the next time you are in a feedback session, but maybe you write this down and you have this somewhere and once a month you can check in you can journal on it and growth day of okay how am I fostering a culture of feedback and are there some pillars in here that I could be applying more to my organization so the first one is awareness so self-assessment here is really important. Whenever you're about to give feedback, it's really important that you recognize your own emotions and your own biases.

Understand if you're in a reactive or a responsive state. That is really incredibly important. So before you go into a feedback session or before you give feedback, even if it's in the moment, first take a minute to just check in with yourself. Is this my emotion that is forming a story here? Is this my bias towards this person or towards previous circumstances? Is this a bias that is forming this feedback? And then secondly, am I in a reactive or responsive state? So a reactive state is where you kind of act without thinking. It's very fast. Responsive state is you are responding and it's thoughtful. You're responding in a way that's actually thoughtful and it's going to be a lot more approachable. It's going to be a lot more well-received. And so that's part one of the

awareness section. The next thing you really want to think about is having mindful communication. So engaging with your complete attention, making sure that you're mentally present throughout the whole feedback session, right? Make sure you are fully present throughout the whole feedback session. I think this is incredibly important and it kind of stops me from responding really quickly in Slack with feedback or in WhatsApp or texting, especially with employees, or even, you know, responding really quickly back to an email. I like to think about how I can communicate mindfully and what this will often look like is hopping on a call so that I can be completely present with that person. If that's not necessarily what's

called for, it's not possible, maybe a voice note would be better than something typed out. And again, all of us, you know, mindful communication means something different to every single one of us. So maybe you're really great with words and it's a really good way of putting together your thoughts that when you get in a call with them, you have already typed out your thoughts and you know you're going to hit all of your points. I have a team member who's also a manager in my organization and she really prefers to write out all of her points

that she wants to get across and she'll send it ahead of time. And this means that someone gets a chance to really digest it before hopping on a call. And that's her personal approach to mindful communication. And I really think every single one of us has a completely different approach to mindful communication. We really want to be thinking about what works best for us. Is it calls? Is it voice notes? Is it really thoughtful writing? I don't think there's a right or wrong way. Of course, whenever you get the chance to be face to face with someone, I think that's helpful, but I really don't think that

there is a right or a wrong way. So I really, as I'm sharing this, I really want you to be thinking about this through the lens of what are your strengths and maybe what are the ways in which you think you could deliver feedback and do the job the best how could we think about incorporating that let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform kajabi you know i've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity which i love Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place so it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has

really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business you know get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients and students so if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss babe listeners a 30-day free trial go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial that's kajabi.com slash boss babe so awareness is the bedrock of feedback it's understanding our own biases and emotions

how many times have we misinterpreted feedback due to the emotions that are clouding it? So many times. And then to be fully aware means to engage both rationally and emotionally, ensuring that the feedback isn't just heard, but it's felt. And so are you able to present your feedback in a rational, logical way? But are you dropped in to your body? Are you dropped into your emotions that you can also bring that in? Because people feel very safe when you engage rationally and emotionally. If you engage just rationally,

people might feel like there's a bit of emotion missing and that might be really hard for them to take. If you engage just emotionally without the rationality, we all know how that goes. It often doesn't go very well. And so bringing them both together and making sure you're responsive is a recipe for success. Now, the second part of the framework is clarity. Have you ever received vague feedback?

Something like, improve your reports. And you're like, but how? And in what way? Clarity really ensures that feedback is actionable. It's like giving someone a really clear map instead of saying, okay, go north, go ahead that way. It's saying, here's a map. Here's the exact way that you can get there. That makes sure it's actionable. So in order to make sure your feedback is clear, you want to have authentic dialogue. That means conveying feedback honestly, transparently, and with the intention of genuine growth. So it means not being honest and direct for the sake of being honest and direct, but really thinking about your words

and thinking about, okay, is this feedback that I'm delivering actually supporting genuine growth in that person? Or am I just giving the feedback because I'm annoyed and I want them to do it differently? Do you see how there's a bit of a difference in that? That's something that's really important to consider because listen, we are all emotional beings, right? We all have a lot of emotions. We all have a lot of feelings and we can all get really frustrated, especially if things aren't done the way we would like them to be done. And so it's really important for you to think through the lens of, is this intended with genuine growth? And another thing that's really helpful when you are thinking through the lens of clarity is seeking perspective. So really encouraging people to share their viewpoints and their

