Got feedback?

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Scott Hoover
  • 60th Civil Engineering Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  
Our Professional Military Education is brimming with tales of learning leaders. Most stories detail leaders with voracious appetites for reading and how this trait helped them prepare for challenges. Fewer, albeit some, discuss reflection as a learning leader's tool. Even less discuss feedback and those that do present it from the giver's point of view. It is rare to find an article or lesson on feedback from the receiver's perspective. 

Reflection on decisions made coupled with candid 360-degree feedback from your superiors, peers and subordinates is a powerful tool. Most of us receive formal supervisor feedback per AFI 32-2406 in addition to informal feedback more frequently. We also receive informal feedback from our peers in terms of verbal "thank you's," letters of appreciation and other signs of gratitude for assistance, or a job well done. However, receiving complete 360-degree feedback requires honest feedback from our subordinates - both military and civilian. 

Creating an environment for this feedback takes hard work and requires learning leaders at all levels to observe themselves objectively, or harder yet, as others see them. It also requires trust - trust the leader truly wants the feedback and will not hold it against the subordinate should it be less than glowing.
In operational terms, you could refer to this as a "permissive environment." This environment will grow exponentially when the learning leader listens, communicates with their team and re-vectors efforts or changes tactics based on the feedback. In essence the leader is "walking the walk." Each leader should define their approach to creating this permissive environment. 

When joining a new team, I hold two very important meetings. The first is with my direct subordinates, the second with my senior noncommissioned officers. Not uncommonly, I lay out my expectations and my rules of engagement for the team. However, I always end the meetings the same way. I charge each of the attendees with the right and more importantly the responsibility to make me a better leader - to come tell me when I have made a mistake and to offer me alternatives. I ask them this simple question, "If you do not make me a better leader, who will?" 

Reflection is the final step. I find physical training or mowing the lawn a great time for reflection. Lost in my own world, I find a few clear minutes to contemplate decisions made or candid feedback received. Reflection locks it away for future reference. Faced with a future challenge, it provides an experience upon which to draw. 

So the question I pose to each of you is, "Got feedback?" Do you create an environment for candid, unsolicited feedback to enhance your leadership skills?