Rethinking Feedback - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

A nurse manager recently told me that her favorite book was Radical Candor by Kim Scott. The author of the book recommends a very direct and candid approach to giving feedback. But not experts agree that this results in improved performance. An article in the March/April 2019 edition of the Harvard Business Review titled The Feedback Fallacy by authors Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall pushes back on this approach. The authors contend that the problem with radical candor when giving feedback is that it does not promote learning in the same way that recognizing, reinforcing and refining does. If the goal is to help the person thrive and excel – you may not achieve that with the candid approach. Great performance is not as universal, analyzable, describable and transferrable as we may want to believe.

Some key ideas from the authors include the following:

Neurologically, our great opportunities for growth are in the areas of our ability so building on one’s strengths to improve performance will have the greatest payback.
Strong negative feedback is neurologically not conducive to learning but rather impacts psychological safety and the ability to absorb new information.
The best learning occurs when we can see how we could do something better by adding some nuance or expanding our understanding.
Moving someone too far out of their comfort zone can lead the brain to simply focus on survival.
Excellence is idiosyncratic, has its own pattern and is highly dependant on context and individuals. It cannot be learned by studying failure.
People will get better if we point out areas of excellence and ask them to focus on their “winning plays”ie recognize it – anchor it – recreate it and refine it.
There is nothing more believable and authoritative than describing what you saw in a moment of excellence and how it made you feel.
Instead of using the term Can I give you some feedback? instead, say Here is what I saw.
Instead of asking telling an employee to improve their communication instead say “Here is where you lost me.”
Interrupt to point out excellence and something that really works – this reinforces it for staff.

This article which uses brain science to illustrate key points emphasizes the need for good coaching that is strength-focused and helps staff to arrive at their own answers. While radical candor may sound like the right leadership approach, it may not have the effects that we want to see.

Read Rose Sherman’s new book available now – The Nurse Leader Coach: Become the Boss No One Wants to Leave