Feedback Loops That Encourage Open Communication

Your team just told you they're burned out. What you say in the next 30 seconds will either build trust or destroy it forever. Most leaders think trust is built through big gestures and annual reviews. But after coaching hundreds of executives, I've learned the truth: trust lives in those split-second moments when someone brings you a problem. Here's what happens when your team raises concerns: What breaks trust: ❌ Dismissing their reality → "Everyone's busy right now" → Translation: Your wellbeing doesn't matter ❌ Making it about you → "I worked 80 hours last week too" → Translation: Your struggle isn't valid ❌ Using guilt as motivation → "We need team players here" → Translation: Speaking up makes you disloyal Instead of defaulting to defensiveness, here’s how we guide leaders to respond—using the CHANGES framework from Conversational Intelligence®: 🤝 C - Co-Creating (Shift from Excluding to Including) → "Thank you for trusting me with this - let's solve it together" → Makes them part of the solution, not the problem 🤝 H - Humanizing (Shift from Judging to Appreciating) → "Your honesty takes courage and helps our whole team" → Demonstrate respect for their contribution 🤝 A - Aspiring (Shift from Limiting to Expanding Aspirations) → "This feedback helps us create the culture we want" → Connect their concern to bigger organizational goals 🤝 N - Navigating (Shift from Withholding to Sharing) → "Let me share what I'm seeing and hear your perspective" → Create transparency around challenges and solutions 🤝 G - Generativity (Shift from Knowing to Discovering) → "What ideas do you have that we haven't tried yet?" → Reward their insights and encourage innovation 🤝 E - Expressing (Shift from Dictating to Developing) → "How can we empower you to make decisions about your workload?" → Inspire them to own solutions 🤝 S - Synchronizing (Shift from Criticizing to Celebrating) → "Here's what we're changing because you spoke up" → Celebrate their courage and close the feedback loop The hidden cost of getting this wrong: – Your best people stop bringing you problems – Issues explode instead of getting solved early – Innovation dies because psychological safety doesn't exist The payoff of getting this right: – Teams that come to you first when things go wrong, not last. – Projects move faster because the sticky points come up early. – Conflict fades as respect and tolerance goes up. Your next conversation is your next opportunity to choose trust over control. Start with one letter that comes most easily and work your way through CHANGES… one each day. P.S. Which CHANGES element do you need most right now? 🔔 Follow me, Jill Avey, for more leadership insights that move careers forward ♻️ Share to help leaders build stronger teams

Start. Stop. Continue. Sometimes, simple ideas are the best. Several years ago, I read about a feedback framework called Start, Stop, Continue. I have since applied it hundreds of times and it is one of the most effective ways as a manager and leader to keep your ear close to the ground. Here’s how it works. Ask people on your team or across your organization to schedule a 20 minute feedback session. Spend most or all of the time listening. Your question prompt that you give in advance for the session is: What should we start doing that we are not doing? What should we stop doing? What should we continue doing? Start, Stop, Continue works because it provides a simple structure for the giver and receiver. And it gives permission to be candid about what is working and what is not. It is like magic. Some people will come with a long list of topics, while others will come with just one or two. Either way, people feel heard, you will build trust and gain insights into what is most important to people, and get some great ideas. When I was running organizations with hundreds of people, I tried to schedule at least one Start, Stop, Continue every day. I recommend doing it with people on your team at least twice a year and maybe even quarterly. I also encourage the senior executive team to all participate. It helps to the entire team better understand what the rest of the org is thinking. And if you are the CEO or senior executive, pair the Start, Stop, Continue discussion framework with bi-annual skip-level conversations. The combination is like magic. I will help you understand how to coach your team when you better understand what their direct reports are thinking, seeing, and feeling. If you Google “Rockefeller Habits Checklist,” you will see this is #5 on the list. What simple frameworks do you use?

Underrated leadership lesson: Be radically transparent. Feedback shouldn't happen just once a year. It should be a daily, continuous loop. During my 10 years at Bridgewater, I received 12,385 pieces of feedback. And, it wasn't just reserved for formal reviews. Feedback was given LIVE throughout the day. In the middle of a presentation? Feedback. Right after answering a question? Feedback. Truthfully, as an employee, I didn't always love it. But I valued it. After all, they're called blind spots for a reason. This was all the result of one key principle: Radical transparency. A system that integrates candid feedback into daily work life, Allowing employees to constantly assess and be assessed. Here's why it works: ✅ Good thinking and behavior increase ↳ Processes improve when logic is analyzed in real time. ✅ High standards are maintained  ↳ Problems get fixed faster when everything is visible. ✅ No more workplace hierarchies ↳ Continuous improvement happens when everyone is accountable. It's a principle that didn't just change my resilience to feedback. It completely transformed my leadership as a whole. So managers, Consider implementing radical transparency for these 7 reasons: 1. Faster problem-solving ↳ Small issues are easier to fix than big ones. 2. Openness saves time ↳ Less time wasted on gossip and tracking information. 3. Accelerated learning  ↳ Teams grow faster when they understand each other’s thinking. 4. Long-term success ↳ Ongoing feedback improves leadership and the organization. 5. Building an idea of meritocracy ↳ Transparency builds trust and rewards good ideas. 6. Reduced workplace inefficiencies ↳ Open communication cuts wasted time and confusion. 7. Proactive issue resolution ↳ Fixing small problems early prevents bigger ones. While getting scores live in the mid-presentation may not be for everyone: Becoming more transparent has real, tangible benefits, And can put you on a streamlined path to success. Leaders - are you brave enough to try it? ♻️ Repost to help other leaders become radically transparent. 🔔 And follow Dave Kline for more.