MindsetGo iCommunicate Podcast
Welcome to the iCommunicate Podcast where we develop the mindset and provide communication strategies to foster confidence, emotional intelligence, as well as organizational, team, or personal growth. Our progress and improvement is not limited to a training session; it embodies a constant cycle of self-reflection and continued learning on individual and communal levels.
MindsetGo iCommunicate Podcast
ICommunicate Radio Show #174: Performance Reviews
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Welcome to iCommunicate on full service radio, 830 WCRM. To join the conversation, call 508-871-750. Now, here's your host, Mark Altman.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to iCommunicate. I'm Mark Altman and happy to be back with you. And we're talking about performance reviews. And uh we're going to take this from a few different angles today. There are three, typically three different parts to a performance review. You have the review itself by the reviewer, the leader. You have a self-evaluation done by the person being reviewed, which not every company does, and you have a 360, an opportunity for the person being reviewed to review their boss, which again is not something everybody does. But we're going to start out today with the mindset that goes into a performance review, because for performance reviews to be successful, there's a few things that have to happen. And, you know, it starts with mindset because we know that most people dread performance reviews. And frankly, most people dread getting constructive feedback, period. And there's usually only two situations where someone looks forward to a performance review. One, if it's tied in to some kind of raise or promotion or some kind of extrinsic motivator, or two, they have a great relationship with their boss and they really look forward to getting feedback. And those do happen, and that's fine. But the typical mindset of a performance review, the person who is doing the performance review often has to do multiple performance reviews for their team, which feels very daunting and a lot of work and a lot to fit in to their regular day-to-day activities. The person getting reviewed often has a lot of stress, anxiety, um, trepidation around getting reviewed. And one of the critical things I talk about a lot with performance reviews is there shouldn't be per surprises in a performance review. All year long, there's opportunities to have interactions with the people on your team. And if you're going into a review and the person being reviewed is surprised by some of the constructive feedback they're hearing, that's a problem in itself. Because if they're coming into the review and getting ambushed or surprised, that in itself is not creating psychological safety and not going to make them comfortable for any further, not only reviews, but arguably one-on-one discussions. So the elephant in the room is that the leader has to do a lot of these. The leader may be subject to recency bias when they're reviewing the person because the leader isn't doing a great job tracking all the positive and constructive things to talk about over the course of a year, since most people, not everybody, but most people do annual performance reviews. So if the leader is going in feeling daunting, feeling like, oh, I gotta get this over with, that's already gonna interfere with the successful conversation. And on the other side, the mindset is not really good. And one of the jokes I make, we're really big about word choice at mindset go. And one of the jokes I make is think about this for a second. If someone were to walk out to you, walk up to you, forget about performance reviews. If someone were what to walk up to you and say, Hey Jim, is it okay if I give you some feedback? That word feedback, no one's expecting anything positive to come after that. Because if you have to ask permission, and by the way, if you are giving constructive feedback, asking someone if they if they're open to hearing it is a very powerful communication tool. So I'm not poo-pooing that. I'm simply making the point that because you have to ask for permission, because it often feels the right thing to do, that in itself is going to alert another person that constructive feedback's coming. So you could replace, could I give you some feedback with I've got a few things I'd like to share with you. And because the word feedback in itself is usually negative and usually triggering, because if you were going to give positive feedback, you wouldn't say, would it be okay if I give share this feedback? You would just say you would give them the positive feedback. So as we get into these performance reviews, there's three key things to me in a performance review. One is it gives you an opportunity to work on three specific core competencies. One is blind spots and self-reflection. Because often both sides have blind spots, and it's a good way to uncover some of those blind spots through self-reflection. The second thing is there's an accountability element. And the accountability element in a performance review is the leader who's delivering the feedback has an obligation to follow the d making sure that the delivery of the feedback is done in a kind, respectful way. And this is why one of the things we teach people in