7 inspiring quotes that will help you give better feedback

feedback

Feedback is a powerful development lever in the workplace. It helps people to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and how others perceive them – so that they can become the best version of themselves.

We’ve pulled together some inspiring quotes about feedback, from the likes of tech gurus like Bill Gates and Elon Musk to American basketball coach Doc Rivers. Whether you use this for advice before giving feedback or to motivate people within your company to give more feedback, each quote offers some useful insight into why feedback is so important and how to deliver it effectively.

1. “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” Bill Gates

The vast majority of us want to be the best we can be, in all areas of our life. We want to be a better worker, a better colleague, a better leader, a better friend, a better partner, or a better parent. Feedback simply gives us the insight to help us to improve and be better. It gives us self-awareness of how we are perceived, of our skills, and of our strengths and weaknesses. We can then improve by maximising the things we are good at and building on the things we aren’t so good at.

2. “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Ken Blanchard

This quote has long been associated with leadership guru Ken Blanchard, but actually, he first heard it from a former colleague named Rick Tate. According to Blanchard, “He [Tate] explained it in sports terms. Can you imagine training for the Olympics with no one telling you how fast you ran or how high you jumped?” Ultimately, just like we need breakfast to fuel us through the day, we need feedback to help us to perform at our best.

3. “Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth.” Doc Rivers

We all know that receiving feedback can sometimes be daunting. Social evaluation can activate the same neural pathways associated with physical pain. So when we experience being criticised or judged, it can trigger a stress reaction. But this doesn’t mean people don’t want to be told the truth. Research has shown that people welcome constructive feedback – even if it can be tough to hear – if it will help them to develop and improve.

4. “Make feedback normal. Not a performance review.” Ed Batista

We can relate this quote from Ed Batista, executive coach and regular writer for Harvard Business Review, to the importance of feedback being part of everyday practice rather than something that only happens as part of a formal review. If people feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback on a daily basis, it becomes normal, rather than something to be feared when the next round of reviews come up.

5. “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” Elon Musk

This is what tech entrepreneur Elon Musk refers to as his single best piece of advice. We should always be thinking about how we can evolve and grow, and this is why a culture where people practice giving and receiving feedback every day can be so powerful. It’s about having a growth mindset, where we see our skills as adaptable and believe they can be developed upon. And the good news is, we can all learn to adopt a growth mindset.

6. “Mistakes should be examined, learned from, and discarded; not dwelled upon and stored.” Tim Fargo

Whatever mistakes we make in the past, we can’t change them. We can only modify our behaviour going forward. This quote from author and entrepreneur Tim Fargo reminds us that when giving feedback, we shouldn’t focus on what went wrong, but instead on what could go better in the future. This is how we empower people to improve and grow. Dwelling on the past isn’t helpful for anyone. And feedback models like Feedforward and DESC recognise this.

7. “There are two things people want more than sex and money… recognition and praise.” Mary Kay Ash

We’re all human, and wanting to feel valued and appreciated is a basic human instinct. And one of the most important ways to show people that they are valued and appreciated is by offering recognition and praise for when things go well. Feedback shouldn’t only be about looking at what could be improved. We need to give more positive feedback if we want people to feel motivated, engaged, and confident at work. The risk is that if people aren’t given recognition and praise, you’ll have a hard task keeping them.

Spinnaker offer bespoke HR solutions. Contact our team of HR experts to find out more about how we can help you.

Download your report: developing an open feedback culture

Connecting with yourself and others while working remotely

working remotely

We are working through unprecedented levels of uncertainty, facing unexpected business challenges and under pressure to work more flexibly than ever before. How are you and your teams responding – are you simply ‘coping’ and do you even know what your new potential is, let alone how to reach it?

Staying motivated

In this time of change, we are going to learn a lot about ourselves.  We will be challenged and tested.  Some of it will feel uncomfortable and difficult. So taking some time to take stock and reflect is crucial for our own mental health and well-being.  Staying motivated and resilient in this changing environment is going to require some changes to our own behaviours. Basically, to embrace this new world on the right footing we are going to need to make a concerted effort.

Adapting to new ways of working

Understanding your own preferred ways of working remotely and how they may need to adapt to suit new ways of the working world could be key. Increased self-awareness can deliver benefits across:

  • Individuals – if people know what their natural strengths are, they can apply them in the right situations. If they are aware of their weaknesses and recognise their emotions, they can acknowledge these and manage how they react in certain scenarios.
  • Teams – raising awareness of why employees approach their work in the way they do, as well as why others may differ (and what this means for the overall team performance) helps pave the way for stronger working relationships and less conflict. Ultimately, self-aware teams are more engaged, more productive and better able to perform as a cohesive unit. And this can only be a good thing for your changing business.
  • Leaders – all successful organisations need great leaders (across all levels), now more than ever. Self-awareness allows leaders to understand their core personalities, preferences and strengths and the impact of those on their leadership style. Knowing when to adapt their style to get the best out of others and/or achieve the business goals will drive motivation, performance and productivity within the business.

