5 Pointers For Effectively Dealing With Negative Feedback

In my career so far, I have seen number of confrontations arising out of a negative feedback that is shared honestly. Some people disagree (or take it personally) when a negative feedback is shared in performance appraisal. Others don’t like it when client points out areas of improvement. As humans, we crave for validation and negative feedback does just opposite to that. It hurts our ego and hence we tend to instantly react, respond and confront. Equally true is the fact that all our growth depends on what we learn out of negative feedback we get.

In a way, giving or getting negative feedback is an inevitable part of our work lives. You can be on the either side, but by following some simple thumb rules, you can make it a constructive exercise. Here is what I have learned so far:

When giving a negative feedback

• Share perspective: Share some background information and build the stage. Direct feedback can be misconstrued.
• Be sincere: Make sure that when you deliver the feedback, it is heard in the right earnest. Be polite and firm.
• Be factual: Share your feelings but do not forget facts. Be conclusive.
• Don’t sugarcoat: We are naturally not comfortable sharing negative feedback and hence we make it mild. Keep it straight.
• Make it constructive: by offering help, solution alternatives, facilitation or arranging for external help. A negative feedback should help them grow.

When receiving negative feedback

• Listen: to the words, the body language and all that is not spoken, but still said. Take it all in.
• Don’t react immediately: Reacting instantly is considered as ‘being defensive’ unless you have facts on hand. Even when you do that, be polite and firm. Take time to think, if needed.
• Ask questions (to understand, not to defend): Open ended questions help in understanding the perspective and getting to the root of the problem.
• Accept wherever apt: Do not hesitate in accepting wherever apt. Accepting your flaws is a sign of strength, not weakness.
• Learn from the feedback: Treat every negative feedback as an opportunity to learn something. Make it constructive yourself, if the other person doesn’t.

Things to remember in both

• Be graceful: There is no substitute for grace at workplace. We all make mistakes, big and small. Key is to ensure that we maintain the decorum. Being firm doesn’t mean being rude.
• Be human: We are humans and we are sharing feedback with human. Seek to understand the other party, their views and concerns.

Have a FANTASTIC Friday!

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ALSO READ: On Constructive Criticism

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Great Leadership: Beware of These Nine I’s

I wrote earlier about Nine I’s and Great Leadership. The post received a very good response (on twitter, in blogosphere and in comments) and that led me to further think about Nine I’s that leaders should be careful and conscious about. These are personal traits of a leader that have a direct impact on a team/organization’s performance. Here they go:

• Ignorance: A leader cannot afford to be ignorant. Lack of knowledge can be your biggest bottleneck. Leaders are expected to solve important problems for which sufficient knowledge is at the core.
• Inaction: This simply means ‘lack of action where some is expected or appropriate’. People expect leaders to take actions in the right direction. Actions that change people. Actions that have an impact.
• Ineffective: Leadership delivers performance. Results that matter. Ineffectual means ‘not producing any or the desired effect’. When leaders lack ability to cope with a role or situation, they become ineffectual.
• Inattentive: Leaders have to be mindful. Attentive to people. To details. To the upcoming trends. Being attentive also means that a leader listens actively. A leader who does not pay attention to things eventually becomes ineffectual. 
• Incapable: Capability is as much about strength and power, as it is about qualification and capacity. A leader needs to have strong personal traits, strength to deal with difficulties and power to take right decisions.
• Impolite: Leaders, as they ascend in their positions, become more polite and humble. It is said that success should go to your heart and not head. When it goes into head, leaders become impolite and rude. Would you work with a rude leader?
• Inconclusive: When dealing with people and customers, leaders face many issues. The key is to resolve those issues conclusively. A leader has to be conclusive in thoughts, words and deeds. Inconclusive leader creates chaos.
• Inconsistent: Leaders who are inconsistent in their behavior, or who have self-contradictory elements, never generate trust. People look for continuity in character and integrity in actions. Consistency is the key in building trust.  
• Indifferent: With indifference, leaders cease to be leaders. They have no particular interest, concern or sympathy. Indifference is the first step to mediocrity. Effective leaders are concerned, they take work personally and really care about things.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Tip: For a better understanding and correlation, read this post along with my earlier post Nine I’s and Great Leadership. As a further reference, you can also download 25 Things Managers and Leaders Should Never Do [PDF]

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Also: Thanks to Amit Agarwal (India’s first Professional Blogger at award winning Digital Inspiration blog) for listing QAspire Blog in Directory of Top Indian Blogs under ‘HR/Management/Business’ category.

Training Middle Managers On People Management Basics

Here is a simple idea: Whenever you have a new manager (project manager/departmental leader) joining in your organization, put him/her through a simple  training program on how to manage people. Train existing managers as well.

