Negative or Anonymous Feedback

August 6, 2024

TRANSCRIPT

I worked with a CEO who would have this complaint from anyone else in the company. You don't ask me. And then and his response would be like, well, I have this open forum that you can come and talk to me at, and I emailed you and I said this. And it's all defense of, like, I did all these things. I did them, but there's an underlying they don't trust happening. And so it doesn't matter if you hold an open forum. People don't wanna come to it because they don't even think that anything good is gonna happen if they come to it because there's no trust.

And I think that, unfortunately, the input sometimes comes from the most vocal and negative, so it becomes extreme.

It's almost like the CEO or the or the executive team asked for input. But like you said, there's a lack of trust throughout the whole system. Mhmm. It's the system that needs to change.

Yeah. So that by the time that the relationship between, you know, this person in the organization and the top person, I mean, there could be a big many, many managers in between that, then it's almost like the way that we communicate in this community rather than Yes. Such a huge divide. In a way, it's understandable to me that sometimes people don't, opportunities Right.

Like you're saying, when they're given the opportunity. Because the opportunities are are not really welcome, and then then you get people that are just gonna say it. Especially when it's anonymous, I'm hearing sometimes in these anonymous forums, like, even during meetings where people are chatting. No.

I can't stand that. I work I work somewhere where I got anonymous feedback after any session that I led, and it was just numbers. It was on a scale of one to five, what did they rate me? So I would just get an email with a bunch of numbers in it, and no no information. Just, like, give you a three today. All it did to me was so damn.

It almost breaks the relationship. It doesn't help.

I gave up thousands of dollars to leave that. I just emailed them one day. I was like, you know what? I'm good.

And I needed the money too. So it was like it it was a big it was a big, like, I'm gonna do relationship with me right now, and I'm just gonna remove myself and trust that something else is gonna come along because it was so hard on my heart. Like, I just I couldn't keep showing up to a thing for just money. And I feel like a lot of people get into that and have no choice or don't see a choice or they have to keep making the money.

And and it's a shame. When you said the thing about it's systemic, it's about how people are with each other, That really resonates and goes back to all of the things that different from the inside out does, which is just have you look at how you're being in relationship with another human.

That's a beginning. That is a beginning. And I think, organizationally, there needs to be sometimes difficult decisions need to be made that are going to impact my individual actions.

Because if I'm working for a manager that yells at people, that shakes his head or her head and is goes along with the you know, we all respect each other and we all empower each other. You know, this is very common. But then with the teams doesn't do that. If that person does not get handled by the person above them.

Right? Until organizations will really have the the guts or are willing. And I worked for some really fabulous leaders that are doing this. They're letting those people go because there's only so much you can do independently.

In organizations, we get stuck under people that are not good to work with. And I've learned this in my career the hard way when I used to say, well, just talk to them. Right? Well, some other people, they can't just talk to.

They're not gonna list you. Right. They're not gonna listen or they're gonna respond in a way that could be harmful to you.

So that is also on the greater as as a consulting firm, I work with the leadership, and I'm I'm working to make sure that the leaders that I work with or that the teams that I work with are also there's an integrity to it that Right. Their leader is really committed, which means you've also gotta be looking at, are are the people that work for you, are they towing wine here? Are they believing in this, or are they just saying they are and then they're treating people badly? I never wanna just coach a a leader.

It's so much a tiny piece of the story. Yeah. Because that person can show up with me and be great. But then when I see them with their team or I see them with their peers or I see them with their leader, that's when you get more of a real idea.

Is this person really able to listen to bad news? Are they really able to hear criticism? What is the organization allowing for? What is the organization expecting?

Are we willing to really make the tough decisions that, you know, that we're gonna protect people? We're gonna protect this new way, this way for people to be empowered. I'm always looking for the team, the organization that really is committed to doing something really great together.

And there are people. And, you know, I think in my career, I have gone to work with some really fantastic CEOs and leaders that were really committed, and it is not a quick fix.

Yeah. It's a real long process, and you have to be willing to go through that process. And then there's there's everything else that's gonna hit the business that you don't know that you can't predict. Yeah.

You're able to look at maybe some things you haven't done before. You're able to quickly move off of something. You know, how many times do organizations continue to work on some project that's leading money because somebody's not only a pull of plug Yeah. Or someone's ego is tied up in it, and they're not they don't wanna let it go.

Yeah. That's not good for the whole. So everybody has to think about what's what is the best thing for this this entity, this organization, and can we act quickly and make tough decisions together?

That is really the executive teamwork that we do and, you know, into the organization so they understand that it's necessary.

People people can hear bad news. Mhmm. They can understand things. There's so many things that don't get shared, probably, that could get shared.