For every team that says “this is as good as it’s going to get,” there’s a doppelgänger team out there who refuses to settle. They are pushing & they will eat your lunch-unless you raise your bar.
I'm consistently blown away with how broadly applicable these posts are. Working as an engineer, every one of these points hits home just the same as if I were in marketing. Truly impressive
What would you say to a direct report whose manager does have a culture of high standards but is also low on actionable feedback? What kind of steps can the direct report take at that point?
I’d try to convince your manager to give you more feedback by framing that you want feedback so you can do even better work and help drive even more growth for your company.
Whenever you send a piece of work output for your manager to review, that’s a good time to ask for feedback. You can say, “What would you do differently? What’s missing? What grade would you give this, and what would it take for it to be an A+ in your eyes?”
If you only say “I’d love to get your feedback,” your manager might not know where to start. If you ask more specific prompts (like the ones above), it gives your manager more to react to.
One other thing: Sometimes people are reluctant to share feedback because when they shared feedback in the past, the recipient reacted poorly, so they’re disincentivized to share feedback. That’s why I like to emphasize that I really want them to tear the work apart and don’t worry about making me feel bad. Be as detailed as possible, be direct, and if it sucks, tell me. When I say that, it helps them understand that I want them to speak freely and reinforces that I will react positively when they give honest feedback on how to improve. Hope this helps!
I've spent a lot of time thinking abut this in my own consultancy and ran into the challenges you mention here. It's hard to raise the bar when staff think they're already operating at a high level - you instantly run into defensiveness. I've definitely been guilty of the management mistakes you mention here too.
For sure. I think one way to address this is to aim for excellence ourselves as leaders and show what high standards look like. This gives team members something to model and shows that excellence is possible.
When you have version A vs version B in front of you, and can see why one version is better than the other, it’s a lot more convincing to understand the difference in quality. For example, I often create before-and-after examples, use comments to explain the logic behind my suggested edits, etc.
I’ve had team members tell me how much they appreciate concrete feedback like this. It helps them see how their initial version (which they thought was good) was actually subpar, and how to improve it.
Thanks for sharing this Wes, much appreciated. I really like the approach of providing the model and then explaining the difference. This really helps. You're a star.
I think the disconnect of those who think they are doing high-quality work but are not is the main barrier. That defensiveness is just their brain trying to keep their parallel reality alive. Our brains fight so hard against the cognitive dissonance of the new input hinting that our work is subpar.
Besides the high feedback culture, I think bringing more and more references to real high-quality work will make this lie fall apart. We all realize ourselves we were living a lie when the evidence against it is everywhere.
Great points, Fran. I was texting with a former direct report who read the essay, and she has a similar point about needing to see / be surrounded by evidence of quality. She said:
“The reason everyone respects your feedback is because you walk the walk. You hold a high standard for yourself when you ship work (strategy docs, decks, etc). Even daily stuff like Slack messages were high quality.
When you see your boss hold a high standard, you feel inspired and can see what ‘good’ is. There were many times I would screenshot your feedback or Slack messages so I could learn from it. And then I would show them to new hires so they can learn to write better.”
When you see version A vs version B, and you see how one is more effective and why, I think that’s really when your eyes open. You think, “ok, I see the difference here and I believe there is a spectrum of quality. And mine wasn’t as far right on the spectrum as I thought it was.” I see it as dislodging and resetting anchors. Your anchor for “the best” might be too low, so you need to recalibrate.
Totally aligned on finding new anchors to calibrate ourselves.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the story of your direct report, Wes. This has gotten me inspired to hold a high standard even the little things such a slack message.
This means a lot, thank you Pete. Part of the reason I included the section of common excuses for not raising standards is because I’ve heard so many of those excuses over the years. Keep fighting the good fight.
Great article. For me, increasing the standards is always filled with a bit of guilt. If the you push your team harder than other teams in the organization, you are afraid to be the outlier. The truth is, people burn out because of no clear purpose more than of working up to a higher standard.
Recently, I finished reading 'Amp it Up' by the CEO of Snowflake (and ex-CEO of ServiceNow). It has some great insights into the topic! This is the paragraph I liked best:
As you evaluate your own culture, ask yourself a few key questions. When you talk to frontline employees, do they seem energized, or does it feel like everyone is swimming in glue? Do people have clarity of purpose and a sense of mission and ownership? Do they share the same big dreams of where the organization might be in a few years? Do most people execute with urgency and pep in their step? Do they consistently pursue high standards in projects, products, talent, everything?
I love this. It is sad when the employees have these higher standards and when management doesn't! I work where the secretary and I complain about standards not being met, and crap work is being done, but the only people we can bitch to are the ones doing the subpar work. Ugh 😩 it is so exhausting sometimes because I would thrive in this type of environment!
Another spot-on post, Wes! As someone who has constantly been told ‘my expectations are too high’ throughout my career, I’ve often wondered if they are! But then I’ve had team members rise to the occasion and sky rocket their careers. This was helpful in so many ways: reframing, actionable ways to approach, etc. thank you!
I'm consistently blown away with how broadly applicable these posts are. Working as an engineer, every one of these points hits home just the same as if I were in marketing. Truly impressive
This means a lot. Thank you for your kind words Kip 🙏
What would you say to a direct report whose manager does have a culture of high standards but is also low on actionable feedback? What kind of steps can the direct report take at that point?
I’d try to convince your manager to give you more feedback by framing that you want feedback so you can do even better work and help drive even more growth for your company.
