Seen.
I'll pass on that?
This week one of us was working in a company and was given some feedback to pass on to an MD about a member of the team.
The MD was grateful, but said the feedback would have to be shared with the team member directly by the person who had provided it.
They felt passing feedback "down the line" had negative implications. Doing so removed texture, tone and context and precluded any discussion. Feedback relayed from others can also become assessment, whether or not that was the original intention.
In this event, the refusal also caused pause for thought. Checking, it turned out there were a range of opinions, and the feedback wasn't necessarily accurate.
We were left thinking this MD dodged a cultural bullet that may have caused real damage.
How do you manage feedback in your business?
Read.
Keeping health in mind?
Most of us are familiar with what we need to do to protect our team's physical health at work. There's plenty of guidance and often laws we must follow.
It's generally less clear what we should do if we think a team member may be experiencing issues with their mental health. Do we intervene? If so how do we do it without making things worse?
Mental Health First Aid seeks to provide this. By extending the idea of first aid into mental health it offers simple frameworks and low cost training and certifications. These give clear guidance on how to identify and support people experiencing mental health issues and what to do in a mental health emergency.
Many founders are finding themselves dealing with mental health issues far more frequently this year than bumped heads or cuts and bruises, often at high cost to their businesses.
We felt this may be a timely share.
Learned.
The river doesn't need pushing?
This week a founder shared they had a problem with their board.
They were tempted by the dramatic. To metaphorically kick over the table and demand an immediate change.
However, they decided to do it differently. Instead, they nudged, and tried small changes consistently and gently over time. They learned as they went. If some of the small changes were not quite right it was okay, because they were only small. So they were easy to roll back.
After a few months they had the effective board they were looking for.
It was only then they realised the dramatic change envisaged several months ago would not have achieved this outcome. Because they hadn't really understood the problem.
This reminded us that the river doesn't always need pushing. The bold and dramatic moves stick in our minds because they make entertaining stories (although maybe we only hear about the ones that work).
Maybe sometimes patient, small incremental changes allow founders to learn as they go, correct course, and deliver better and more lasting outcomes?
And finally.
Every year we meet for Christmas and do a secret santa. This year, sadly, 5 days before our scheduled Christmas get together, one of us got a notification on the NHS tracking app to self isolate.
We were reminded that we're not out of the woods yet. We're making the best of it and doing Zoom instead - but it made us curious - what are your top tips for remote team Christmas celebrations? And what are your horror stories?
Don’t forget to check out the accompanying podcast version of #founderhacks for a tantalising live experience of team atomex!