feelings so that you can have a complete understanding. So a big part of clarity is curiosity. So going and trying to get clarity is going to require you to be curious. What happened for you? Can you just explain this from your perspective? And how did you feel about that? Did you feel like it went well? how did you feel about that did you feel like it went well do you you know how did you feel about that bring in both their feedback that is logical and their feedback that is emotional and that will allow you to have a complete understanding of the situation perhaps why they made the decisions that they did in their thought process and it may be as you're as they're sharing that you're able to understand, I totally get it. And it might remove the frustration you have. And then you can both work together on getting that roadmap, getting that clear map instead

of saying, improve your reports. Okay, I totally get it. I see where we went wrong here. And I really stand you. Here's the roadmap that I think we could both employ to get where we want to go. That is awareness and clarity. The next section is trust building. And I think this is probably the most important of all of them. And the first thing that I really

want to emphasize here is that trust is a two-way street. So for feedback to be effective, it must be delivered in a trusting environment. One where feedback is seen as a tool for growth and not reprimand. You don't want to feel like you're being told off. You don't want to feel like a naughty child that just messed up. You want to feel like, oh, this person's giving me feedback because they really care about me. They care about me. They care about the organization. They care about the shared goals that we're working towards.

They're giving me feedback from a really good place. And even if it's hard to hear, I understand why I'm getting it. So the first part that you really want to consider with trust building is a safe environment. So cultivating a setting where employees are comfortable expressing themselves, knowing that feedback is a tool for growth, not punishment. And creating that safe environment probably means that employees are a lot more likely to come to you with feedback as well. And that trust is a two-way street because you're able to show that you receive feedback really well and that you are using it as a tool for growth. And that will inspire them when you give them feedback to also use it as a tool for their

growth. The next part is consistency. You really want to build trust through regular feedback sessions and consistent actions. So feedback shouldn't just be given once a year in a performance review. Feedback should be given consistently. If you have one-to-ones with your team members on a weekly basis, incorporate feedback into the one-to-ones. Even if it's a positive feedback, feedback doesn't always need to mean that it's constructive and it's something you're going to work on. It could be giving them feedback that they did something really well and you liked the way that

they did it. You liked the process that they used. It's giving them the kind of feedback that they can take and grow from. Okay, that really worked. That process was effective. Let me implement that even more. And then consistent actions. Do what you say you're going to do. All right. Support people in the way you say you're going to support them. If you're going to have that weekly one-to-one, try and honor that. These consistent actions really do build trust and they build the kind of setting where you're able to have that relationship with the person and when it comes to giving them feedback it's going to make things so much more seamless, so much easier and so much more well received. Again I just want to

emphasize feedback should be seen as a tool for growth and not reprimand. If feedback is seen as reprimand, people aren't going to feel safe to mess up. They're not going to feel safe to experiment. They're not going to feel safe to try new things. And an example of reprimanding versus giving feedback as a tool for growth might be calling someone out in a group meeting in front of everyone and kind of reprimand. We didn't hit the goals there and that could have been done better, right? That's not really something that you want to be doing. That's not creating a safe environment. People might come onto that call starting to get nervous. Am I going to be called out this week? So there's so many small

things that we can be doing as leaders that if we're consistent with them and we stick with our processes and we create that environment, feedback becomes something that it's just embedded into the culture. It's embedded into conversations. It's embedded into our agendas. It's not this big event that we need to be nervous about, that we need to really think about and get anxious because we're not sure what's coming. It's something that we give on a consistent basis.

The next part of this is intention. So feedback with purpose and direction is feedback that sticks. Feedback with purpose and direction is feedback that sticks. It's not about pointing out flaws. It's about aligning with the broader vision, the shared vision. It's showing the bigger picture, the why behind the feedback. So just lately, I give my social media manager some feedback and I really tied it back to what the shared goals were. I really tied it back to why she is in the position she's in and what her career progression looks like and why we as a company really care about these things. So it's always aligning with the bigger picture. It's about being really intentional. So when we are thinking about giving intentional feedback, firstly, we have a whole person approach. We recognize that feedback impacts both professional and personal dimensions