Tailored to you

Self-awareness can be quickly and easily achieved through personality profiling tool Facet5. Completion of a simple online questionnaire which you can take while you’re working remotely generates a 17 page report, shared by fully accredited practitioners during a confidential one to one feedback session. This session is tailored to you; a great opportunity to reflect on live business issues and assess ways to tackle them.  A small investment could make a huge difference to your future. Fund yourself or ask your employer to include this as part of your ongoing development. Get in touch via email or on +44 (0) 1702 481660 to find out more. 

Transforming maritime leaders

maritime leaders

The reality is we’ve never lived in more uncertain and volatile times. The sands are shifting faster than we can re-place our feet and what was once a stable foundation on which to build is quickly becoming anything but. Leaders today have a very tough job to do. They need to apply adaptive and innovative thinking to new situations, every single day.

Spinnaker believe that in today’s workplace, developing maritime leaders is not just about increasing what you know, but transforming what you do and the culture within which you work.

Our Maritime Leadership Development Programme was introduced in 2016 to develop managers that are highly effective in key management moments which matter.

Run as both open programmes and in house solutions, what sets our programmes apart is our ability to get to the heart of what makes a great manager. Whether new to management or an experienced senior leader, working in Commercial Operations or Corporate Services, we don’t just tell managers how to be the best version of themselves. We support them to change their behaviours in a practical, sustainable way so they don’t return to their previous habits.

One participant, having recently returned to shore said:

“The programme came at the right time for me, transitioning from sea to shore, expanding to a different world where I am not constrained by the limits of the ship”

Others are preparing to take the next step in their career:

“I was personally in a stage of growth within the company, taking on new responsibility, so it was very insightful……”

Our approach is more self-sustaining than traditional management training. We give managers the confidence to uncover what’s happening in their personal ‘Management Moment’, and what’s blocking their progress. We equip managers with the skills to analyse real-world situations, so they can always do the right thing in their day-to-day role.

The programme is delivered across three key stages:

  1. Pre-programme assessment with Facet5 personality profiling – providing employees with a moment for self-reflection and to agree their personal development objectives to work on during the programme.

“I was taken aback by the Facet5 results – found it excellent”

  • 2 day group workshop – focussing on ‘knowing and managing myself as a leader’, and ‘leading and managing others’.

“The examples provided during the workshop were very useful, and can be applied to our day to day work”

  • One to one coaching support – three further 1:1 coaching sessions providing on-going support at an individual level to encourage progress against personal goals and embed lessons learnt.

 “Added real value, kept me on track and wish there were more”

One client – a world-leading mining company – said:

“We used the maritime leadership development programme to give the participant an opportunity to develop leadership knowledge and skills and prepare them for future development and career growth.  The programme exceeded our original objectives and we noticed a positive change in the individuals’ behaviour since completing the programme”

Click here to find out more about our open programmes or get in touch to discuss in house solutions by email or on +44(0) 1702 481660.

How peer feedback helps build better teams

peer feedback

Feedback is one of the most important tools for building great teams. By encouraging team members to give each other praise when things go well and pointing out how things could be done differently, you help each individual to learn and grow. And as each individual gets better at what they do, the whole team becomes better.

Many organisations will already be using a 360-degree feedback tool, where individuals are rated on their behaviour, skills, and competencies from those they work closely with, including their peers, managers, and leaders.

But people are starting to recognise that regular, ongoing, and open feedback is often far more impactful.

In this blog post, we discuss the benefits of team members giving feedback to each other openly and often, and take a look at how leaders can encourage this open dialogue.

The benefits of peer feedback

Ken Blanchard wasn’t wrong when he said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”. In the same way that a good breakfast supplies us with the energy we need to get through the day, feedback is the fuel a team needs to perform at its best.

Take a professional sports team for example. Perhaps no other industry employs open continual feedback to the extent sports teams do to improve teamwork and performance. Feedback gives people the insight to maximise their strengths and build on their weaknesses so that they can become more effective. And if each individual is more effective, the team becomes more effective.

Peer feedback also helps to improve communication within the team. The strongest teams communicate well and often; they share ideas, ask for feedback, and are happy to be challenged when appropriate. And this kind of communication is especially important for the modern workplace, where teams aren’t always sitting together in the same room.

