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2nd peer comment on communication article: feedback sandwich

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2nd peer comment on communication article: feedback sandwich

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Hi Joshua,

I believe that too many people use the feedback sandwich making it ineffective just like you said. I reflected me TTESS observation to determine if my principal used the feedback sandwich during my final conference. She did not use the feedback sandwich on me. My principal requested my thoughts during the entire conference. She would ask me for my thoughts on an area. After I told her my thoughts, she would tell me what she saw during the observation. She would then ask me if I agree with her thoughts and if she missed anything that would have changed her thoughts. I felt like this conference allowed me to freely discuss with her my thoughts and reasons for actions during my observation. I felt like she wanted to make sure I get credit for things that I do in my classroom instead of trying to find things that I did wrong in my classroom. This type of conference helped me open up to listen to her suggestions. I think leaders need to be aware of the feedback sandwich results so that they can change their approach to allow for better conferences with their employees. Thanks again for sharing, Crystal Berry

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But many businesses feel that they must use formal reviews and rankings to create an objective measurement of performance and goals, so that managers can reward and promote good employees, and give poorly performing ones a chance to improve (while creating a paper trail in case they must be dismissed).

Some companies go so far as to rate employees on a bell curve, a process known as forced or stack ranking. Jack Welch, the former C.E.O. of General Electric, advocated a system in which the 20 percent of employees deemed top performers were rewarded, the middle 70 percent were coached on ways to improve, and the bottom 10 percent were shown the door.

Advocates of forced ranking say it's a concrete way for managers to identify top performers and to explain the steps that middling ones must take to rise to the highest tier. They also say it can be an effective way to force managers to take the painful step of dismissing a subpar worker.

A problem with forced rankings is that a company is assuming, in effect, that a certain percentage of its parts is defective, Professor Sutton said. Suppose a manager works wonders and everyone in the department improves. Under forced rankings, he or she might still have to let some workers go, he said. On the other end of the bell curve, only a specific number of employees, say 20 percent, may be singled out for the highest raises and bonuses. But "why can't more than 20 percent of the people in a group be great?" he asked.

With forced rankings, high ratings should go to people who not only do great individual work but also contribute to the performance of the entire organization, he said. Otherwise, an "internal dysfunctional competition" can result, with cooperation coming to a halt and employees potentially sabotaging one another to stay high in the rankings.

Microsoft recently ended a forced-ranking approach; employees had complained for years that it discouraged teamwork, according to reports.

Grading employees on a curve is a way to force managers to differentiate among employees, but it can also create angst, said Jon Picoult, founder of Watermark Consulting, a management consulting firm in Simsbury, Conn. Rankings can work if they are flexible - for example, if they don't mandate that a fixed percentage of employees be dismissed, he said. But if they are poorly administered, he said, they can damage morale. At the same time, "an egalitarian approach to ratings and rewards is just as poisonous," he added. "Few things are as demotivating to a work force as seeing poor performance tolerated and exceptional performance ignored."

Yahoo began a new approach to employee evaluation last year, and has been tweaking it. But contrary to recent reports, it is not a forced ranking, said Sarah Meron, a company spokeswoman. Rather, she said in an email, "Our system lets employees understand how they are performing relative to expectations (exceeding, achieving or missing), and there are no hard and fast rules" around categorizing them.

Professor Sutton is wary of rankings and yearly evaluations in general. Many organizations, he said, would be better off if they provided continuous feedback, with formal evaluations coming into play mainly if a worker is being eyed for promotion or has shown substandard performance.

"If performance evaluations were a drug, they would not receive F.D.A. approval," he said, because "they have so many side effects, and so often they fail."

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But many businesses feel that they must use formal reviews and rankings to create an objective measurement of performance and goals, so that managers can reward and promote good employees, and give poorly performing ones a chance to improve (while creating a paper trail in case they must be dismissed).

