Great post Suresh. I'm reading this from the lens of an IC and these make sense. Feedback and management is definitely an art.
I like for the feedback example, SBI is a framework that helps structure the feedback. My company also emphasizes on this framework during peer reviews.
As an IC that could potentially receive the example feedback, I felt that the SBI example has room for improvement. The current wording while understandable could potentially disincentivize engineers to tag other people in comms where others should be kept in the loop. I think a wording like this could still convey the message (or deliver it using the coaching style tip from the article):
"Hey. I noticed in your last 2 posts with the infra team, the whole team was tagged as fyi onto the message. I understand that you would like to keep others in the loop as fyi and boost visibility of your message. However, it comes at a tradeoff of taking bandwidth away from other team members that may not need to be looped in. In the future, feel free to tag me in FYI communications and relevant teammates that should be kept in the loop"
Thanks Karthik for engaging and sharing your thoughts. SBI definitely has its pros and cons. I think you highlighted one of the cons -- "action". That is, what steps you can take.
However, I try not to be too prescriptive here. I want it to feel like a discussion. Otherwise it's just a monologue and there's no buy in. The goal of the feedback should be hold a mirror and gently point the things that need improvement. Let them come up with the "how". Sometimes they'd also explain the "why" behind their behavior and that gives you even better idea of what's actually going on.
Coaching is a much slower approach but goes deeper. I wrote a post "Wait, that's not coaching" on that topic, if you wanna check out.
I know some teams might not like the idea to set some rules, but they're necessary. They provide clarity, remove ambiguity and help to make quicker decisions.
In addition, having some Rules of Engagement is also a good practice, so provides clarity to others in how to engage with the team, improving collaboration and cross-team work.
Great post Suresh. I'm reading this from the lens of an IC and these make sense. Feedback and management is definitely an art.
I like for the feedback example, SBI is a framework that helps structure the feedback. My company also emphasizes on this framework during peer reviews.
As an IC that could potentially receive the example feedback, I felt that the SBI example has room for improvement. The current wording while understandable could potentially disincentivize engineers to tag other people in comms where others should be kept in the loop. I think a wording like this could still convey the message (or deliver it using the coaching style tip from the article):
"Hey. I noticed in your last 2 posts with the infra team, the whole team was tagged as fyi onto the message. I understand that you would like to keep others in the loop as fyi and boost visibility of your message. However, it comes at a tradeoff of taking bandwidth away from other team members that may not need to be looped in. In the future, feel free to tag me in FYI communications and relevant teammates that should be kept in the loop"
Thanks Karthik for engaging and sharing your thoughts. SBI definitely has its pros and cons. I think you highlighted one of the cons -- "action". That is, what steps you can take.
However, I try not to be too prescriptive here. I want it to feel like a discussion. Otherwise it's just a monologue and there's no buy in. The goal of the feedback should be hold a mirror and gently point the things that need improvement. Let them come up with the "how". Sometimes they'd also explain the "why" behind their behavior and that gives you even better idea of what's actually going on.
Coaching is a much slower approach but goes deeper. I wrote a post "Wait, that's not coaching" on that topic, if you wanna check out.
Thanks again for your perspective!
I know some teams might not like the idea to set some rules, but they're necessary. They provide clarity, remove ambiguity and help to make quicker decisions.
In addition, having some Rules of Engagement is also a good practice, so provides clarity to others in how to engage with the team, improving collaboration and cross-team work.
Great post, Suresh!