Let's Talk

Make Effective Feedback Your Superpower

By: Therese Huston

Narrated by: Therese Huston

A game-changing model for giving effective feedback to peers, employees, or even your boss - without offending or demotivating.

How are you supposed to tell someone that they're not meeting expectations without crushing their spirit? Regular feedback, when delivered skillfully, can turn average performers into the hardest workers and stars into superstars. Yet many see it as an awkward chore: Recent studies have revealed 37 percent of managers dread giving feedback, and 65 percent of employees wish their managers gave more feedback.

This trail-blazing new model eliminates the guesswork. Dr. Therese Huston, the founding director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University, discovered that the key to being listened to is to listen. First, find out what kind of feedback an employee wants most: appreciation, coaching, or evaluation. If they crave one, they'll be more receptive once their need has been satisfied. Then Huston lays out counterintuitive strategies for delivering each type of feedback successfully, including:

• Start by saying your good intentions out loud: It may feel unnecessary, but it makes all the difference.
• Side with the person, not the problem: A bad habit or behavior probably is probably less entrenched than you think.
• Give reports a chance to correct inaccurate feedback: They want an opportunity to talk more than they want you to be a good talker.

This handbook will make a once-stressful ordeal feel natural, and, by greasing the wheels of regular feedback conversations, help managers improve performance, trust, and mutual understanding.

©2021 Therese Huston (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Giving great feedback - whether recognition, coaching or evaluation - is a game-changer when it comes to helping each other do our best work. We know that. And yet, it's incredibly difficult to do it well, in a way that's useful, fair, and strengthen relationships. Let's Talk breaks down giving feedback with the latest research, relevant stories, and actionable frameworks that we can all apply to turn feedback into a personal superpower." (Julie Zhuo, best-selling author of Making of a Manager)

"Imagine being known as the person who makes those around them both successful and happy. Mastering how to give good feedback is essential. This book helps you navigate through the competing theories to become a feedback-giving maestro." (Michael Bungay Stanier, best-selling author of The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap)

"It's easy to go your whole career giving well-intentioned but useless feedback. This brilliant book identifies the most common mistakes managers make with surgical precision, and empowers you with ninja listening skills, emotional management techniques, and whip-smart scripts to create real behavior change and lasting trust." (Nir Eyal, best-selling author of Hooked and Indistractable)

Well done!

Well written, well spoken, practical explanations and relatable examples. And strangely, not the only management book that mentions diarrhea.

I took so much from this

Great job! I am better equipped to handle my employees and bring them to higher heights by listening and talking with them more