communication, one of the foundational elements in being an emotionally agile communicator is the success template for conversations, which is words, tone, listening to understand, and modeling the right body language. And so when it comes to giving that feedback, the leader needs to be accountable for how they're behaving in those conversations, how they're managing their emotions, how they're managing their body language, the words that they're choosing to communicate this feedback. It all starts there because if the leader doesn't do an effective job managing themselves, then the person may go on the defensive, and whatever your outcomes you desire to accomplish in that performance review will not be successful if the leader, the deliverer of the feedback, can't manage themselves. So there's an accountability element for the leader to how to manage that courageous conversation. And the third piece is self-awareness. I think a lot of times when people give performance reviews, um, where the blind spots really come into play is certain things seem so obvious and innate to leaders. And when the person they're talking with doesn't admit fault or doesn't even recognize their behavior and how they're acting or the consequences of those behaviors, that can be very triggering to the leader and very frustrating. And we all have blind spots, like we all have blind spots. And when someone can't see something that you can personally so plainly see and think that's so obvious, that's incredibly frustrating and often triggering. So when you're giving a performance review, which is a form of a courageous conversation, you have to be aware of your blind spots. You have to self-reflect on what you want to say and how you want to say it. You have to manage yourself and be accountable to what you can control in that performance review, which is your thoughts and actions. Another example of that would be being judgmental and jumping to conclusions. And you get to practice the emotional agility piece, which is to be self-aware of how you're perceived, how they're receiving your feedback, and coach them to coach the person being reviewed to be more self-aware. So those are all examples of the fundamental core competencies that you're practicing in a performance review. And look, everybody, uh all I can tell you is there's a lot of discussion in corporate America right now about psychological safety. And when you sit down for a performance review, one of the things I coach people to do is I say, predetermine your outcomes. What do you want to accomplish in this performance review? And I gotta tell you, the number one outcome that every person giving a performance review should have is that you created a dynamic and a culture for that conversation so the person can speak their truth. They feel psychologically safe to give their perspective, to give their thoughts and feelings on how they see things in a respectful, kind way. You may not agree with what they say, but you want the truth. You want to create a dynamic in that conversation where people feel comfortable speaking their truth. That's the number one outcome, period, in every and any performance review. Because here's the deal. Said it on the show before quiet quitters, great resignation. Why are people leaving and quitting? Why are people unhappy in the workplace? Well, you want them to tell you, you want to know, because you can't fix a problem until you know what the problem is. And you certainly can't fix the problem until you identify what really is the problem and what are the root causes of that problem. So creating psychological safety is the number one outcome. The second thing is does the person feel heard? One of the two fundamental human needs, the need to feel heard. Do you feel like you were heard? Do you feel like you pro they processed the feedback you delivered? Four, are you aligned on what needs to happen and when it needs to happen? Five, do you think the person, because of the way you coached and approached the review, do you think they shifted their mindset? Do you think that you helped them embrace a different perspective? Do you think that you perhaps exposed a blind spot that gave them a new way to look at things? I could go on, but the when you think of outcomes for a review, those five I'd start right away with. I talked on a previous show about success templates and the importance of defining outcomes before conversations. And it doesn't mean you can't pivot and it doesn't mean you can't adapt. But there should be some fundamental things that you clearly lay out objectives of what you want to accomplish going into those conversations, because that's gonna craft your communication strategy on how you have that conversation. So when we come back, we're gonna talk about self-evaluations and how to set that up for success, as well as the expectations you as the leader have going into the review. For I Communicate, I'm Mark Altman. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to iCommunicate on full service radio, 830 WCRM. To join the conversation, call 508-871-7500. Now, here's your host, Mark Altman.