Rocky Garza

Remember that giving coaching and giving feedback is most well received when we speak from our experience not from our expertise. Let me be clear, I am not in any way saying that you cannot be an expert, I am simply communicating that people want to be influenced by those who share their experiences. Be relatable to me, be willing to be vulnerable and share a story with me. I want to be heard and I want to have the opportunity to feel like a human.

Of all the tools out there, one of the best tools I’ve seen used inside an organization that pairs seamlessly with performance evaluations is the culture index. By consistently, assessing and monitoring, not only how a person feels, but most importantly how they believe they need to show up for work, always allows an opportunity to have a conversation around their performance.

My addition would be to recognize that many employees are tired of being told they need to have professional development. I think with many staff are longing for now, is human development. We have the most amount of our workforce working remotely that we ever have. How do we expect them to be able to differentiate between professional development and personal development. There is no longer a worklife balance. We now exist in a world where there is always a worklife tension. If we want to help them better manage the tension, we have to be to equip them to better manage themselves. My votefor human development in order to create better performance.

First, I believe a great manager and leader must create distinction between coaching, feedback, and how we begin to create performance improvement plans. Coaching is a conversation, it’s our capacity to be able to help someone improve a skill that we see potential. Feedback, is a very specific behavior with a very specific impact that we want to speak to either positively or instructively. The moment we finish, communicating feedback, that should lead into a coaching conversation. When we utilize this dynamic, it allows it to be conversational expected, and exceedingly more consistent.

Remember that there are two kinds of change. There's the kind that is a result of an executive decision that is not up for debate. And there is a change that is a result of creating buy in with our team and our people that allow them to lead the charge.

This is probably the most critical piece as it not only creates buying, but it shows that you actually care about their input. One thing that I would caution, any leader in, is don't attempt to involve your team if you're not willing to listen to their feedback and adopt their changes. Remember, ownership comes after there is a piece of my input in the final answer.