Whenever you send a piece of work output for your manager to review, that’s a good time to ask for feedback. You can say, “What would you do differently? What’s missing? What grade would you give this, and what would it take for it to be an A+ in your eyes?”
If you only say “I’d love to get your feedback,” your manager might not know where to start. If you ask more specific prompts (like the ones above), it gives your manager more to react to.
One other thing: Sometimes people are reluctant to share feedback because when they shared feedback in the past, the recipient reacted poorly, so they’re disincentivized to share feedback. That’s why I like to emphasize that I really want them to tear the work apart and don’t worry about making me feel bad. Be as detailed as possible, be direct, and if it sucks, tell me. When I say that, it helps them understand that I want them to speak freely and reinforces that I will react positively when they give honest feedback on how to improve. Hope this helps!
I've spent a lot of time thinking abut this in my own consultancy and ran into the challenges you mention here. It's hard to raise the bar when staff think they're already operating at a high level - you instantly run into defensiveness. I've definitely been guilty of the management mistakes you mention here too.
For sure. I think one way to address this is to aim for excellence ourselves as leaders and show what high standards look like. This gives team members something to model and shows that excellence is possible.
When you have version A vs version B in front of you, and can see why one version is better than the other, it’s a lot more convincing to understand the difference in quality. For example, I often create before-and-after examples, use comments to explain the logic behind my suggested edits, etc.
I’ve had team members tell me how much they appreciate concrete feedback like this. It helps them see how their initial version (which they thought was good) was actually subpar, and how to improve it.
Thanks for sharing this Wes, much appreciated. I really like the approach of providing the model and then explaining the difference. This really helps. You're a star.
Thank you Wes for this post. I work in the educational leadership field; I can attest to the need to raise expectations across the board.
When considering the high standards/high feedback relationship, it's important to unpack each of the two areas.
For example, I would include within high standards:
- providing continuous improvement opportunities and relevant professional learning for staff.
- ensuring there is adequate support for staff in the form of resources, time, and recognition.
- building in systems so we are hiring talented people and retaining quality employees.
It's fine to raise the bar. When we do that, how are we helping our people achieve these new benchmarks, beyond only feedback?
Excellent additions, thank you Matt
Very insightful post, Wes!
I think the disconnect of those who think they are doing high-quality work but are not is the main barrier. That defensiveness is just their brain trying to keep their parallel reality alive. Our brains fight so hard against the cognitive dissonance of the new input hinting that our work is subpar.
Besides the high feedback culture, I think bringing more and more references to real high-quality work will make this lie fall apart. We all realize ourselves we were living a lie when the evidence against it is everywhere.
Great points, Fran. I was texting with a former direct report who read the essay, and she has a similar point about needing to see / be surrounded by evidence of quality. She said:
“The reason everyone respects your feedback is because you walk the walk. You hold a high standard for yourself when you ship work (strategy docs, decks, etc). Even daily stuff like Slack messages were high quality.
When you see your boss hold a high standard, you feel inspired and can see what ‘good’ is. There were many times I would screenshot your feedback or Slack messages so I could learn from it. And then I would show them to new hires so they can learn to write better.”
When you see version A vs version B, and you see how one is more effective and why, I think that’s really when your eyes open. You think, “ok, I see the difference here and I believe there is a spectrum of quality. And mine wasn’t as far right on the spectrum as I thought it was.” I see it as dislodging and resetting anchors. Your anchor for “the best” might be too low, so you need to recalibrate.
Totally aligned on finding new anchors to calibrate ourselves.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the story of your direct report, Wes. This has gotten me inspired to hold a high standard even the little things such a slack message.
How we do anything is how we do everything.
I needed this post on so many levels. 🙏
Just tagged you on a Linkedin post it inspired me so damn much.
This means a lot, thank you Pete. Part of the reason I included the section of common excuses for not raising standards is because I’ve heard so many of those excuses over the years. Keep fighting the good fight.
Great article. For me, increasing the standards is always filled with a bit of guilt. If the you push your team harder than other teams in the organization, you are afraid to be the outlier. The truth is, people burn out because of no clear purpose more than of working up to a higher standard.
Recently, I finished reading 'Amp it Up' by the CEO of Snowflake (and ex-CEO of ServiceNow). It has some great insights into the topic! This is the paragraph I liked best:
As you evaluate your own culture, ask yourself a few key questions. When you talk to frontline employees, do they seem energized, or does it feel like everyone is swimming in glue? Do people have clarity of purpose and a sense of mission and ownership? Do they share the same big dreams of where the organization might be in a few years? Do most people execute with urgency and pep in their step? Do they consistently pursue high standards in projects, products, talent, everything?
Here is the gist of it in an article:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amp-up-frank-slootman/
I read a blog post by the ex-CEO of ServiceNow and absolutely loved it. Will check out his book, thanks Anton.
You are welcome Wes. Here is the short version he wrote in LinkedIn (forgot about it, adjusting the original comment):
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amp-up-frank-slootman/
I love this. It is sad when the employees have these higher standards and when management doesn't! I work where the secretary and I complain about standards not being met, and crap work is being done, but the only people we can bitch to are the ones doing the subpar work. Ugh 😩 it is so exhausting sometimes because I would thrive in this type of environment!
Delhi su palace 🌍❤️🙏
My welcome to all customer 🌍♥️🙏
Another spot-on post, Wes! As someone who has constantly been told ‘my expectations are too high’ throughout my career, I’ve often wondered if they are! But then I’ve had team members rise to the occasion and sky rocket their careers. This was helpful in so many ways: reframing, actionable ways to approach, etc. thank you!