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to iCommunicate. I am Mark Altman. We're talking about different components of a performance review, and we're going to talk about a concept right now that I don't think many people talk about and recognize, and that is the standards of rating systems. Now, a lot of reviews ask people to rate themselves on a scale, could be one to five, could be one to ten, but there's rating systems. And the question is I want you to think about a scenario for a second before I pose this question. Picture a scenario where you're reviewing something with a rate reviewing criteria in a rating system, and it's a one-to-five rating system, and you rate someone a three, and they rate themselves a four. Think of how that can create conflict, frustration, unmet expectations, because they're gonna see it, and you're gonna see it. And I often talk about the word conflict, and most of the time when companies do training in conflict, they call it conflict resolution training. You know what I call it when we work with companies on this? I call it conflict prevention, conflict management, and conflict resolution. Because you know how to resolve more conflicts to prevent them from happening in the first place. And a lot of times conflict happens because expectations weren't set, they weren't clear. Now, a lot of these reviews, when they have rating systems, will give you criteria to pick your number from. Now, I just went through a review with my director of client services and operations, who's awesome and a wonderful guy, and we actually had the reverse situation. I actually gave him a four on something, and he gave himself a three on something. And there were five criteria to evaluate that specific core competency. And I said, Trevor, why'd you give yourself a three? And he goes, Well, there's one of the five criteria that I'm not doing very well, which I actually agreed. And I said, But wait a minute, so you knocked yourself down two points because you only achieved four-fifths of the criteria? And he goes, Well, yeah. So do you see everybody where I'm going with the subjectivity of this? When it comes to rating systems, you can put criteria under the core competencies to rate on, but if if I don't know how you approach one to five, and you don't know how I approach one to five, it could set up a lot of disappointment and frustration in that review session. And I'm going to paint this picture a little further. Whenever I rate things on a one to ten scale, I don't give tens. And it drives a lot of people nuts. Because I feel like a 10 is perfection. And I would never give myself a 10 at anything because I always feel like you can grow and learn more. Now that doesn't mean I'm right. That's just my philosophy and methodology. But if someone's doing a certain thing well and they're getting reviewed, and they're they could be the best at the company at it. They could be consistent and hit it out of the park, and they give themselves a 10, and I don't give them a 10, even if I gave them an eight or a nine, they could be frustrated. Like, why did you mark points off? Like, what what am I not doing that made you not give me a ten? So one of the things that's missed in the review process that I think needs to start happening, is to share your philosophy on, I would call it your evaluation philosophy with the people being reviewed. Tell them when you give a five, when you give a four. Not for each category. What's your central philosophy? In other words, it could go something like this look, everybody, on this review, the way I evaluate is if I'm going to give a five, you need to do something consistently well where this happens, maybe it's either perfect or it's almost always perfect. That's when I would give a five. A four to me is above average, meaning you do it fairly well, not all the time, but more often than not. A three means average. Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't. Because imagine having that dialogue and hearing how the other person does five, four, and three. This is essential to really understand because there is so much room for disappointment, frustration, and heartache in a performance review. And there's so much buildup. Most companies do it annually, but more and more companies are recognizing that's not effective to only do it once a year and are starting to transition from that. But you know, I often I often compare a performance review to the sex talk with your children. Like there's such buildup with the sex talk. Oh, I gotta have the sex talk, gotta talk about the birds and the bees. And there's so much pressure and onus put on one conversation that it's almost set up to fail from the get-go. Because everything has to be accomplished in one conversation. You know, it's a lesson I learned. You know, I have three children, it's a lesson I learned finally on my third children, that I didn't go into that with one conversation. I made it a gradual process. And performance reviews, like I said earlier in the show, there shouldn't be surprises. This should be a summary discussion of where you're headed, growth-wise, development-wise, what's working, what's not working, and it should be reinforcement and a look to the future with a growth mindset. That's what it should be. And not everything may be resolved in that one conversation. And if you, as the reviewer, are so sensitive to your time and your obligations because you have so many responsibilities, and you try to force everything into one conversation, you