Every day we work with leaders whose intentions are to make a positive impact. Impact in their organisations, on their people, and to their customers and stakeholders. They set goals, make plans, and work very hard to deliver and exercise leadership well.
How do you truly understand the impact you are having? What parts of your leadership are working well and what needs to change?
Building the ability to give and seek feedback is a critical leadership skill that supports this. It enables you to understand your true impact, improve your consciousness and lift performance.
We have been working with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) to help realise the potential of two groups of Operations leaders. Traditionally they worked alongside each other but are now seeking to work much more as one team. The purpose of this program is to ensure that the most senior leaders in operational delivery are consistently aligned, supported, and ready to exercise leadership in a way that ensures the successful delivery of AFCA’s strategic and operational plans.
Creating a safe environment where feedback is regular and consistent was an important first step.
These leaders are now connecting and communicating better and more often. This, in return, helps with motivation, engagement and benefits. Not only to, the person receiving the feedback, but also, the person giving the feedback, the team and the organisation by default.
In the words of one of the participants:
“Sharing our personal accountabilities and commitments was impactful and has fostered ongoing conversations around how we can collectively be a better connected, informed and effective leadership group”.
In the workshop, feedback is developed and practiced with a focus on leadership behaviours identified by the team as key to their success. Participants completing the feedback exercise prepare to share with positive intent. They reflect on what useful and actionable feedback their peers need and focus on the individual’s opportunity for more or different leadership.
“Since the series has commenced, the leadership team is more engaged, co-collaborating on what success looks like and proactively providing feedback and support to each other. There is this true sense that we are ‘in the arena together’. By leaning into our strengths, we can drive operational excellence and support our people”.
Seeing the benefits of engaging a group of team members in active listening and constructive conversations is gratifying in itself. Receiving feedback from them that corroborates the impact this is having is even better! Thanks for keeping the feedback flowing 🙂
If you would like to know more about our IMPACT program, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly on [email protected]
Michelle