The Power Influence has with Candid Feedback

Earlier while looking at the importance great mentors have in all our lives, I shared one of the quotes I’ve heard most frequently from John Maxwell over the years: “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.” Since then, we’ve also looked at the (often) untapped power that lies in honest feedback. The challenge at times, though, isn’t from feedback being unavailable; it’s from that feedback coming from someone who has earned little influence with the person they’re delivering it to. Without some level of alliance in place, we’re all at least a little resistant to criticism - even when it’s painted as being constructive.

Of the two plant managers I referenced earlier, Lumbergh enjoyed being viewed as powerful and often seemed to get joy from tasking his minions with random tasks at odd hours. He’d frequently send an email from wherever he was, because he was rarely in the building he was supposed to be managing, requesting significant detail about abstract issues. Those requests usually came through late in the evening just prior to a day where he’d actually make an appearance. In those days, no one had access to email on their cell phones and only a select few carried a laptop home. The team members who would ultimately be tasked with pulling the data got to work around 8am. Even without their normal duties, they had no chance of jumping through his hoops in time for the 8:45am meeting where he expected to receive. One of the team members routinely receiving those requests taught me that the harder data is to find, the harder it is to prove wrong… I can’t say for sure, but I’m willing to bet they fed him a line on occasion. Through all that mess, most of us knew he was just flexing his muscles and would never put enough time in to disprove even the most outlandish report we provided. Aside from his direct reports, I don’t recall him openly chastising anyone. That said, you didn’t have to listen long to hear a condescending tone. 

I never referred to the other as Lumbergh. We actually got along well on a personal level; we were closer in age and had some common interests outside of work. However, our views on how the rest of the team we worked with should be treated rarely aligned. Rather than sharing the few times we openly butted heads, consider what I learned from one of his direct reports several years after all of us had left that organization. This plant manager didn’t have a reputation for asking for random, unnecessary information. That said, he frequently expected his team to consistently produce high quality chicken salad from the stinkiest chicken poop there was to work with. And even then, he scrutinized every penny used in the process. When the final product reflected the materials used to make, and it always did, he wasted no time in throwing whoever was nearby under the proverbial bus. While I was never the recipient of that, at least not directly, I often questioned many of the scenarios I was privy to. Hearing his former direct report, who by then was managing a facility of his own for another company, share those details came as no real surprise.

Both of those managers held the final say during their respective tenures in that facility and both were very willing to provide any and all feedback they felt their position entitled them to give. As you can imagine, most of what they shared was received as constructive criticism - at best. They were definitely candid, but neither coupled that with a lot of care. Since I never reported to Terry or Chris, I’ll challenge you to consider how much more powerful any feedback they offered me was. They didn’t have the title or positional authority, at least not with me, but they had both earned a tremendous amount of trust and influence with me. And to this day, their influence continues to grow through open, respectful dialogue; alliance feedback, if you will... 

Before we look at how we can invest into earning this kind of influence with the teams counting on us for leadership, I’ll challenge you to look for an opportunity to have a candid (and caring) conversation with someone so you can begin building the kind of influence that reaches far beyond any title.