Navigating Constructive Criticism: 5 Tips For Managers Who Deliver Feedback

Nicholas Porter

Who loves performance reviews? Spontaneous feedback? Subtle criticism?  Yeah. Nobody does. Especially managers.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Modern managers worth their salt undoubtedly understand the importance of delivering constructive criticism and feedback. They recognize it is essential for learning and growth, as well as advancement in their employees’ careers.  But there is an art to delivering it — and lots to consider before putting that meeting invite on your employee’s calendar.

With all this in mind, I recently attended a workshop dedicated to the topic. Titled, ‘The Art of Constructive Criticism,” the session was led by conflict management expert Amanda Dean of Crux Consulting. Anyone second-guessing the value of this 3-hour workshop should take pause right now and consider the following stat Amanda provided at the start session:

“Studies show that managers spend between 3 and 8 hours a week dealing with conflict and most of that conflict is ongoing or persistent.”

 

The collective brain of my readers upon digesting that statistic.

Sadly, to many in management, this is all too familiar. The biggest takeaway of the session for me was a clear understanding of what is known as the “W-5” method.  Because in addition to helping individuals navigate the tricky minefield of delivering constructive criticism and feedback, the W-5 method challenges managers and encourages them to look inward prior to doling out feedback to members of their team. 

The “W-5” Method for Managers
In a nutshell, the W-5 method is a self-test for managers to administor prior to any instance where they deliver constructive criticism or feedback to a direct report. See below:

  • WHO – Who Is the Person To Whom You Are Delivering Feedback?
    • Questions to consider:
      • At what point in their career is this individual?  
      • Who needs to be in the room while this feedback is delivered?  
      • What style of feedback delivery do you believe will be most effective based on your understanding of/relationship with the individual?
  • WHEN – When Will The Recipient Be Most Receptive?
    • Questions to consider:
      • When will the individual be most receptive?
      • At what point during the day do they tend to operate at peak attentiveness?
      • How immediate/important is the feedback you have to deliver?
  • WHERE – Where Will You Deliver The Feedback?
    • Questions to consider:
      • Where will you deliver the feedback?
      • Hint: Not in a room full of people. Not in the office kitchen. Not in public. Not on a large email with peers copied. Find a conference room or hold the feedback meeting in your office. Remember — treat people the way you would like to be treated.
  • WHAT – What Exactly Do You Need To Say? 
    • Questions to consider:
      • What main points do I want to get across?
      • Hint: Prepare a concise list of the top three points you would like to make sure are addressed in a feedback session. By setting a limit, you are forced to focus on only the most important points. 
  • WHY – Why Are You Providing This Feedback?
    • Questions to consider:
      • What do you hope to gain from delivering this feedback?
      • Hint: Ideally, you are delivering feedback because you are seeking to align expectations and make sure you are both on the same page when it comes to achieving goals.

Not only is the W-5 self-test useful in a professional setting, it is also perfect when gearing up for difficult conversations in your personal life. The reason for this is simple — the W-5 method helps you first get to the root of an issue and then provides guidance on how to successfully manage a conversation around it from start to finish

Additional Observations
Lots of additional ground was covered during the workshop. Here are some of what I found to be the most interesting nuggets from the session. (Several have already been in my arsenal for quite some time.) Hopefully, you will find them equally useful. 

  • Remind your employees regularly they must “speak their need” and never hesitate to ask for guidance, support, assistance in removing roadblocks, etc. If they don’t state a need, it makes it extremely difficult for you to know what they require to move things forward.
  • Sometimes it is difficult to move past an issue with a specific individual, especially if you need to continue working with them after an incident. The solution? Consider how you may be able to shift your expectations. Ask yourself, “How can I adjust my approach with this person in order to achieve team goals?”
  • Don’t make an issue with one of your employees your manager’s problem by dumping it on their desk. Instead, develop a plan to consult with them regarding it.  Come to the table with proactive solutions and an intent to seek advice and consensus. Anything less and you risk appearing both incapable of performing your duties as a manager and appearing problematic yourself.
  • Ask an individual who you are planning to give feedback when they have time to talk. Once that time is established, along with a calendar invite, send a quick agenda so there is an expectation of what will be discussed. This helps “prep” people emotionally in advance of potentially difficult conversations.

Economic Realities of Actual Hardcore Show Promoter Differ From Those of Imagined Show Promoter

Nicholas Porter

For many years, I ran a production company/booking agency with my best friend and business partner Regan Clarke. We were young, excited and active members of the Boston area hardcore/metal music scene and realized that if we wanted to see the bands we enjoyed, well, we’d just have to book them ourselves DIY style.

So we did. And it was a blast. It was also at times pretty miserable. Plenty of stories from those years. We met so many characters. They mostly ran the gamut from awesome bands and really cool booking agents to asshole bands and complete scumbag booking agents.  Club owners, sound guys and the “Can I get on the list?” crowd? Well, I could write another whole blog (or book) on that without issue, but I’ll save it for a rainy day.

Anyway, plenty of you are likely aware of the awesome punk news satire site The Hard Times. I wrote an article that satirized and summarized the aforementioned crazy years and submitted it for consideration. Unfortunately, it didn’t make the editorial cut. Hey, it happens! So with that, I decided to post it to my own site. You can read it below. Safe to say about 75 percent of it is 100 percent true. For the faint at heart, please be aware it contains a bit of blue language. You’ve been warned. Enjoy! 