of an employee's life. We have to have a whole person approach. And this is something that is talked about a lot in conscious leadership if any of you've read the book unconscious leadership this is talked about a lot if we have something go wrong in an organization and we have a feedback session with the employee and we just think about them in the professional setting and we don't consider what might be going on for them personally we are looking through a very one-dimensional lens and we don't consider what might be going on for them personally, we are looking through a very one-dimensional lens and we are not one-dimensional people. We are not one-dimensional human beings. So thinking about this whole framework, there's little elements of this, oh, I remember I'm

supposed to get curious. Oh, I remember I'm supposed to be creating a safe environment. When you think about those things, that means I should probably be asking questions. I should probably be understanding where that person's at. I should probably be recognizing they're a whole person, not just in here as my social media manager. And so let me ask, is there anything going on for you in your life? I recently had this with a team member of mine where I noticed she wasn't performing at the standard that I was used to seeing her perform. And to be honest, I was quite frustrated and I was starting to wonder does she even want to be here I'm so frustrated and she's dropping the ball and I'm having to pick things up and this doesn't feel good and so on our next one to one we hopped on the call but I I got curious before I got judgmental and what I asked was so what's going on for you personally give me a lay of

the land we haven't caught up in a while and as soon as she did that I understood exactly what was going on and it shifted my perspective from one of frustration to one of understanding and it's not to say okay free pass you don't need to step up that's not what I'm saying at all but it was more of I understand you as a whole person now I understand why things may be happening and I want to understand how we can get back on the same page so we can roll in the same direction and that is a two-way street that is us working together and taking a really whole person approach it's you know it's not going to land if I just tell them they need to do better and I even even think about it. So it's really important that we take that approach. And then,

like I said, we really, really want to be linking to the bigger vision. So really relating feedback to the larger purpose of the company, ensuring they have alignment and understanding. It's really great to share why we do certain things. So if there's a process in place that isn't being followed and we've noticed this happening and we have a feedback session with the employee and we say, hey, I know we have a process here and it's not being followed, why not? And they might say, oh, I found a better way of doing it or, oh, it's just quicker if I do it this way or, oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. If you then position the process in why it's important to the organization, things really shift because it doesn't just become something that helps them get the task done. It's actually part of the task itself.

So for example, if you really want someone to be documenting the way in which they respond to customer service emails, you always want them to be putting their responses in a document. And you've noticed they just go in there, they just respond to the emails and they're not putting them in a document. You might say, hey, what's happening there? I thought we had agreed you put them in the document. Oh, well, I'm just storing them in the inbox. And if we need to refer back to them, we totally can. So the employee might have thought we're storing the emails that if we need to refer back to them, we can. And so they're thinking, I found a way more efficient way to do this. I'm good. Like, let me do my thing. Whereas if you said to them, okay, the reason that we're rolling out this process is because we want to create a playbook that has a lot of customer data, a lot of frequently asked questions,

and also a way of replying to emails that if one person is off sick covering the inbox, we can bring someone else in. So now the person really understands why they're doing what they're doing and how it relates to the bigger vision. And so again, as I go through the active framework, you're starting to see how actually this all intertwines and this is all about really all driving towards a common goal in a way that helps us all grow in a way that really supports us all it's very conscious so let's talk about v value add every interaction should be mutually beneficial feedback sessions are no exception it's about ensuring that the giver and the receiver leave the session feeling enriched so if you're giving feedback you're probably wanting to get your needs met in some way or

shape or form and if you're the receiver you want to get better you want to be better at doing your job you want a shot at career advancement you want to be able to skill up. You want to understand if you are or aren't doing a good job so you can, you know, get back on track. So every interaction should be mutually beneficial and feedback sessions are no exception. So how do we do that? The first thing is what I call empathetic engagement. You acknowledge emotions, you show compassion, and you be relatable by sharing your own growth experiences. This is, if you write anything down, maybe it's this. This is one of the biggest ways that you can create that safe space and you can give feedback that is really received. You share your own experience. So you might say, I remember when I was doing the job you're doing right now,

and I really couldn't get the hang of this one thing. I kept getting feedback around it, and it was really frustrating me because I couldn't get it. And what I realized was, there was this one missing piece. And my sense is there's a missing piece here for you. So I'm going to give you some feedback, and I really encourage you to support me in helping you look for that missing piece. Know that, you know, this is not wrong that you haven't found it yet, but it is really important for this goal in the organization that we figure it out. So let's do that. And already, you've put you both, you know, on a similar playing field. You've said, hey, I mess up too. And when I was doing your job or I was in your role, I had similar issues. And we still get to work through them and we still get to figure it out.