lose. Because you miss the opportunity to have a really powerful dialogue. Because if there's areas where you have to give people constructive feedback, you miss those opportunities to really zero in on what's really going on. Why is this person struggling in these areas? And what are the root causes of the reasons they're struggling? Do they lack confidence? Do they lack motivation? Do they not have the requisite knowledge or experience to effectively or know how to do what you're asking them to do? Do they not have the skills? Do they perceive that they don't have the requisite support and resources? Could be a number of things. So if you make a review, hey, I got one hour to accomplish everything I need to do, you lose. If you go into a review looking for opportunities to have really powerful and dynamic conversations, to lead with empathy, to problem solve, to make progress, that's the mindset. Because the one hour conversation outcome is isn't did I complete everything on the agenda? The one hour conversation outcome is, did I make progress? Did I shift mindsets? Did I break down resistance? Did I allow someone the opportunity to move forward? Those are the kinds of things that you're trying to solve in a review. So when I talk about rating systems and being aligned at how each other is rating, because if someone's self-evaluating, frankly, I would argue that even if they're not self-evaluating, when they see how you evaluated them, even if they're not going through a self-evaluation process of their own, that's going to trigger them. Because if they don't understand, and you can explain it in the review, you can say, I gave you a three, I gave you a four, you can tell them. And it's a whole different ball game when you explain your rationale and expectations proactively. Because once you're doing it reactively, feelings have been hurt, defensiveness sets in, and frustration comes up, and possibly even conflict. This is something you want to do proactively and reactively. And I would say this even if you don't have a rating system, this isn't just about rating systems. This is about setting clear expectations in the first place. A lot of times reviews don't have rating systems, and they ask you to address specific questions. But the way you evaluate whether they're being successful in those core competency areas, you may be evaluating their success with one set of success criteria, and they may have other success criteria. And again, it's just so different that when you set expectations and you communicate your philosophy, your rationale, your thought process ahead of time. And you know what's the worst part of this whole thing? The worst part of this whole thing is we keep coming back to the word expectations. So when companies tie in performance reviews for opportunities for promotions, raises bonuses, are you aligned on those expectations? Because if someone thinks a raise, if they're entitled to it, if they come into a performance review thinking I'm getting a raise, regardless of how this review goes, if someone comes into a performance review and says, Well, the last two years you gave me an 8% raise, so I'm expecting at minimum an 8% raise again. Well, guess what? The company may not have done as well in the last year. So in their mind, a precedent has been set. But in your mind, you're like, well, wait a minute, this wasn't guaranteed. This wasn't entitled, you're not entitled to this. Well, guess what? Expectations weren't set. So when we come back for the next segment, I'm going to continue on that, and you're going to see an analogy I'm going to make that's really going to drive this. So for Mark Altman, this is i Communicate. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to iCommunicate on full service radio, 830 WTRM. To join the conversation, call 508-871-750. Now, here's your host, Mark Altman.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to iCommunicate. Happy to be with you. I am the president of founder and founder of Mindset Go. We help people become more emotionally agile communicators by blending the three ingredients of effective communicators, which is the ability to manage yourself and your mindset and your triggers and your tendencies to be judgmental, the aspects of emotional intelligence and conversational intelligence. So where we left off is we talked about expectations people may have when they come to a performance review related to raises and promotions or bonuses. And we talked about how a lot of people may feel entitled because another year has gone by. We talked about how people may feel justified because the last two years or three years they've gotten a certain amount of raise. So what a disconnect to come into a performance review as the person being reviewed with an expectation of an outcome that's going to happen, not because they've been promised that outcome, but because they just expect it. And that's a problem. And the analogy I promised I'd make going into our last break is, and I say this to executives and different levels of leaders all the time, with all the hybrid remote work arrangements these days, if you're telling me that you don't think the productivity is where it used to be because they're working from home, and you want to bring them back to work because they're not as productive and