Questions We Answer

feedback

What’s the best way to give effective feedback to colleagues?

One of the most critical elements of a human resource system is the evaluation system for employees. There are many different formats for such a system, but the heart of each is offering feedback on performance.

Effective feedback names the specific situation in which the behavior was observed; names the observable actions or words; and describes the impact that behavior had on the observer.  In addition, effective feedback anchors the feedback in time and place and helps the person receiving the feedback understand the impact.

Participants in Foundations of Christian Leadership practice giving and receiving feedback.

 

What can I do to develop as a leader and to develop others as leaders?

Leading well involves a number of mindsets, activities and traits, including improvisation, integrative thinking, having an “opposable mind” and employing adaptive leadership. These are concepts and underlie all of our offerings.

In addition, assessment tools that researchers have developed and tested for validity can provide very helpful feedback. These instruments have been developed using psychological theory and most often present information in business language. Even with these limitations, such assessments provide the most reliable anonymous feedback.

We use tools such as Six Domains of Leadership and The WorkPlace Big Five Profile to provide such feedback in Foundations of Christian Leadership.

 

How can I make sure that difficult conversations are productive?

We call them “crucial conversations” — the conversations we avoid but know that we should have. The stakes are high, emotions run strong, and opinions vary. Effective conversations invite both parties into a shared space or “pool of shared meaning,” in order to engage in open and honest dialogue.  In effective crucial conversations, we tell our stories and invite others to do the same.

Because this issue is part of the work of so many Christian leaders, participants in Foundations of Christian Leadership spend time working on this issue.

 
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    Foundations of Christian Leadership

    A learning community that trains individuals new to leadership roles by cultivating practices essential to transformative leadership of Christian institutions and congregations.

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