But know that you are not an anomaly and it's not that you're not good enough. It's not that you're not capable. It's just we get to work on improving this thing. And then what I also think is really important in the value add part of this is collaborative solutions. So working together to find actionable solutions, ensuring that the employee really feels ownership and commitment to their growth. So when we were talking about here's a roadmap for getting there, what's really powerful is if you can collaborate on that roadmap with the employee versus just

giving it to them. Now listen, I'm going to say this, sometimes you do already on that roadmap with the employee versus just giving it to them. Now, listen, I'm going to say this. Sometimes you do already have the roadmap and sometimes you've got to make it their idea too, to get their buy-in. You might come with a preconceived roadmap, but as you are starting to ask what they think could be solutions, maybe you can build upon your roadmap or maybe you help the employee reach the conclusions that you've already written down. And maybe you don't have a roadmap too. Maybe that's on the call and on the session, you need to figure it out. But if you do, there's a real way that you can bring someone into the fold with that. So be really collaborative. And I promise you when you give it in a collaborative way, and the employee feels like this is partly their idea

for optimizing, changing, making better, they feel a lot more ownership over it and they feel committed to growing. If you put together this roadmap and you say, hey, this is what it looks like for you to get to your next income level, or this is what it looks like for you to really be able to think about moving into another role they're going to see that and they're going to understand yeah I'm really committed to that because that's a goal that I set for myself within this organization and then because they have given you some examples of of ways that they could get there they're going to feel that level of ownership because they put that out there it's not like they are constantly just being told what to do and then going along with it. All right. The next section is empowerment.

So I believe that feedback should be, let's call it a launch pad. And we want to propel employees towards growth. So how can we ensure that feedback sessions lead to empowerment and not discouragement? I know discouragement is something that Brendan talks about a lot. And when you're discouraged, we're not productive. When we're discouraged, we are not our best selves. We're not growing. When we're discouraged, that's not how we do our best work. And so it's in your best interest that you have that person leave the session feeling really empowered and not discouraged so there's a couple of ways and i like to share for each section two ways that you

can implement this so the first is ownership so really encourage employees to take responsibility for their growth guiding them towards self-improvement paths maybe you even get them um a membership to growth day, right? You're like, Brendan's done this work for me. Just go watch a video day, get on my daily fire life. That's what I have my team do. I'm like, can we talk about daily fire? And it's also something shared that we can bring into our meetings, but encourage them to take responsibility and ownership because ultimately, you know, we are talking a lot about supporting them and what this looks like for their, you know, their growth, their next evolution. But there has to be some ownership in this so that they feel empowered. Because if they just feel like they're being told and pushed, they're not feeling empowered, they're probably feeling

like they're obliging. And the next part is support that commitment, right? Support their commitment to growth. So like I said, offer resources, offer training, offer mentorship as needed and follow through with your promises. Offer growth day or maybe say, you know, if you can commit to doing this one practice for the next month, then let's get you an annual growth day membership. Like if you've committed that and you've promised that, then follow through on it. Or if you can say to them, I did this recently with one of my team members, I give her some feedback around data and we, the conversation she was saying you know it's just not clicking for me and I've I've been looking at all the YouTube videos and all things but I'm just not

getting it and I said to her hey why don't you go away research three of the best courses present to me what you think and which one you want to go with and we'll do it and that was an amazing way of having her take ownership over the feedback and actually feeling empowered to change it herself versus me saying let me go find a course for you or let me do some extra training with you or let me just take that over if you're not understanding it. This was a way of me saying, okay, yeah, I'm willing to really support you and put resources behind you being able to get there. Can you go do some research? And I give them a very clear roadmap, right? So I didn't say, just go do some research. I said, can you go and do some research on the top three, analyze them and present to me which one you think we should go with and why. And then I'll

follow through on that commitment. So there's a buy-in and a commitment on both sides there. them and present to me which one you think we should go with and why. And then I'll follow through on that commitment. So there's a buy-in and a commitment on both sides there. They're going to go away. They're going to research three courses. They're going to figure out which one they want. They're going to present it to me. They're going to feel a lot of ownership in not just wanting to take the course, but actually completing it because they're pitching it to me. If I just give them logins to the course, are they going to do it? Are they going to feel interested? Probably not.

