Stop Start Continue
“Well, THAT was awkward!” For the last few minutes of each team member’s annual performance review, I used to ask about how I was doing as their manager. While we had good relationships, there was nevertheless a bit of awkwardness when they were asked to critique me directly. Also, some of them were a little surprised by the request and had difficulty articulating their inputs. I was genuinely interested in learning from what they were thinking and needed a better way to get truly meaningful feedback from my team.
On the advice of my manager at the time, I adopted a slightly more structured approach that made a big difference. Rather than asking an open question about whether they had any comments about my performance, I asked 3 narrower questions:
(1) What have I been doing that really isn’t working and I should stop doing it?
(2) What is something you’ve seen other managers do that would work well in our group and I should start doing it?
(3) What is something I’m doing that works well and I should continue doing it?
This Stop-Start-Continue format was highly effective; the helpful feedback flowed. It worked because it focused the wide-open “how am I doing?” down to asking about just 3 specific behaviors. Further, the phrasing made clear that I was after suggestions that could be put into action straightaway. Re-scoping made it much easier for people to answer, and the focus on improving the group’s performance, rather than on me personally, made it more comfortable for them to answer candidly. I used this format regularly throughout my career, and implemented many of the suggested adjustments to my management style.
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