Double Down on Feedback
The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sent much of the country into mourning and marked the end of an era. Having a woman like Justice Ginsburg serve at the highest level of the judiciary was an inspiration to so many of us. As we look to move forward, women must nevertheless continue to confront and defeat double standards at work.
One critical element of leading and managing employees is providing feedback on their performance. Apparently, even that is fraught with bias. According to a recent study conducted by Martin Abel of Middlebury, both men and women react more negatively to constructive feedback when it’s given by women. You read that correctly. In fact, Jessica Stillman wrote of her annoyance in Inc. that yet another research study showed yet another “enraging” double standard at work. Stillman remarks that making employees aware of their own biases may positively affect how they receive feedback and help them begin to fight those biases.
Obviously, we can’t avoid giving feedback. Although we cannot control how our employees react to the guidance that we provide, there is a feedback model that I’ve used with great success. The SAID model is a clear, logical, 4-part approach to providing feedback in an organized manner:
Standard: Begin by reminding the employee of the standard that governs the issue around which you’re giving feedback. Make certain you have established standards and that you have communicated them.
“As you know, I expect that employees will not bring their mobile phones to meetings unless they are expecting an important call.”
Action: Outline the employee’s action(s) in a factual manner without your interpretation of the actions. Recount what you saw or heard and avoid remarking on their character or personality.
“You brought your phone to yesterday’s meeting, kept it on the table, and continued to receive text messages throughout the meeting with constant buzzing.”
Impact: Share the impact of the employee’s action on the end result or the process.
“This caused many of us at the meeting to be continuously distracted. It was difficult to stay on track with the constant interruptions.”
Development: Provide direction about what happens next. How can the employee build on this feedback for the future? You can guide the conversation by asking open-ended questions.
“What do you think is the best way to move forward?”
I’ve found it very helpful to outline my SAID talking points in advance of the meeting with the employee, which also creates documentation for the HR file if the issue is particularly egregious.
Despite the study’s finding that employees react more negatively when feedback is given by women, we must continue to guide and develop our teams. Using the SAID model will help make that exercise easier and more organized.