Economic Realities of Actual Hardcore Show Promoter Differ From Those of Imagined Show Promoter

North Shore, Mass. – Stinging accusations have been brought forth toward Boston-area show promoter Nicholas Clarke, claiming he has unscrupulously built a six-figure empire on the backs of hardcore bands by booking shows at local VFWs and church function halls.

Clarke, who has spent the last four years as just-North-of-Boston’s most active promoter, is responsible for regularly bringing mid-level punk and hardcore acts to the Massachusetts’ North Shore communities. His efforts have grown a vibrant scene that sees punk and hardcore kids from surrounding cities and towns regularly making trips to attend his shows, all of which he absolutely loses his own money on regularly.

In regard to the accusations, locals happily weighed in on the topic with their completely uninformed version of the truth.

“Nick thinks he’s Ari-fucking-Gold,” said Local Scene All-Star Johnny Spinkick. “When he first started, shows would cost $5 at the door. Last week, he brought in three touring bands from Chicago and had the balls to charge $7. He said, the bands, ‘needed money for gas and food.’ Yeah, right. We all know he pocketed that extra money.”

According to Clarke, he spends about three Saturdays per month and now many weekdays producing shows from start to finish.

“Most DIY promoters won’t book a show unless it takes place on a Friday or Saturday,” he said. “Someone has to help out these touring bands with weekday gigs. I’ve stepped up to the plate.”

Running shows, according to Clarke, includes collecting money at the door, making sure sets don’t run over schedule and preventing the area’s self-proclaimed “biggest supporters of the scene” from sneaking in the back door of the venue to avoid paying admission. After mopping the floor once the venue has cleared, sources have stated that Clarke can be found alone late into the night sweeping up cigarette butts and glass from broken beer bottles left in the parking lot by show patrons.

“Every time I get a call from this kid, I can’t stop laughing,” says Robert McKinley, a local police officer who attends each of Clarke’s shows — a mandatory regulation set by the city which costs Clarke $350 per event. “I once asked him why he keeps doing this and he went on about ‘the scene being important’ and how ‘it’s a brotherhood, man.’ It was at that very moment I pointed out one of his ‘brothers’ who was pissing down the slide of the playground St. Mary’s Church uses for its pre-school/daycare program.”

Members of the local scene recently weighed-in on the matter even further via the highly respected message board ShoreXXXCore.com. Poster MoshFiend92 had some choice words for Clarke’s upcoming show featuring the return of local ‘core legends, Activate Hate.

“Here we go again with Clarke and his money-grubbing ways. Ten bucks at the door for admission? That asshole says he regularly loses money on these shows, but I saw him and his girlfriend eating dinner at Taco Bell just last Tuesday.”

Chimed in poster BoneNeedle18: “The one around the corner from the one-room apartment he shares with her? I just read that shit-hole they live in had no running water and was condemned by the city last week.”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” replied MoshFiend92. “Anyway, fuck him and his shows. Guy doesn’t give a shit about the scene. I’d totally start booking shows around here myself, but Zumiez just changed my schedule from five hours per week to ten, so I don’t have time.”

We were able to catch up with Clarke once more via email prior to this story going live. Below is his final statement on the matter, printed in its entirety:

“Sorry for my delayed response to your email. My cable/internet was shut off last month and I can only get to the library to use its public computers once a week since my car was impounded for unpaid parking tickets. Anyway, the show ‘MoshFiend92’ (BTW, Ricky – I know that’s you) is complaining about paying $10 for? Let’s do some math. One show with five bands. That equals $2 per band. That’s on top of the hall rental fee, payment for the cop, the two cases of water I provide and the monthly repayment plan I worked out with St. Mary’s after someone ripped the sink off the wall in the bathroom and smeared feces in the shape of an inverted cross on the mirror during last January’s Burnt Neck show. (Ricky – I know that was you, too. Can’t you just grow up?) Listen…I’m sorry, but I need to cut this note short. I only have an hour on this computer and I need to figure out how to apply for food stamps.”

The One Question You Should Ask Everyone You Meet

Nicholas Porter

At the risk of dating myself, who else remembers “The Sunscreen Song?” The track was put to wax by Baz Lurhmann during the summer of 1999 and features lyrics taken from a hypothetical commencement speech penned by Chicago Tribune Columnist Mary Schmich. The tune features some great pieces of advice. Specifically, though, it features the following advice about advice:

“Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.”

I love that line. Dispensing advice is a way of fishing from the past, taking the best parts and reusing it. While this line and the majority of the song was written with the personal aspects of life in mind, I’ve found it applies to the professional aspects of life as well.

I mean, it makes sense, right? The best way to learn is to take on advice from those you respect and those in places you aspire to reach. Whenever possible, I ask the business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs I meet to share with me the best advice they have ever received. You’d be surprised how much insight such a simple question can yield.

As it relates to PR/marketing, here are a few of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received in no particular order. Hopefully, they will help you on your own journey.

  • If it’s going to take two minutes, do it now.
  • Be strategic in everything you do. Moving forward with an idea? Vetoing an idea? Shifting direction? Have a reason why.
  • Take complete ownership of both your victories and failures.
  • Think big – every time – and scale it back to meet your needs.
  • Learn how to write (yes, this needs to be said).

Oh, and one more piece of advice. Remember cool songs written during the years before you were of legal age to vote. They might help you write a blog post one day!

(This post has been updated since its original publication in February 2016.)