If I was like, this is the one you should take, probably not. They need to have some level of ownership inside of what that next growth chapter looks like for them. And then the final part of the active framework is evolution, right? Continuous dialogue. This is really, really important. You want to be having an ongoing conversation culture, not limiting feedback to formal sessions. Like I said, that's really part of having a safe environment. So people feel like it's not just

sprung on them in group meetings or once a year, and you really want to have a feedback loop. So encourage that reciprocal feedback, ensuring that you as a leader also evolve and adapt. You should not be the only one giving feedback. You should be receiving feedback. Ideally, you receive feedback more or the same as what you give your team members. And you really want them to feel and see what it looks like to receive feedback and take it well. Because you are really setting the tone. You are modeling how feedback gets taken in your organization. So you as a leader really got to be walking the walk. Feedback is a continuous journey. We talk about this a lot. It's not a destination. It's about ongoing conversations, adaptability, recognizing that

both the individual and the organization are in a state of perpetual growth. And so it's really, really important that you've got your ear to the ground, you're listening, what could we be doing better as an organization? And what could I be doing better as a leader? One thing that I have my team do that Brendan actually inspired in me is they all send me Friday reports. And on that report, I have, what could I be doing better as a leader? Or what could we be doing better as an organization? And every single week they give feedback and they just give it in a couple of bullet points in an email and they send it back. The great thing about that is it creates a culture of sharing feedback on an ongoing basis and it

doesn't feel too formal it doesn't feel like okay we have to have a sit-down session we have to I have to really build myself up I have to think super carefully no we give it very informally and formally so I went through the active framework active is is step one. So we can understand it. That's only the first step. I'm sure so much of what I shared with you, you already understand. You're like, yeah, that makes sense. It's nice to see it laid out in a framework. Frameworks always really, really help. Frameworks really help us to understand. Integrating it into our daily leadership approach is the real challenge. That is the place that we will make or break our approach. So I really want you to start by self-reflecting and you can do that in a public forum. And what

I mean by that is when you're on meetings, you can start leading with self-reflection. Hey, I know I said I wanted us to do this last week, but as I'm reflecting on it, I'm wondering if that was the right approach. I feel like I maybe jumped too soon and I'm thinking this kind of approach might be better. What do you think? And so you are really promoting giving yourself feedback and being wrong or, you know, pivoting or making a mistake. And when your team sees you doing that, they feel a lot more confident doing that because like, wait, so it's not wrong to be wrong? Okay, it's actually celebrated because we're going to get in a better place.

Okay, great. They like that. So self-reflection is a really big one. If you can bring that into team meetings, that's really important. Promoting trust, however you can be creating that trust in your environment and making it a safe space is incredibly important.

And that's going to be a real key to employee retention as well, because you want, let's say an employee is unhappy and they are one of your A players. Wouldn't you rather they felt good about coming to you and saying, hey, I'm not happy right now. I feel like I'm not inspired and I'm not growing and I want to take on more projects. If you don't create that safe space and they don't feel comfortable coming and saying that to you, you might lose that A player

and you might not have even known there was a problem. And also ensuring that feedback, every feedback moment has a clear intention. You don't just give feedback out of, I'm frustrated with you. You did this wrong. This wasn't right. I'm really annoyed.

So I hope that's really helped. We have taken a really deep dive into, I'm going to call it conscious feedback, conscious leadership and feedback. But I want you to remember that like any skill, it requires practice, it requires patience, it requires continuous learning. And it requires having grace with yourself because you're not going to get it right all the time. We are human beings with human emotions. And there are going to be times that you're like, probably should have taken a breath before I give that feedback. Probably should have self-reflected a little bit more before I give that feedback or probably shouldn't have jumped the gun so quick on this one right there is always going to be the case we're not perfect and so that's really really important that

you give yourself grace to learn and grow and you give others grace too when they maybe give you feedback that wasn't formed in the right way it wasn't fully thought through might not even been constructive it's really important that you learn to give them grace to and realize you're all doing the best you can you're all on this continuous learning journey and ultimately you're only giving or you're only receiving feedback because there's a goal to have the individual and the organization be better so active growth feedback framework i'm just going to do a little overview of that. So awareness, clarity, trust building, intention, value add, empowerment, and evolution.