The premise: Most project managers/team leaders get work done through team. I have also seen that a lot of people become managers because of their seniority in technical positions. But we know that managing people is far more than just technical skills. Most managers fail because they don’t know how people are managed.

Here are a few things (bare minimum) that MUST be included in the training:

1. Leadership basics, traits and core expectations from a leader
2. Setting a vision (for their projects/initiatives) and long-term thinking
3. Fundamentals of dealing with people (and best practices therein)
4. The art of effective delegation and empowerment
5. Communication skills (oral and written), listening and non-verbal communication
6. How to connect with people (team members, peers and clients)
7. Leading with confidence
8. Presentation skills
9. Awareness about identifying and influencing impact of their actions on others
10. How to coach and mentor people
11. Kindness, care, humility and compassion at workplace
12. A primer on vision and values of the organization and how it translates into real actions.
13. Personal effectiveness and self-management
14. Managing meetings
15. Managing conflicts and understanding differences in personality types
16. Basic fact finding and interviewing skills
17. Expectations Management at all levels
18. (You can add more depending on your organization’s context)

Two critical points:

• Include a lot of real-life examples/stories for each of the above to make it interesting. To complement this effort, give them the URL’s of some of the best leadership blogs out there. Share other useful resources like free presentations, eBooks, podcasts and videos that would help them get into a leadership mindset.
• To ensure that this training translates into meaningful actions, it is crucial to have a ‘leadership development program’ that continuously organizes trainings, inducts new people/aspiring leaders, conduct brainstorming and discussion sessions, seek feedbacks from people periodically to maintain the momentum and mature over a period of time.

I wrote in my book #QUALITYtweet that middle managers are the glue that joins the strategies at the top with actions at the bottom. Induction training like these are a small investment that go a long way in setting the precedence and ensuring that you find right channels to effectively transfer your strategy/values to all layers within the organization. It has a direct impact on overall employee morale’ and your effectiveness as an organization.

Have a Fantastic Friday!

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Download your copy of the 25 Things Managers and Leaders Should Never Do [PDF]. Read it, share it with your friends, or with anyone who is an aspiring leader.

Explore more articles tagged under “Leadership” at QAspire Blog.

Managing Results by Defining “Deliverables” Early On

As professionals, we all are responsible for shipping stuff to our customers (internal or external). The stuff that we ship is commonly referred to as a “deliverable”.

As a manager, it helps if you can clearly define what deliverable means. The first step to get something right first time is to define it accurately in the beginning.

You can ask your team member to perform a task or you can ask them to complete a deliverable (complete with all product and process requirements). Defining a deliverable clarifies purpose and sets expectations on “why” rather than “what”. Most of the times, in quest of “what”, “why” is missed out. Clearly defining deliverables for all your team members helps them gain additional clarity and accomplishing things first time right.

I believe that most people want to do a great job, but they don’t know how to do it. Defining/assigning a complete deliverable instead of tasks can really help you in tapping full potential of your people and ensure that they are effective in whatever they do. When you review progress, you can review the accurate status of a deliverable (results), if it is defined early on. Monitoring deliverables is far less daunting than monitoring tasks.

Johanna Rothman says, “Discuss Results, Not Tasks”. Deliverables define the results you are seeking.

Have you ever experienced a situation where all your tasks were accomplished, but the final deliverable was not qualitative? If yes, you will exactly know what “defining a deliverable” really means!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Note: My book ‘#QUALITYtweet – 140 bite-sized ideas to deliver quality in every project’ explores the people, process and leadership aspects to build a constantly improving organization culture. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Bonus: QAspire Blog was recently featured on Community of Program and Project Managers (PPM Community). Check out the feature.

Innovation, Quality & Entrepreneurship at Akshaya Patra

Akshaya Patra Foundation in India is a shining example of how social entrepreneurship combined  with power of innovation can make a HUGE difference.

First, some background information. Akshaya Patra is an Indian NGO that provides mid day meals to about 1.2 million children across India on all school days. These meals act as an incentive for these kids to come to the school and study. Even more amazing is the fact that for one kid, the cost of a nutritious mid day meal for one full year is only Rs. 600 (or ~$13). How do they achieve this sort of scale at such low cost? I wondered too, till I visited one of their kitchens in Ahmedabad recently.