If people commit to giving ongoing feedback, it means they can get little things that are bothering them out in the open before they become a problem. And if people know they are operating in an open work environment, they are less likely to be offended when they are given constructive feedback. People will understand each other better and there will be less conflict as a result.

Giving praise and recognition is just as important. Celebrating team success has a positive impact on the whole team, causing everyone to feel more motivated and engaged.

How to encourage teams to give feedback

It’s the leader’s job to encourage open feedback within the team. It shouldn’t be assumed that people know how important feedback it is – that message has to come from the leader.

Feedback is a skill – and one that the majority of people are not naturally good at. And people may be hesitant at first as they don’t want to risk offending anyone or damaging their relationship with others in the team.

To help develop people’s capacity to give feedback, start by introducing structured meetings to review how things are going; what’s going well and what could be done better.

As people get used to giving feedback, it becomes easier to focus on how team members are performing at an individual level. Everyone in the team should be encouraged to offer their views on things they appreciate about other members and what would be helpful for them to do differently. But make sure team members understand that the focus should be on problems, not people. The idea here is to help people understand how their behaviour is impacting others and the wider effect this has on the performance of the team.

Team members can also give open feedback in a more formal way too, through tools like t-three’s Truth Teller. Like a typical 360-degree feedback tool, Truth Teller collects feedback from team members, but instead, feedback is shared non-anonymously. Truth Teller provides a safe, more focused way for individuals to have an open conversation with teammates about the feedback they receive from them. Using Truth Teller as part of things like annual reviews can help encourage more openness in the everyday working environment.

Teams that feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback are far more capable and cohesive than others who shy away from being open and honest with each other. As a leader, you can tackle any concerns head-on by educating people on the benefits of giving and receiving open feedback within the team, and by helping them find opportunities to practice.

Spinnaker offer bespoke HR solutions. Contact our team of HR experts to find out more about how we can help you.

Download your report: developing an open feedback culture

Gender pay gap in maritime: International Women’s Day

diverse group of colleagues discussing the pay gap

To mark International Women’s Day 2020 (8 March), Spinnaker are publishing a sneak peak of the latest gender pay gap statistics for UK maritime.

50 members of the Maritime HR Association, of which Spinnaker are secretariat, reported data for over 5,000 UK shore based positions in 2019. According to our statistics, the proportion of women employed within the UK maritime industry continues to rise – now at 52%. We are also delighted to see the proportion of ‘unknown’ unreported records decrease, now at a record low of 1%.

Gender diversity statistics from Spinnaker

Spinnaker have been calculating the gender pay gap for the industry since 2017, when the UK government introduced mandatory Gender Pay Reporting for businesses with over 250 employees. The gender pay gap considers the difference between the average earnings of men and women within the workforce rather than focusing on equal pay.

The maritime gender pay gap

In 2019 Spinnaker calculated men to be earning around 40% more than women in UK maritime (on average). However, a year on year comparison reveals a decrease in both the mean and median gender pay gap figures – thanks largely to a slow and steady increase in the representation of women in the upper pay quartiles.

Unfortunately, we see greater disparity when comparing bonus pay this year. While fewer bonus payments were made across the board, the female workforce were worst affected. Where bonuses were paid, they were of significantly lower value too (between 50-70% less).   

Bonuses in maritime

Understand how to calculate your gender pay gap and compare it to others here. Alternatively get in touch with a member of the team for advice on relevant diversity and inclusion initiatives on email or on +44 (0) 1702 481660).

5 simple tactics to help you build an open feedback culture

open feedback culture

If you can create an environment where people feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback openly, it can transform your organisation. But building an open feedback culture doesn’t happen overnight, especially if people are used to ‘feedback’ being something that comes up only once a year at annual reviews.

Research shows that people aren’t often confident in giving feedback to others, especially to their managers or those in more senior positions. It takes time to get everyone feeling comfortable giving feedback so openly.

1. Use a non-anonymous 360-degree feedback tool

It’s near impossible to make an open feedback culture stick if you’re still using anonymous 360-degree feedback tools for annual reviews. An anonymous approach wholly contradicts the message you are trying to send across about the benefits of open feedback. Taking away the anonymity from formal feedback processes reinforces to people that it is ok to give feedback openly.

2. Teach people how to give effective feedback and provide opportunities to practice

If people have a framework for giving feedback, they will be more comfortable and confident giving it, and more likely to incorporate it into their everyday practice. They will be even more comfortable and confident if you give them opportunities to test out these frameworks.

Techniques like feedforward, DESC, and what/why, as we talked about in this recent post, provide people with helpful frameworks to help them deliver feedback in a way that is effective. But people will never really feel confident unless they are given a chance to hone their skills. Workshops can be a valuable way for people to practice giving feedback in a safe environment.