working from home, I would say that this had nothing to do with the pandemic and working remotely, and this has everything to do with expectations have not been clearly laid out for what productivity means. Because whether they're working in person or they're working from home, they should know how you're measuring productivity. They should have clear expectations of what roles and responsibilities they should be fulfilling on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to know that they are being productive and effective. And if you're blaming it on remote work arrangements, that's the fake problem. The real problem is the expectations haven't been laid out or there's not alignment on the expectations. So here's the analogy. Okay? If people get frustrated because they feel like it's a given right to get a raise every year, they feel like past precedent has been set and that should have been made. They feel like I've been doing this for five years, I deserve a promotion. If they're thinking that, and they're thinking that because you haven't laid out expectations on what it takes to earn a raise, what it takes to earn a promotion, then it's on you, not on them. And see, this is where I talk about managing yourself. Because at the end of a performance review, if they're frustrated and annoyed because they didn't get a raise, and you're sitting there going, well, they're just acting entitled. And why do they assume just because they've gotten an 8% raise in the past, they should get it again? If that's the mindset, that's on you. Because you didn't lay out expectations. Expectations is the root communication problem in the workplace because there's not they're not people aren't aligned on the expectations, the expectations haven't been stated, the expectations haven't been painfully and clearly laid out without room for misinterpretation, there hasn't been commitment to the expectations, none of that. What made you think that just because we did this raise last year, that's on you? So this conversation started on rating scales and being aligned on philosophies and rationales and how you evaluate either through rating scales or just answers to questions. And again, now we're talking about what's attached to a performance review, the expectations of outcomes from the person being reviewed. Have you ever discussed what do you expect that's going to happen in this review? Do you expect to raise? Has the company as a whole done a really good, effective job laying out this is how we dole out raises, this is the criteria, this is how you get no raise, this is how you get 3%, 5%, 8%, 10%. This is communication, everybody. This is being a confident and effective communicator, it's being proactive and not reactive. It's preventing conflict and not resolving conflict. You know, we see in sales a lot that when someone exceeds a quota, let's say their quota was$2 million, and then the sales leader raises their quota by a half million, and now it's two and a half million, salesperson comes back and says, Well, I feel like I'm being punished because now I exceeded last year's quota, and now you're saying that if I don't hit that, if I could have hit that same number again, I could have had the same amount of compensation. But now you're interfering with my ability to compensate, to make to make the money I feel like I've earned and deserved. And I feel like because I've exceeded my quota, you're punishing me. And salespeople think like that sometimes. Again, it's expectations. Why are you raising the quota? Are you raising the quota because you don't want to pay them the same amount of money again because they're getting too much compensation or income? Or are you raising the quota because it's part of an organizational philosophy change? Are you raising the quota because you feel like they can achieve more and this is your way of telling them you believe in them? There's a lot of interpretations to an increased quota. But if you just give them the number at the time of a performance review and you don't really explain the rationale behind it, there's a lot of room for hurt feelings and misinterpretation. I can't say this enough. There is so much subjectivity that goes into performance reviews because people could be in a certain mood, people could lack energy and be tired, people could be subject to recency bias and only remembering so much of what happens in the last two, three months. How do you treat people the same way? How do you treat people fairly? How do you lay out clear expectations? So everybody, not only it's a level playing field, everybody understand how the playing field is defined. So there's no ambiguity, so there's no subjectivity. This is really hard stuff because it takes a lot of effort and self-awareness to recognize how important it is to state expectations, make them clear, and have people agreed in committing to them. I'll give you one last example before we go into break. Let's talk about the phrase exceeded expectations. Is that clearly defined? We see that a lot on performance reviews. Met expectations didn't meet expectations, exceeded expectations. Well, met expectations feels to me like you did what was asked. You didn't go the extra mile, you didn't take initiative. Well, guess what? If I feel like I took initiative and there's no in-between