Now I’m not a big fan of constructing a blog around a national stereotype, but.... when it comes to giving direct, straight, unequivocal performance feedback the Brits are, on the whole rubbish. We have historically been the masters of understatement – happy to describe a shockingly poor performer at work as “slightly below average” and an excellent performer as “not bad”. We were happy with our understatement and have prided ourselves on our ability to interpret nuance and place greater value on what wasn’t said rather than what was.
That was, of course, before Simon Cowell exploded onto our TV screens and into our National consciousness. Now unless you have been living under a rock in the Kalahari desert for the last 10 years you are sure to have heard of Simon Cowell – the Svengali of the talent show and now one of the UKs most globally recognised faces (in a recent survey, vastly more people in the US and the Far East recognised him than recognised David Cameron) – and, whether you love him or hate him (he does have that Marmite effect) you can’t help but be impressed with his business acumen and ability to understand what the viewing public want.
But what this blog seeks to explore is the subtle effect his “say it as you see it” feedback may be having on the Brits attitude to Performance Management. For the first time in our recent history we have a very visible role model who makes his fortune by giving “honest” feedback. Almost every week for the past 10 years (since Pop Idol in 2002) we have seen Simon and his fellow judges heaping vitriol and/or praise on our fellow countrymen and we have loved it (just check the viewing figures for confirmation). The funny thing is it’s not what Simon Cowell says, although he does seem to be pretty accurate most of the time, it’s the manner in which he says it that is having a funny effect.
He just says it, no stammering, no obfuscation, no rambling, no embarrassed ums and ers, no blushing, no wringing of hands – just straight, clear feedback (and no, he isn’t Dutch). Wow, a whole new role model for the people of Britain and I think it may just be starting to have an effect. Granted, the “Cowell” model has only been around for 10 years and the Nation has been a model of tongue-tied reticence since before the era of Jane Eyre et al but I do believe I’m beginning to see a change in attitude towards performance management.
From my experience of working with businesses over the last 25 years I think I can relatively accurately say that over the last 10 years we do seem to have been getting better at giving and receiving feedback. Now it may be because we have much more effective performance management systems in place (perhaps), or it may be because we have much better training programmes on giving feedback (possibly), or it may be because we are required by the HR compliance teams in our businesses to actively participate twice a year (maybe) – or it may just be because of the mental picture we can conjure up in our minds of Simon Cowell giving life changing feedback on a week in week out basis.
So for those who are looking to deliver an uplift in their organisations ability to give and receive feedback you have two options a) send a 10 minute video montage of Simon Cowell in action to those staff just about to carry out performance reviews or b) inspire yourself and your leadership team to role model the fine art of giving feedback yourself (scary I know) – now either solution may not make your staff instantly brilliant at giving feedback but it might just help and with solution b) they will at least have another high profile role model or two to inspire them to be a bit more like the Dutch when appraising their fellow employees performance.
Let me know how it goes.
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