As leaders, it’s easy to shy away from difficult conversations, especially when it comes to providing feedback. However, the true value of feedback lies in its ability to help others grow and improve. Henry Ford’s wisdom highlights the importance of investing in your team through training and constructive feedback, rather than avoiding hard conversations and letting performance slip. Brian and Mary Jo dive deep into how feedback, though uncomfortable, is an essential part of leadership in the following excerpt from Entrepreneurial Trinity.
Delivering Feedback
“As Henry Ford famously said, ‘The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.’ We carried this mindset into our philosophy for performance reviews and feedback. As a result, we often had some difficult conversations, but in our opinion, that’s what good leaders do.
I’ve often had discussions with leaders on our team about the difference between being nice and being weak. This typically came in advance of difficult conversations that they were preparing for with their team members. In a performance review, it’s much easier for a leader to be ‘nice’ and simply provide only positive feedback, even if it’s not deserved. It’s my experience that they are not being nice at all but rather weak. If we as leaders see any area that a team member needs to improve, we need to share that with them in order to help them advance their career, make more money, create new opportunities, etc. If we don’t share this feedback with them, we are setting them up for failure and potentially having to be fired. From this perspective, it’s clear to see which one is really the nice path.
We never want to be a capital ‘J’ Jerk but rather a small ‘j’ jerk, as identified in Patrick Lencioni’s article, ‘The jerk Factor.’ A small ‘j’ jerk refers to someone who is willing to say or do something that pushes a peer or subordinate far out of their comfort zone in order to make them or the team better. While a capital ‘J’ Jerk refers to the ones who consistently demonstrate harshness and attitude, with no apparent reason. Small ‘j’ jerks are great people who have our best interests at heart, even if we don’t see it in the moment. They are critical to the success and growth of organizations and the individuals inside them.”
The key to being an effective leader lies in the willingness to have tough conversations that challenge and support team members in their growth. By providing honest, constructive feedback, you not only help individuals improve but also set the foundation for a stronger, more successful team. Embracing the role of a “small j jerk” when necessary can be uncomfortable, but it is often the most impactful leadership approach.
For more insights and inspiring stories on entrepreneurship, be sure to explore Entrepreneurial Trinity.