They say feedback is a gift. They also say gift vouchers are particularly thoughtful…
Last-minute Christmas shopping jibes aside, high-quality feedback is truly one of the greatest gifts we can give (and receive) throughout our professional careers.
Meaningful, timely, and structured feedback can offer incredible opportunities to grow and improve. Many of us, however, have experienced the process as an exercise in de-constructing, used only to shine a spotlight on our failings.
An internet search offers an ungodly number of articles on how to provide better-quality feedback at work. Many will go on to describe various theoretical models, and some even provide sample scripts on how to address the late completion of deliverables, ongoing sub-par performance, poor workplace behaviour, and a litany of other offenses to be remedied.
Many further describe the age-old Sh!t-sandwich Method, which in its purest form sounds very much like “You’re great at that thing over there (which we love), terrible at this thing right here right now (which we hate), and remember we think you’re amazing (which we love)”.
We’re likely able to recall this clumsy method being employed at some point in our careers. The lingering taste of the sandwich filling fouling any memory of the tasty bread, primarily due to the offhand and reactionary way in which it was served. The end result? No improvement at all.
Perhaps there’s another way? A method that shifts us away from the occasional serving of a shi!t-sandwich, and moves us confidently towards providing our teams with regular, giant-sized servings of Praise Cake.
Praise Cake is an approach where genuine, regular, and meaningful praise is handed out wherever it’s due.
Handing out these regular servings of Praise Cake makes it much easier to give the gift of constructive feedback when it’s needed. Instead of our people seeing feedback as a foul-tasting piece of garbage aimed at highlighting mistakes, it’s now seen as part of a balanced meal, building overall performance and excellence.
Critical to the success of the Praise Cake model is high-quality ingredients, or the ‘why’. Generic, vague, and flavourless feedback does nothing to communicate which aspects of the work done by the person or team were outstanding, and these bland offerings should be avoided at all costs.
“Whenever you commend, add your reason for doing do. It is this which distinguishes the approbation of a person of sense, from the flattery of sycopnants and the admiration of fools”
– Sir Richard Steele (who by all accounts appreciated very nice cakes)
the beauty of the Praise Cake model is when that constructive feedback is required, the individual or team often sees the lowering of performance not as a lowering of your standards, but of their own, as recognised by previous pieces of Praise Cake.
Result? Self-imposed performance improvement – the most powerful of them all.
At the risk of over-cooking the food analogy any further, download and have a read of our 7-Step Feedback Model worksheet.
The worksheet provides guidance on developing a strong culture of feedback to boost performance within your teams. It also sets out a simple 7-step process to deliver better feedback, helping us make giving the gift of feedback even easier than printing out an online gift voucher on Christmas Eve.
What do you see as the Top 2 benefits of providing high-quality feedback? We’d love your insights – share a comment below.
Do you have anyone in your network who is great at giving feedback? Take this opportunity to recognise and celebrate excellence by tagging them below. Don’t forget to use the model and tell us ‘why’ they’re so good at it.
Churchill Infrastructure is an Australian-based Infrastructure Partner that offers over 23 years of experience bringing major road, rail, metro, tunnel, and oil & gas projects to life.
With expertise in all elements of the project life cycle, our team at Churchill Infrastructure thrives on the work others find too hard and provide clients with experienced teams who are ‘doers’; selected not only for their professional skills and experience but who repeatedly demonstrate attitudes and behaviours aligning with our values.
If you’d like the peace that comes with knowing your team is filled with people who walk towards, not away from hard work, who relish solving impossible problems, and who actively generate forward momentum, contact us now via our Contact Page.
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