Cultivating Rockstars: avoid the BS feedback

Copyright Dilbert

In my last post on cultivating rockstars, I alluded to the all too common BS feedback we often give like, “you need to be more strategic.” I consider it BS because it’s too broad and unspecific. If you’ve ever been on the other end of this, you know how unhelpful this is. Usually, one walks away thinking: what does that mean? Do I need to make more Powerpoint presentations? Do I need to come up with more ideas? Do I need to sound more senior? Or… whatever! that’s just some BS to avoid giving me a raise!

BS feedback can also lead to BS coaching. For example, if someone was to ask you: How do I become more strategic? You can respond with the insightful directive: With more strategery, of course!

The good news is that giving unspecific feedback like that is pretty safe. Most people react by giving you a puzzled look and don’t really contend with it so you can pretty much avoid confrontation and wait it out until the next review round. And then, you’ll feel more identified with Dilbert’s pointy hair boss.

I regretfully admit that I am guilty of giving this type of feedback. So in an effort to make up for my use of such BS, here’s an attempt to unpack some of the most over-used BS feedback I have come across into some more meaningful pointers:

YOU NEED TO BE MORE STRATEGIC

Usually when people say that you need to work on your strategy what they mean to say is that you are not articulating the impact of your efforts, or that you are too detailed in your communications — aka you need to communicate ‘the big picture’. For example, you may be doing 3-5 things/projects/tasks but it’s not clear how they are related to one another, why are you doing them or what impact they have.

Alternative feedback:

• Get better at articulating why you think it’s important to do these things
• Communicate the larger impact of your activities and not spend so much time in the details
• Evaluate and communicate what and why things are more important than others
• We have limited budget, time and people so if you had to decide how we go about [insert business goal here] what would you base that decision on?

YOU NEED TO SHOW MORE LEADERSHIP

I would venture to say that most times, what people mean is that they want you to start and do things without being told. In other words, show initiative or proactivity  (another jargon word! Oh, no!)

Alternative feedback:

• Contribute new ideas
• Identify a problem and come up with a few possible solutions, analyze pros and cons, try to come up with a recommendation and then share it with your team and/or leader
• Don’t ask permission, but communicate. Don’t wait to be asked to do it— solve it  and then show results or give heads up that you’re working on X
• Be the first to volunteer to help
• Look for ways you can contribute more and enlist others to come along with you

YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Ah, this is biggie! It can mean so many things! But a lot of times they are just talking about your presentations skills. These can be formal (presentations where you stand up to present to a group of people) or informal settings (meetings). Now, I know that sometimes people get conflicted on how to handle this because, sometimes, it bumps up against individual personalities. Some people are just shy or introverted. That may be okay if your work environment and career doesn’t really rely on that type of communication,  but in a lot of cases this is not a choice. As a manager/team leader/recruiter it’s important to acknowledge and communicate if presenting is core to succeeding in the organization. And while some people are more extroverted than others,  presenting is a skill that can be developed over time.

Alternative feedback:

• Let’s practice your presentations so you can gain confidence in your speaking
• Work on your content adopting simpler frameworks to deliver fewer key points so you gain clarity
• Get to the point earlier in your presentations, shorter is better

Lastly, avoiding BS feedback requires continued conversation. If you talk to your people about their performance often they will, not only feel more comfortable and receptive to feedback, you will be a lot less likely to use BS methods. Those frequent conversations are also a good chance to encourage people to develop self-awareness (perhaps the most under-utilized leadership skill). You can do this by using questions like:

• What do you think you are doing well and what would you like to improve?
• Do you think that [that presentation/project/task] was the best you can do? What would you do differently?
• What are the things you are passionate about mastering?

How to cultivate rockstars and keep them in your team

I’m truly in awe and inspired by a young rising star who said to me:

I would not be in marketing if you had not been my mentor […] and it has been the foundation of my career since that moment forward“

*blush*

Her name is Savannah Peterson (@SavIsSavvy) and she heads up communications and marketing for D2M, a design firm in San Francisco and recently gave a lecture at Stanford about her amazing success with her Kickstarter campaign for @instacube (preso below).

I met Savannah while she was a college student at UW and she interned for a project I was managing at the Center for Communication & Civic Communication. She was unconventional, fiery and full of energy… and opinions. I was warned about her energy and potential difficulties. I have met people like Savannah before, and to be honest, they are a pain in the butt. I know of companies and managers that will part ways with people like Savannah because they are not ‘yes, ma’am’ and are ‘too risky’, maybe not ‘client-presentable’. Not to mention the time that they require to groom. I think any talent manager out there would agree that rockstars are not for the faint-of-heart.

But here’s the thing. Extraordinary people like Savannah, don’t usually fit the little carved out plan we have. Nor they will agree with you, like ever. And just because they are young and inexperienced doesn’t mean they don’t have a point or can perform way beyond the typical responsibilities that you would give them. In fact, IMO, their rebelliousness has more to do with not being challenged enough than a true desire to disrupt.

What these rockstars need is to find the environment and the opportunity to experiment and fail, because they WILL fail. But unlike most people, they will recover faster and learn and then –watch out– you will be left in the dust of their success.

So if you are lucky enough to find a Savannah in your career and want to keep them in your team, invest the time… don’t get all caught up in the usual corporate pathway to ‘develop’ them by giving them BS feedback like, “you need to be more strategic.” Give them meaningful challenges, look for opportunities where they can truly explore their strengths (forget about their weaknesses, those are overrated and will be overshadowed with the awesomeness) and be their champion for life, not just the job. And most importantly, let them change you (and your work).

Rockstars rock things. They are meant to  challenge the status quo and drive change. And isn’t that what all the business and leadership literature keeps yapping about?

In summary, here are THE* seven steps to cultivate rockstars:

1. Pay ATTENTION to your people. Some have true ninja powers hidden!

2. Get to know what they aspire to do in LIFE. Not just the job. And be their champion to get there.

3. Challenge them. Give them something to do WAY BEYOND what you think they can do.

4. Let them fail and connect. Don’t say ‘told ya’ just connect and listen to their learning (you’ll learn too).

5. Avoid BS feedback. Have a meaningful discussion about whatever is going on and be sincere about your opinions.

6. SHARE your own lessons and failures with them. They will respect you more if they can see you have struggled and learned too.

7. Do whatever you can to alter the typical path in your organization to give way to your budding rockstar. If you are unable to give them the space/challenge they need you will lose them!

Savannah stanford-crowdfunding-presentation from Savannah Peterson

*Yes, THE.

From Cowboys to Tech Entrepreneurs, the new American Hero is not so

Move over American Cowboy, there’s a new hero in town. He’s a college dropout with a crazy idea who went out to Sillicon Valley (the new wild west with slightly higher real estate) and from his garage created a huge tech company that made millions and millions.

That’s right, this is not just an abstract myth, VCs seem to be actively looking for you (college dropout) to give you money, specially if have no clue how your idea will make money.

We (Andreessen Horowitz) invest in college dropouts with insane ideas going after tiny markets with no way to monitize” From Business Insider, The Magic Formula for Building Massive Companies [DECK}

But, if you had the misfortune of a completed degree (or even worse, an advanced degree) don’t dispair completely. There are a few (the great majority) tech entrepreneurs that have degrees, some even have PhDs.

What’s “truer” is that you have better chances of making the next great tech company, if you have a CS degree from Stanford.

PS. I only catalogued 20 random entrepreneurs as a sample, if you look at the 20 most valuable tech companies, there are even more Masters & PhDs,