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Fantastic feedback tool July 05, 2016 |
Counter your natural lack of objectivityI recently discovered a fantastic feedback tool. I found it inside the book “Primed to Perform” by Neel Doshi & Lindsay McGregor (HarperCollins, New York, NY: 2015). The authors introduce this tool by arguing first that most people in organizations – that’s all of us: you and me – suffer from what they call the “blame bias” – also known as the fundamental attribution error. The blame bias is basically our impulse to blame the performer – rather than the context – when the performer doesn’t deliver as expected. In other words – we “have a natural bias to place blame on people for outcomes that may be better explained by the context.” When someone doesn’t perform as expected – we tend to assume that the reason for the lack of performance lies within the performer – rather than within the context where the performer performed. When I read these pages on this book, I said, “Yeah – that is so true!” To help you correct your “natural bias” – the authors suggest to give feedback to your performer following the REAP model. REAP stands for: As in … Remember to stop blaming and assume that your performer had good intentions all along. Explain to yourself – inside your head – possible scenarios related to the context that might explain the lack of performance (assuming a problem with the context – not with your performer). Ask your performer what happened – and ask your question with the tone that you are genuinely assuming your performer had good intent. Plan together with your performer what to do – in order to fix the performance problem. Voilà. Simple – isn’t it? Not easy – but simple. As with everything – it is a question of practice. The more you do it – the better you’ll get at it. Conclusion: If you naturally lose clarity of sight and objectivity due to your unconscious blame bias – also known as the fundamental attribution error – you might as well start practicing right away giving feedback using this REAP model. You will indeed get a broader picture about your employees’ circumstances, you will be much more objective – and as a consequence – you will obtain better performance from them. Questions? Feedback? Reply to this Newsletter and tell me what you would like future issues to be about. Feel free to re-send this "Leader Newsletter" to your colleagues. And click here to see the entire "Leader Newsletter" Archive. Most recent 12 "Leader Newsletter" issues: A team’s cornerstone you may NOT know about See you next month! Joseluis Romero - Publisher www.Skills2Lead.com July 5, 2016. Copyright: All rights reserved I publish "Leader Newsletter" on the first Tuesday of every month |
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