• Innovation in Delivery: Kitchens are specially designed to meet the scale and quality requirements. They use technology to cook more food in less time. When we visited the kitchen, it was no less than a highly advanced factory with machines for everything including grain cleaning, cutting the vegetables, preparing the chapatti (breads), boiling the rice and loading the containers. These machines cook food that meets the defined nutrition requirements and taste. Many of these machines are indigenously modified to meet their unique requirement.
• Focus on Quality: When we went into the office, I could see some well defined checklists. On further inquiry, we found that their kitchen was ISO 22000 (Food Safety) Certified. They collect some key metrics including cost per meal and constantly look for ways to optimize it. They have built their own standard for supply chain right from procuring raw material to delivery of these meals in schools across. Truly remarkable!
• Entrepreneurship: Akshaya Patra’s mission is “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger” and that is no small one. But after visiting Akshaya Patra, I can only say one thing: If you really want to do something, you always find ways to do it. At the core of entrepreneurship is the ability to see a gap and more importantly, do something about it. Their website says,

“The surest way to break out of the cycle of poverty is through education. Education can significantly improve the quality of life of a family for generations to come. When the basic needs of a child, such as food are not met, education often becomes the last priority. The meal is an incentive for them to continue their education. It helps reduce the dropout rate to an enormous extent and increases classroom attendance.”

For many children who are beneficiaries of these meals, it is probably the one and only meal that they get in the day. President Obama lauded their efforts and recently, Akshaya Patra was also featured at Harvard Business Blogs.

Akshaya Patra is a great example of how entrepreneurial spirit combined with focus on innovation and quality can overcome all roadblocks and bring about a big difference to our society and our future.

Friday High-Five: Posts I Loved Reading Last Week

Friday again - time to share some of the most profound posts that I loved reading last week. These brilliant posts hit the point and leave us with some excellent lessons. A big high-five to these amazing folks.

• Six Thoughts About Middle Management - by Lisa Haneberg
  Lisa says, “Management is a social act. Conversations are your currency to generate excellence and bring out the best in others. Erode relationships, erode results.”
  
• 10 Things: Addressed And Your Awesome Potential Will Be Unleashed- by NICHOLAS BATE
  Professor Bate says, “Believe in Yourself. You don’t have to be liked by everybody to do great things, to live the Life you wish, to change the world. AGREE THAT WITH YOURSELF.”
  
• How to Discuss an Employee Performance Problem - by Dan McCarthy
  Dan reminds us, “Knowing how to sit down with an employee and have an effective conversation about a performance problem is one of the hardest things for any manager to do, new or experienced, and should never be taken for granted.” He also offers practical tips to handle a performance problem.
  
• Three Years of CO - by Kurt Harden
  Cultural Offering blog completed three years and Kurt ruminates on the journey so far. He says, “That is the deal that is blogging. You take a shot at it. Put some thoughts down. Words to sentences to paragraphs, all to hone your skills - writing, reading, thinking. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. But over time there are more hits than misses.”
  
• The performance value of total concentration - by Tim Sanders
  Tim Sanders posted a small and important reminder that working on one thing with total concentration has tremendous performance value. He also reminds that we can’t excel at all things at a time. Must read if you are struggling with your productivity.

Have a Fantastic Friday and a refreshing weekend!

The Pursuit of Getting It “First Time Right” (FTR)

Building quality involves cost. You spend efforts and energy on preventing the errors (prevention cost) and then checking your work (appraisal cost). These are positive costs, or rather investments that ensure that you get it right the first time.

The cost of rework when you or customer identifies a LOT of defects(internal/external failure costs) is huge and highly damaging too. It can have a direct impact on your business bottom lines.

So how do you maximize your possibility of getting it first time right when you deal with projects? Here are three most important things I could think of:

• Clarity: In projects (or in any initiative), when you shoot in the dark, the bullet comes back to kill you. Most projects fail because of lack of clarity. Project team needs to be clear of the purpose, business need, specific requirements of the customer and other implicit expectations. Clarity also demands a clear visibility in process, setting up right rituals, monitoring practices and responsibilities of the project team. Clarity means openness in communication.
• Discipline: Execution demands discipline to do right things consistently. It demands emotional labor. The plans you established needs to be followed. When you decide to review early and often, you should. Discipline, in simplest terms, is your ability to fill the gap between what you know and what you actually do. 
• Constant Improvement: You planned, you did and then you also reviewed. Based on your experiences, you should be able to improvise your processes. Change the tracks for better efficiency. Inculcate better habits. Fine tuning and alignment that happens in this phase not only helps you in this project, but also in subsequent ones.

I do not undermine the need to make mistakes and learn from them. When we research or try to innovate, we essentially do that with the objective of learning. But what about applying our lessons well? We can always get that right the first time, only if we decide to!

P.S: On a second thought, you can only innovate when you don’t have to worry about doing the routine stuff right. That is where processes and FTR approach can really help.

10 Pointers to Build Comfort Within The Team

It pains to see teams where people work on a common goal but don’t get along well with each other. We work in teams and knowing how to get along well with others is extremely crucial. So how do you get along well with others and establish required comfort? Here are 10 broad pointers that may help.