3. Introduce debrief sessions after meetings, projects, etc.

One simple tactic we often encourage clients to introduce at the end of a meeting or during a project debrief, is the ‘Smiley face, Straight face’ exercise. On a flip chart or white wall, draw two columns, one headed up with a smiley face and the other with a straight face. On the smiley face side, people share what went well. On the straight face side, people share what could go better.

By making feedback part of everyday work processes, like meetings and projects, you give people an opportunity to practice feedback.

4. Hold regular meetings where people can share their views

An open feedback culture doesn’t just refer to peer-to-peer feedback. Providing opportunities for people to get together and talk face-to-face about things they think are going well and not so well within the company, from frustrations with ways of working, to ideas to make processes more streamlined, or how to tackle a recurring issue, can have many benefits for companies. Not only does giving people a voice make them feel valued, but it empowers them to speak up and is a great way of warming people up to feel more comfortable sharing their observations.

One example could be to hold regular Stop-Start meetings. Get everyone in a room together on a regular basis, perhaps quarterly, to discuss what people think the company should start doing and what it should stop doing. You’ll need someone to facilitate the session who can moderate the activity and bring clarity to what is said.

5. Encourage people to recognise others publicly

Creating an open feedback culture isn’t just about encouraging people to point out how things could have gone better. People also need to feel comfortable giving praise and recognition when things go well. People generally aren’t given enough positive feedback. The risk is that people end up feeling unappreciated, and you start to lose good people as a result.

There are simple systems organisations can introduce to help people become better at recognising when things go well. It may be that you introduce a way to give praise within your company’s online HR system, or introduce a ‘people news’ section to company meetings.

There may also be more imaginative ways you can get people in the habit of giving praise. Here at t-three, we helped one client establish an initiative based on the “invisible gorilla test” which you can read more about in this post. ‘The Order of the Gorilla’ meant that if someone noticed someone doing something well or something that had helped them or the team in some way, the law was that they were to give the stuffed toy gorilla to that person. They also had to tell them what/why; what they had done well, and why it had a positive effect. The gorilla would then sit on the person’s desk for a week. In this case, what we found was that it became a talking point in the office, and slowly, people started to get better at noticing when things went well and offering praise and recognition.

Feedback is a skill. And the best way to develop a skill is through practice. The good news is there are many ways you can adapt or introduce structures and processes to get people practising giving feedback. These do not have to include the Smiley face, Straight face exercise or The Order of the Gorilla – find something that resonates with your people and works for your company. The important thing to remember is that practice builds confidence and creates habits. And this is how an open feedback culture can be built and sustained.

Spinnaker offer bespoke HR solutions. Contact our team of HR experts to find out more about how we can help you.

Download your report: developing an open feedback culture

Maritime HR Conference – what’s on the agenda?

Maritime HR conference attendees

Spinnaker is excited to announce the initial agenda for the 14th annual Maritime HR Conference, taking place in London on 14 & 15 May 2020.

The Maritime HR Conference sees over 200 decision makers and key HR people from the shipping industry in one room, and is expected to be its biggest yet.

Attraction and retention

The agenda includes a panel discussion on attracting talent to the maritime industry, chaired by Nicola Good of Lloyd’s Register, featuring insights from Spinnaker’s Managing Director of recruitment and executive search, Teresa Peacock.

On day two, a panel chaired by Julian Bray looks at retention. “We wanted to look at both sides of the coin,” says Karen Waltham, Spinnaker Managing Director, organiser of the annual conference and head of all the company’s maritime HR and consultancy output. “So on day one there’s a focus on attraction as we know there is a problem with getting people into the industry at ground level. But there’s also the issue of getting people to stay, which is the focus of day two.”

Panellists for the CEO session, Harnessing Skills, Experience and Talent include Paul Pathy, Chief Executive of Fednav, and Karin Orsel, CEO, MF Shipping.

Maritime economics, technology, safety and more

Other sessions include an update on Maritime Economics from Clarkson Research, Lloyd’s Register on how technology impacts the human element, and a case study of V Group’s Senior Officer Programme.

“Spinnaker has been working with V Group on this Senior Officer Programme and it focuses on leadership behaviours, with safety as a critical component.” says Karen Waltham.  

Book now

Book your ticket for the largest worldwide gathering of maritime HR and crewing professionals here.

The Maritime HR Conference is sponsored by MHG Insurance, Clyde & Co, ShipMoney, Omnium and Voyonic, with support from the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, IMarEST, Ship Management International, Mission to Seafarers, t-three and Tradewinds.