Everyday Feedback is Hx2 Feedback: Honest x Helpful

Once you get feedback going and love it, you will never turn back.

No, not the lukewarm-compromise-pablum kind of feedback practiced in most companies.

But totally honest and totally helpful feedback that gives the gifts of learning, growth, and profound transformation. The kind of feedback that creates unbelievably great—some would say miraculous–results for your enterprise!

The secret of the formula is in the multiplication factor. It’s definitely not an additive factor as in Honest + Helpful. That would be like your boss giving you unconstructive criticism followed by nice-y nice feedback. Or faintly praising people all the time, and then surprising them with a problem. The secret of the formula is in the total integration of helpfulness with honesty.

H(squared) feedback always starts out from a place of shared goals so it’s really really clear that we’re in this together and that WE want to win by maxing out your contribution and mine as well. Like being on a championship team about to go into the final game, we want to bring out the very best in each of us and we trust each other’s motives.

You never have to be nervous about giving H(squared) feedback because you are living the land of shared goals, and everything you say is in the service of those shared goals.

Have an Everyday Feedback conversation by applying the COIN model:

Connect—to your shared goals

Observe—behavior that is, isn’t or sort-of-is working

Impact—explaining positive and negative consequences

Next steps—for future success

Do this over and over and ask others to give you feedback. Start asking everyone to give feedback all the time. Expect all other leaders to give feedback all the time. Visibly encourage the bold people most willing to give feedback.  Don’t stop. Give feedback about what’s going well and not-so-well about the feedback. Keep improving the feedback and keep seeing great things happening!

Honest x Helpful = HUGE!