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Team Feedback session ... my tips on how to do it right!


“A manager typically spends 40% of his/her time in resolving conflicts within the team” – resonates very closely to my position at work. And am sure with a lot of others too.
However whats different is how I chose to address this – Very directly. Very very directly. I recently conducted a team session for my direct reportees – away from work and more importantly away from their phones and laptops. The day started with a lot of anxiety as the team came in with all kinds of fears in their minds. I guess the pre session introspection advice I had sent out to the team kind of made them think the day was ging to be full of finger pointing and shaming each other.
I realised that most people equate straight talk with rude talk. Hence here’s my advice to any manager who believes their team needs a moment to stop and reflect.

1.       Be very very clear in your head about the end objective of the session – it should be about ‘Enabling’ and not only ‘Motivating’
Have seen a lot of motivated team members still grasping with how exactly to get the work done. So make the session about how each of the team members can enable this for each other. Everyone wants to succeed at work – help them realise that working together is truly a win-win and not a ‘I look bad if I ask for help’ scenario.

2.       Start with the individual
“What are your top 2 strengths and weaknesses?” This simple question sets the ball rolling easily – everyone loves talking about themselves and any team is made up of people at the end of the day. Its important to address the ego of the individual before the pride in the team can come in. Also self-introspection is a great starting point before discussing anyone else in the team. Team mates will listen and respect each other more when they see honest introspection on the table – especially everyone admitting to their weakness themselves. Honesty has a great way of lowering defensive approach to feedback.

3.       Make each person realise their role in the team
I found the question “What do you uniquely bring to this team?” a very useful one. It makes everyone re-examine not just their own strengths but also how they’re placed vis-à-vis their team mates – a la relative grading. This also sets in motion the thinking around appreciating each other’s strengths and how it helps each person achieve their own goals.

4.       Bring back the reality of the situation at hand.
At this point of time in the session, typically everyone is feeling very positive and happy-happy about themselves and each other. Its important to bring them back to the point that such a session wouldn’t have been needed if things were really so hunky dory! So a round the group session on “what do you think abc needs to improve in order to contribute more to the team?” works well. This is a positive way of giving and receiving feedback. Identify the improvement area and put it in the context of team – not personality based or personal between two people.
Do this one person at a time – so everyone gives feedback to one person. Gives that person consolidated feedback and fodder to ponder over.

5.       Allow for clarifications – not excuses.
Post the intensely personal feedback session, give time to ponder over what the team has said about each person. Each person got a chance to ask for clarification from anyone who said anything and maybe the receiver didn’t really understand what they meant. But ensure its only to clarify the feedback given – not a chance for the receiver to start providing reasons why the feedback is not relevant or wrong or should not have been felt.

I think the session gives a lot of intense opportunity to everyone to not just vent out positively but also assimilate their own progress areas. However the success of the session absolutely lies in the hands of the moderator. I was both a participant in every round of discussion – giving and receiving feedback – but also ensured that the tone and manner in which this was done to everyone remained amicable and positively motivated. This wasn’t meant to be a boxing ring – but a training ground for a relay race!!

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