Are softening up your directives and letting your people down MMH

Giving somebody feedback and providing direction are not the same thing. Early in my career, I was apprehensive about being overly assertive or maybe being perceived as aggressive because I had to give somebody a directive. I had to give them an order, give them clear instructions that they needed to execute. Otherwise, their promotions or raises compensation would be impacted. And I clouded the message by saying, Hey, let me offer you some feedback. The outcome was that individual decided not to take all of the feedback. And so their promotion didn't take place or it was delayed. They were upset and I was upset because they didn't make the change in behavior that we needed them to make. as I reflect. That was my fault because I was not clear that the behavior needed to change. I was not clear that there was a negative consequence to the behavior staying the same. Because I said, let me give you some feedback as opposed to saying this behavior is unacceptable and it has to change. This is what we want it to look like. How, what do you need from me to help you get there? And so the question to you is, are you softening up those directives and corrective conversations by calling them feedback and therefore contributing to the delay in your people's growth? Be cool and we'll talk at you next time. Peace!