Performance Feedback / Improvement / Coaching
The Rule of THUMB for Performance Feedback
Easy to apply memory aid to help people get better
Giving employees performance feedback is hard, no two ways about it. Quite frankly, the vast majority of leaders are terrible at it. It doesn’t have to be that way. Leaders can use the rule of THUMB to quickly organize their response to mistakes and formulate actions to get better.
As a West Point cadet, and then as an Army officer for over 22 years, I was required to give subordinates feedback routinely. And by virtue of those same things, my bosses were required to give me feedback. Over the past 10+ years as a leadership trainer, this has become an area of special focus for me. Why? Because it’s the ticket to excellence, both as an individual and an organization.
I’ve written a dozen articles on Medium about it (here) and I’ve written a small handbook on it as well, available on Amazon. I think it’s that important.
I’ve always loved rules of thumb, you know, those things that are generally / normally / usually true. They’re great cognitive shortcuts. The term itself is of dubious origins. The most common explanation is that in Merry Olde England, you could beat your wife with a stick so long as it was smaller…