between met and exceeded expectations, I might be frustrated. I might be disappointed. You're telling me in this review that all I did was do what was asked and meet expectations? Where another person could feel that's a compliment. They could say, I appreciate you acknowledging I met your expectations and did everything I asked, or everything you asked. Because I worked, I made a lot of effort and worked to make sure I met your expectations. So I appreciate the positive feedback and you acknowledging that I met your expectations. Can you see how the interpretation could be so different from Met Expectations? And in turn, the interpretation of what exceeding expectation means. You know, when people talk, every virtually every leader or team member I ever meet tells me they have a time management problem. And I go to two places with time management. I go to enabling behavior, which is leaders solving problems for team members and not teaching them to solve their own problems, and create a solution-oriented mindset. And the other place I go is that because expectations weren't clearly defined, multiple emails are going back and forth, multiple meetings have to be had, and you say, Well, I have a time management problem. Well, that's because you're not communicating effectively and proactively from the get-go. So when you have to send 10 emails and it keeps sucking you, sucking energy and emotion out of you, well, your reason why you're sending so many emails is perhaps because the communication hasn't been laid out effectively from the get-go. The reason why you're having so many meetings is because there's a lot of confusion about expectations, requirements, etc. So that's where I start with time management, because that's where the problem typically is. So for our final segment of the review, we're going to be right back for our final segment, and we're going to talk a little bit about the power of 360 feedback and how to set 360 feedback sessions up for success. For I Communicate, I'm Mark Altman. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to iCommunicate on full service radio, 830 WCRM. To join the conversation, call 508-871-750. Now, here's your host, Mark Altman.
SPEAKER_01Okay, welcome back to our final segment of i Communicate. We're talking about performance reviews, and we're talking about setting expectations, and we're talking about blind spots. And for our last segment, we're going to talk a little bit about the process of a 360. And I find the process of a 360 so empowering because it it removes the dynamic, the authority dynamic, because instead of a review just being one way where I'm the leader, I get to tell you what you're doing well and what you're not doing well, you're basically saying, no, I want this to be reciprocal. I want it to be mutual. I want you to tell me how I can be better. I mean, what a powerful message to say that I care so much about my team member that I want to know what they think of me. And I often joke with leaders about leading by example. And I always talk about how leading by example can be an effective way to lead, but it has two blind spots. And the first blind spot is that what examples are they actually noticing that you're setting? And the second blind spot is are they only noticing your good examples? And so the reason why I bring this up is when you offer an opportunity to do a 360, you allow yourself to become aware of your own blind spots. And by the way, sometimes you may be shocked to know that there's certain things you're doing that they really appreciate, recognize, respect, and admire that you didn't even know they were noticing those two things, those, those things. So when I say 360 feedback, I'm not implying that it's completely constructive or negative by any stretch. But it's information. And as a leader, if you see your role and responsibility as motivating, developing, and inspiring others, if you see your role as engaging your employees, if you see your team as an internal customer base, then you want a 360 from your team members. And there's four fundamental questions to ask. I mean, there's lots of 360 methods out there. Let me just uh say that. But a lot of times, depending on how big your team is, it can feel like it's a lot of work. So there's a method that we use that we found is simple and effective, and in itself, it's four simple questions that allow for tremendous dialogue. And I'm going to tell you what the four questions are, and then we're going to just briefly talk about each one. First question is, what would you like me to start doing that I haven't been? Second question is, what would you like me to stop doing that I have been? The third question is, what can I do better than I am doing? And the fourth question is, what do you appreciate and want me to continue doing? So it's called start, stop, continue, improve. And so understand when you're getting 360 feedback, we're back to psychological safety. We're back to making it comfortable and safe for people to speak their truth. Because you can ask the questions. But guess what? They have to look you in the eye. And they have to then tell you, this is what you're not doing, this is what I'd like you to do better. That's hard in an authority dynamic. Because I don't know what the repercussions are. Are you gonna get your feelings