Radio Front Desk
Radio Front Desk is a podcast that talks to real people in real clinics about what it takes to build a health and wellness business.
Host Denzil Ford, Editor-in-Chief of Front Desk magazine, digs into the inspiring stories of folks building their practices from the ground up — including what works, what hasn’t, and everything in between.
Created by the team at Jane App, this podcast is your source for discovering fresh ideas and proven strategies for clinic life. Join us on this journey of building a practice you love.
Radio Front Desk
Are you avoiding the F-word?
Giving feedback can feel awkward, emotional, or even confrontational — especially when you're trying to lead with empathy. In this episode, Denzil explores how to deliver clear, constructive feedback that builds trust instead of breaking it.
Reflecting on her conversation with retired psychologist and business coach Nicole McCance, she unpacks:
- Why feedback feels so hard — and why we avoid it
- How to use clear systems to reduce the sting of critique
- How to avoid the ineffective “feedback sandwich”
- Tips for handling attribution bias in team conversations
Whether you're a clinic owner, team lead, or just working on your leadership style, this episode offers actionable strategies to make feedback more effective and less scary.
Have a story about feedback that worked (or flopped)? We’d love to hear it. Email us at frontdesk@jane.app.
If reflections like these help you lead better, don’t forget to subscribe and check out Denzil’s bi-weekly newsletter for more leadership insights.
Oh, hi, it's me, denzel. Let me ask you something. Can you think back to a time when you had to give someone tough feedback? Did your palms just get a little sweaty? Yeah, same here.
Speaker 1:Early in my leadership days I had this deep discomfort with giving feedback. It felt a little cringy and I didn't want to come across as harsh and, if I'm being honest, I sometimes hoped that people could just get what I was saying, even when I softened the message. But they rarely did. That's when I learned the hard way. Hoping is not a good leadership strategy when we really care about our teams. It's easy to mistake kindness for silence. We avoid feedback because it feels uncomfortable and emotional. But here's the truth. Bomb I keep coming back to. Clear is kind. That's a phrase we say a lot at Jane, and for good reason. It's true. Ambiguity creates anxiety, and feedback, when it's done well, doesn't erode trust. It actually builds it.
Speaker 1:I'll be the first to admit that this is a hard skill to master. I've had to stretch and strengthen my own feedback muscle over time. But on a recent episode of Radio Front Desk I chatted with Nicole McCants about hiring and scaling your team and she reminded me of something hands about hiring and scaling your team. And she reminded me of something the thing that makes feedback feel so hard is that it might be a personal attack, or at least perceived that way. But that doesn't have to be the case. So I want to share a few ways to make feedback feel a little bit easier, based on my own experience and Nicole's insights. First name it clearly Don't assume people know when they're receiving feedback. It's tempting to take the sandwich approach, you know, slip the critique between two compliments and hope it lands, but this makes it really hard for people to understand that they are getting constructive feedback in that moment. Sometimes it's really really not clear that you're telling them something that you need changed. I found it helpful to use clear signal phrases like I'd like to give you some feedback or we need to adjust this thing in the next two weeks, and here's why these phrases aren't perfect by any means, but they do flip a switch. They help someone realize oh okay, this is something that I should act on.
Speaker 1:Second, use your systems as your backbone. Nicole said this and it stuck with me. When your systems are clear, feedback doesn't feel like a personal attack. So why not let your systems do a lot of the heavy lifting. When your clinic has clear SOPs or standard operating procedures, expectations aren't a mystery, and when feedback aligns with those systems, it becomes about the process and not the person. So instead of saying I'm not sure this client handoff was handled well, try our process for client handoffs is this, but I noticed it didn't happen. Can we figure out what got in the way? This helps shift the blame to curiosity and you open the door to a conversation instead of slamming someone with critique.
Speaker 1:Third, watch out for attribution bias. We've all done this. When we mess up, we blame the situation, but when someone mess up, we blame the situation, but when someone else does, we blame their character. Let's flip that script. If you notice something's off, start from a place of curiosity. Try saying something like I noticed this didn't go as planned. What happened? On your end, you'll either discover a system that needs tweaking or a person who needs support. Either way, you're building trust, and that is the goal at the end of the day. I think it's worth remembering that hard conversations shouldn't be rare.
Speaker 1:Nicole said it herself don't be afraid to use the F word feedback, and she's right. It's the thing. Most of us don't say enough. But if we want to build clinics where people can grow and where people want to work, we can't keep avoiding it. I've learned that giving feedback is actually one of the most caring things I can do. It helps my team grow, it helps me sleep better and, honestly, when we give people the chance to rise to the occasion, they usually do so how do you approach feedback in your clinic? What's worked and what's flopped? Shoot me an email at frontdesk at janeapp with some ideas. That's all for me this week. Thanks again for listening. You got this.