Don’t be that lead surgeon.
Amy Edmondson, author and lead researcher behind the awareness of psychological safety, has receipts. In her books she talks about multiple studies performed in hospitals, specifically operating rooms. The thing with most surgeries is that they involve multiple disciplines – you’ve got nurses, anesthesiologists, etc – but historically the lead surgeon is in charge. Way, waaaaay in charge. When they say “Jump!” you ask how high on the way up.
What Professor Edmondson’s studies indicate is the behavior of certain lead surgeons can noticeably alter statistics such as operation success, error rate, and patient happiness. Here’s the one thing they can do to improve all of these factors: invite input from the roomful of experts.
Rather than be all “I’m the voice of God,” lead surgeons can speak to the gathering of medical professionals thusly, “I need to hear from all of you because you are deep experts in your particular areas. If you have questions before we begin, let’s hear them. If you have concerns along the way, please voice them.” With this change in attitude and this sort of verbiage up front, studies show lead surgeons can influence all of those positive characteristics that the hospital and the patient want to see improve.
Similarly, Kim Scott talks about the importance of leaders asking for feedback. Author of Radical Candor and Just Work, Ms. Scott believes the beginnings of feedback culture are traced back to leaders inviting feedback. She suggests having a meaningful phrase that fits your voice, such as “What can I start doing or stop doing that’d make it easier to work with me?”
But lots of leaders pay lip service to inviting feedback. You’ve probably had a boss who claims to have “an open door policy”. That’s too passive. And often too intimidating. Worse yet, when a team member does work up the nerve to make a recommendation to the boss, it often feels like the suggestion box is mounted directly over a trash can. No indication that anything ever happened.
Ms. Scott says the critical step that leaders often miss in this scenario is that they don’t show the feedback matters. If you’re the boss, you don’t have to act on every piece of feedback you receive. That’d be…uh…not smart. But even if your response to the feedback is, “Thanks for your input! I’ve thought it over, and I won’t be doing X because Y, but here’s this other thing I could be doing differently,” that’s still far more encouraging to the team member who approached you.
One item I think worth mentioning is that not everyone loves feedback. If you have never been in a culture of feedback, it’s very easy to get defensive. This takes time. I have always intellectually understood the value of it, but have not always been emotionally prepared for it. I’m sensitive. My tactic has been, “I want your feedback. We get better with your feedback. I’m not always in the best emotional state to receive that feedback so let’s work on a system where those moments happen either A) when we’re both ready or B) in a way that you understand I may need time to process. Welcoming feedback doesn’t change overnight into a perfect utopia.
Also, leaders need to beware that of turning ‘gathering feedback’ into a false narrative of ‘we need consensus’ – that lead surgeon still needs to make decision they believe in, that has been informed by other experts. If multiple experts disagree, a decision still needs to be made and it’s okay to make it if you’re the lead. As Ms. Scott mention, it’s important that everyone understands you heard them, you evaluated the information, and you can cogently explain why you made the decision you did. Ideally, there’s a discussion of how to know if it was the correct decision and when you’ll know.
Excellent points! (unsurprisingly. hey brother!)
When I teach first-time managers about feedback, I start with receiving feedback. That tends to get ignored in favor of typical “how to deliver a crap sandwich” teachings. Ugh.
It’s great when someone’s self aware enough to realize they *have* preferences around receiving and processing feedback. By all means, let’s talk with one another about how that can be more effective. Human’s are tricky. It’s never as simple as “I received feedback! The world is now measurably better!”, neither is it as simple as “I delivered feedback! The world has improved instantly!”
To the point of decision making: There are 4 main methods of decision making and it behooves us to a) know which one we’re using as a leader, and b) be clear with everyone else which method that is. Disguising a dictatorship as a democracy is…we’ll go with “unwise.” 4 times out of 5, leaders should use a consulting style. I’m the decision maker, but I’ll gather input from subject matter experts and stakeholders before I make the call. But make no mistake, I’m on the hook for the results and *I* am making the call. Not “us”.