Feedback Loops
As a team leader you want every member of your team be aware of their performance, and know what is working out well, and what they need to improve. Giving feedback is one of your core responsibilities. However how do you provide efficient feedback, and still keep positive relations with the team members?
On one hand you don't want to be perceived as a constant source of criticism. That would make the team members feel unsafe talking to you. Especially that would apply to the ones who are still learning and therefore not very confident in their job. And those are the team members who need feedback most.
On the other hand it is important for the team members to get feedback, both positive and negative, on all the aspects of their work. However it is not feasible for you to be so closely engaged with everybody on the team at all the times to be able to provide such an amount of constructive and detailed feedback.
There are two ways how you can deliver feedback to the team members: directly and indirectly.
Direct feedback is shared verbally or in writing, during a 1-on-1 meeting or in a group. As a general rule of thumb it works better to share negative direct feedback with a person during 1-on-1 meetings and positive also in a group setting. Sharing your feedback directly has usually the strongest emotional impact. At the same time it poses the risk of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. You should use this powerful tool wisely, as your words will be often taken personally and remembered for a long time. Make sure you are not falling into the Winner's Syndrome pattern while giving direct feedback to the team members. When giving direct feedback to the whole team, avoid the Labeling anti-pattern.
Indirect feedback is working for you all the time, also when you are away from the team, working with the stakeholders or spending time on holidays. As a team leader you should invest time and effort into creating and maintaining a system of feedback loops, that will allow the team members to assess themselves the quality of their work and the status of the projects they are working on.
On the other hand it is important for the team members to get feedback, both positive and negative, on all the aspects of their work. However it is not feasible for you to be so closely engaged with everybody on the team at all the times to be able to provide such an amount of constructive and detailed feedback.
There are two ways how you can deliver feedback to the team members: directly and indirectly.
Direct feedback is shared verbally or in writing, during a 1-on-1 meeting or in a group. As a general rule of thumb it works better to share negative direct feedback with a person during 1-on-1 meetings and positive also in a group setting. Sharing your feedback directly has usually the strongest emotional impact. At the same time it poses the risk of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. You should use this powerful tool wisely, as your words will be often taken personally and remembered for a long time. Make sure you are not falling into the Winner's Syndrome pattern while giving direct feedback to the team members. When giving direct feedback to the whole team, avoid the Labeling anti-pattern.
Indirect feedback is working for you all the time, also when you are away from the team, working with the stakeholders or spending time on holidays. As a team leader you should invest time and effort into creating and maintaining a system of feedback loops, that will allow the team members to assess themselves the quality of their work and the status of the projects they are working on.
Cybernetic positive feedback loop
In Cybernetics feedback loop model a monitor receives the observed state of a system as an input at different sampling times, and compares it to some desired standard. The controller adjusts the system behavior so that the standard would be met.
An examples of the indirect feedback loop, that you can create is a collaborative Roadmapping practice:
You will need to support the team on their way to self-organizing the collaborative Roadmapping activity. Make sure, that you are humble and flexible, as the first versions of the Roadmap will not be perfect, as well as the organization of the first Roadmap Updates.
Avoid following the Prophet Management anti-pattern while introducing the Roadmap Update. If you invest enough patience and thought into helping the team internalize this practice, in return you will get a great level of transparency on the state of your projects, strong team commitment to the timelines, and engaged team members, playing the Roadmap game to win.
Another examples of the indirect feedback loops you can create are:
Creating indirect feedback loops is a skill, that every team leader should master. It is a great boost for the teams onsite, and is extremely important for keeping the remote team members on track.
- Create the Roadmap together with the team in order to make sure, that the engagement level is high enough for the team to own the Roadmap. Your monitor of the feedback loop is now aware of the desired standard.
- Introduce the Roadmap Update activity, when the team members are reviewing the Roadmap collaboratively, further refining it, and comparing the achieved progress with the estimated. The Roadmap Update will be providing a regular input to the monitor.
- Let the team members play the controller's role, and design the adjustments to the team behavior in order to meet their Roadmap's milestones.
You will need to support the team on their way to self-organizing the collaborative Roadmapping activity. Make sure, that you are humble and flexible, as the first versions of the Roadmap will not be perfect, as well as the organization of the first Roadmap Updates.
Avoid following the Prophet Management anti-pattern while introducing the Roadmap Update. If you invest enough patience and thought into helping the team internalize this practice, in return you will get a great level of transparency on the state of your projects, strong team commitment to the timelines, and engaged team members, playing the Roadmap game to win.
Another examples of the indirect feedback loops you can create are:
- Test coverage numbers made visible;
- Sprint Goals and Sprint commitment statistics;
- Team Radar posters regularly updated and placed in the team area;
- Sprint Retrospective action points visible in the team area.
Creating indirect feedback loops is a skill, that every team leader should master. It is a great boost for the teams onsite, and is extremely important for keeping the remote team members on track.
Written by Alex