hurt? Are you gonna get defensive? Will you hold a grudge against me because I spoke freely? Are you gonna judge me and compare your blind spots and shortcomings to mine? There's a lot of risk, a lot of fear when people speak their truth and advocate for themselves. We do multi-part programs on psychological safety because the ability to get people to speak their truth is so damn hard. So here's a couple of things you can do to get people to speak their truth. Number one, you can give them permission to do so. And here's an example of what I'm talking about. If I was sitting down with someone on my team for a 360 review, the first thing I would do is I would recognize and reinforce the courage and confidence they had to give me this feedback. So I'd say, hey Bill, I just want to tell you right out of the gate, I know it's it took a lot of confidence and courage to be open and honest with me, and I really value and appreciate that. So thank you so much. Because I want to recognize and reinforce that behavior over and over. The second thing I want to do is before we get started, I just want you to know that I want an open, honest relationship with you. I want to be open and honest when I'm giving you constructive feedback, and I want you to be open and honest so you have my blessing. I have a thick skin, I want to know how I can be better. I want to know what you want me to do that I'm not doing. It's okay. Please let me know. And you have to mean it, right? Because if your actions in that discussion don't equal your words, your words mean nothing. It's not, it's not going to work. Your actions need to equal your words. And then the third thing that is really powerful that you can do when you're having a courageous conversation or you're soliciting feedback from somebody else is be vulnerable. So, for instance, let's say someone says, Yeah, you know, you tend to blow off our one-on-one meetings. You know, you tend to act really rushed and preoccupied. You're on your phone in our meetings, and it's it's kind of frustrating because I'm really trying to capture your attention. And boy, that's your moment. That is your moment. Because in that moment, if you get defensive, if you make excuses, if you try to justify your behavior, you lost it. Because the trust is gone. They gave you the feedback, you're not listening to understand, you're not asking questions, you're not allowing them to be heard, and you're not being vulnerable. And so here's what I would do: I would look at them and I'd say, Hey, I agree with you. Assuming you agree, be authentic. I own that. I'm accountable for that. No excuse. I want to be better. And so thank you for telling me that. And I'd love to talk with you about how I can be better. So just be accountable, own it. Most people aren't used to other human beings being accountable. What they're used to is deflections, defensiveness, excuses, denial, justifying. So don't be that person. If you really want this feedback and you know it's true, don't avoid it. Don't make excuses for it. I own this, you're right. Let's talk about this. And by the way, if someone expects you to have a one-on-one meeting every week and you don't have the bandwidth or time to do that, that doesn't mean you you're obligated to do it. You can advocate as the leader for yourself and say, look, realistically, with the responsibilities I have, um, I understand it would mean a lot for you to meet every week, but I have 10 people on the team. What I think I could do, because I want to underpromise and over-deliver, is I think I could do every other week. Would that be okay for you? So you can you can explain your rationale for what you can do. It's just that whatever you're committing to, you need to follow through. So don't overpromise and underdeliver. Just lay out what's reasonable and you can advocate for yourself as a leader. So those are the keys to a great dialogue on 360, facilitating a culture of psychological safety in that conversation. And being accountable, being vulnerable. I hear trust issues in the workplace all the time. How do we build trust? Companies invest thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs, and if they're the right program, great. But you want to build trust, follow through on what you say you're gonna do. Set reasonable expectations. Set expectations, period. Do what you say you're gonna do. Start there. Underpromise and over-deliver. There's some strategies to build trust. If you want to build trust, it's not brain surgery, it's commitment, it's integrity, it's vulnerability, it's accountability. So, final thoughts, you know, as we wrap the show up today. If you want more information to contact MindsetGo, we work with all levels of leadership. We work with sales teams, we help people on their conversation skills, difficult, courageous conversations, we help people with change management programs, we do sales programs for experienced to new salespeople, we do new leadership programs, lots of areas we can help. So if you want help to better engage the workplace, create a curious culture and a culture of psychological safety and things like that, 978-793-1159 or reach out at info at mindsetgo.com. Thank you very much for listening and being a regular listener to I Communicate. I'm Mark Altman. Thanks, Ted. We'll see you next time.
