Page 194 - The Voice of Authority

Fully 81 percent of more than 1,400 leaders, man-
agers, and executives participating in a study conducted
by The Ken Blanchard Companies, a California-based
consultancy, cited their failure to provide appropriate
feedback, praise, or redirection as a personal shortcom-
ing. Yet, 43 percent of these same leaders identified com-
munication skills as the most critical skill they needed to
succeed!
What we expect and
what we want—and what
It’s a toss-up as to which we get and what we give—
are finally the most ex- seem to be very different
asperating—the dull things.
people who never talk, Why is that? Back to the
or the bright people who lover analogy. As long as
never listen. your lover leans close and
—Sydney Harris whispers, “I love you,” it’s
easy to respond with “I love
you, too.” But let the lover
say, “You have bad breath,” and the response he or she is
likely to get will probably not be “I love you, too.”
In his groundbreaking book Working with Emotional In-
telligence, researcher Daniel Goleman reports that his sur-
veys of American employers reveal that employers don’t
give feedback because people can’t take criticism. They get
defensive or hostile. They react to job feedback as though
it were a personal attack. So leaders clam up and employ-
ees become no wiser about areas for growth.
And the higher you go in an organization, the more dif-
ficult it is to get honest feedback. Instead, you’re sur-
rounded by people who have everything to gain by com-
menting on your strengths, and who fear they have
everything to lose with a negative comment.

182 The Voice of Authority