• Reiterate Objectives: They need to be communicated often to stay focused as a team.
• Don’t boast: People don’t get along well with someone who constantly boasts. Make sure that ‘keeping them informed’ doesn’t sound like boasting.
• Listen and be genuinely interested: You can either do transactional communication or seek to connect with people.
• Ask open ended questions: Open ended questions not only foster great discussions but also allows you to know the other person.
• Be firm and polite: In disagreements, be firm and polite. There will be situations when you have take a stand or suggest improvements. Do that with grace.
• Have fun: Be cheerful. Celebrate together. When working with the team, be cheerful and make things more interesting that way.
• Don’t talk small: You have a goal to achieve as a team. Don’t let that focus dilute with small talks and gossiping. It drains the energy! Beware!
• Motivate others: Motivate others to raise their game. Be generous when praising. Acknowledge that sincere effort. Say ‘Thanks’ often.
• Be the benchmark: People take more clues from your conduct, than from words. Make it a great conduct. Be the benchmark when it comes to quality of outcomes.
• Keep your promises: When you keep your promises, you demonstrate integrity and build lot of trust.

TEAM stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More” – but that is only possible when the team gets along well with each other. Understanding of these fundamentals goes a long way in building remarkable teams that deliver!

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In Pursuit Of “Customer Delight”: Getting The Basics Right

A lot of companies have the phrase “delighting our customers” in their well-crafted mission statements and quality policies. I see “customer delight” as a cherry, with the cake being “solving their problems and meeting the expectations” – so when we say “cherry on top of the cake”, the cake has to be right. Customers don’t get delighted by cherries alone, or by cherries on wrong cakes.

Here is the thing. To be able to reach a state where you “delight” your customers, you have to first “know and meet” customer’s basic expectations consistently. That is the core of your business – the reason why your customers come to you. Your products/services have to first meet the basic criteria of delivering the value that client is seeking.

So when you think of delighting your customer, think of the basics first.

• Does your product/service meet the core expectation of the customer? Does it solve their problems? To what extent?
• Do you have a method to accurately identify customer’s real/unique expectations? Their unique context?
• Do you have right set of processes, people and technology that will help you deliver up to customer’s expectations consistently?
• What is missing and how can you scale up to ensure consistency of delivery? What are the gaps that need to be filled?

Once you have these basics right, your efforts and investment on delighting your customers through various innovative and inclusive programs will yield the right returns. Right cherry on the right kind of cake is a delightful combo! Isn’t it?

Customer’s loyalty and further, advocacy only comes when you know how to deliver the basics right. Merely trying to delight customers when your core offering does not solve their real problems is an effort in vain. It may only help you keep a customer for now, but not on a long run.

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Metrics: Are They Mapped With Your Business Objectives?

You can measure almost anything in your business, but if those metrics don’t serve a real business objectives, they are just numbers with no real meaning. Measurement is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

I have seen extreme cases where organizations either measure so much or they don’t measure anything at all. Both extremes are dangerous, because it de-focuses people from doing the right things.

A lot of business leaders. quality consultants and improvement experts are obsessed with fancy metrics that may not have direct relevance to the business objectives. Whether measuring a project or a business, here are a five steps to map your metrics with your business objectives:

• Know your goals: Identify what are your strategic, tactical and operational goals. Understanding your business challenges and goals is the first most important step. If you don’t know why you are measuring something, you will get numbers and you won’t know what to do with them. It won’t help.
• Identify metrics: What metrics can effectively help you meet your goals? For example, if you reduce your defect rates, you can keep your customers happy. Reducing overrun on your project can have direct impact on your bottom lines. You get the point.
• Identify impact: Some metrics directly impact the goal, while others may have an indirect impact. Identify whether identified measurement has direct or indirect impact. A great way to do this is to draw a two dimensional table with business objectives horizontally and measurements vertically. Map the impact and you will have a great view of your business goals and impact of those metrics.
• Establish operational procedures: You can now establish processes and methods to collect the data, frequency and consolidation mechanism. This is also a great way to ensure that all your operational processes are aligned to perform in a way that it satisfies at least one or more business objectives.
• Don’t forget the “invisibles”: My earlier post “The Invisibles in Business Performance” touched upon one of Deming’s seven deadly diseases - “Running a company on visible figures alone” and listed out some areas of your business that cannot be measured, but can have direct impact on your business. Striking balance between managing these invisible aspects, managing by visible numbers and focusing on people seems to be the optimal route to manage the business.

As I mentioned in my earlier post - “With visible figures alone, a business is run. By managing the invisibles together with the visible figures, a high performance, sustainable and scalable organization is built.”

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Note: My book ‘#QUALITYtweet – 140 bite-sized ideas to deliver quality in every project’ explores the people, process and leadership aspects to build a constantly improving organization culture. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Bonus: Read my post (How to) Have a Great Monday! – and have a wonderful start into the week!