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Leading via Teacher Evaluation: The Case of the Missing Clothes? - Joseph Murphy, Philip Hallinger, Ronald H. Heck, 2013

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Over the last decade, teacher evaluation has moved onto center stage in efforts to strengthen schooling. In this article, we address the question of whether foc...

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As I handed over the tissue box, I realized that I had imagined practice mainly as a tool for dealing with poor performance. But it can also be important for strong employees, who stand to give so much back. A well-conducted review, practiced in advance, has a better chance of making them feel happy and valued.

IN other performance professions, like music or sports, the top performers always keep practicing - alone and together. It's understood as crucial to staying at the top of their game. I had fallen into the trap of assuming that practice was a tool to avoid disasters, as opposed to a way to maximize positive outcomes. Now I see it as one of the only things that will keep helping me grow as a professional and add value to my organization. With our students, we never accept that some won't ever "get it." We know that intelligence is not a fixed trait; with the right instruction, and lots of well-constructed practice, all of our students can achieve at high levels.

Interestingly, not all of our teachers initially apply this thinking to themselves. One came into my office the other day, saying she knew that her class wasn't going well and that she didn't think she could ever help her students improve. I rejected that idea and noted two small changes she could make. She still wasn't buying it. Then we practiced, with me demonstrating alternative teaching methods and her trying them out. Her whole outlook changed. She felt the difference.

Five minutes later, she was performing in front of her students, doing what we had just practiced. I could hear the difference. I checked in with her later, and she was beaming. She still had a long way to go, but she had already proved to herself that she could become better - and that the improvement was under her control.

When I read reports of low teacher morale across the nation, I believe them, but I don't see much of that in our workplace. We all work hard in a very demanding environment, but our teachers love their jobs. The key to workplace satisfaction is doing a job well, and our most powerful tool for ensuring that is practice.

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In the Workplace, Practice Puts Perfection in Reach

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As I handed over the tissue box, I realized that I had imagined practice mainly as a tool for dealing with poor performance. But it can also be important for strong employees, who stand to give so much back. A well-conducted review, practiced in advance, has a better chance of making them feel happy and valued.

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Interesting study

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Publisher: Cambridge, MA: Mathematica Policy Research

Moira McCullough, Stephen Lipscomb, Hanley Chiang, and Brian Gill

Key Findings:

FFL scores differentiate principals who make larger or smaller contributions to student achievement. Higher full scores and scores in two of the four domains are significantly or marginally significantly associated with value-added in all subjects combined and with value-added in math specifically.

FFL has concurrent validity primarily among principals with three to six years of tenure as their school's leader.

Higher FFL scores were associated with larger value-added among middle school principals, but we did not detect any relationships for elementary school principals or high school principals.

Although states and school districts have begun to evaluate school principals, there is little evidence on the validity of principal evaluation measures. To fill this gap, we examined Pennsylvania's Framework for Leadership (FFL), a tool for measuring and evaluating principals' professional practices. Using data on more than 300 principals, we find that FFL evaluation scores are significantly and positively correlated with estimates of principals' contributions to student achievement. The strongest relationships are in the domains of (1) systems leadership and (2) professional and community leadership. Contributions to math achievement were more highly correlated than contributions to achievement in other subjects. The results are driven mainly by evaluations of principals who have led their schools for at least three years. This is the first study to find evidence that ratings of principals' professional practice are correlated with credible measures of principals' contributions to student achievement.

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Do Principals' Professional Practice Ratings Reflect Their Contributions to Student Achievement? Evidence from Pennsylvania's Framework for Leadership

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We examined Pennsylvania's Framework for Leadership (FFL), a tool for measuring and evaluating principals' professional practices. Using data on more than 300 principals, we find that FFL evaluation scores are significantly and positively correlated with estimates of principals' contributions to student achievement. This is the first study to find evidence that ratings of principals' professional...

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Education Week - Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground

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Sorry about the title. Not a very positive way to begin a blog about leadership. However, the truth is, not all leaders are created equally. Many of you reading this know that, especially if you have worked for one or two of those ineffective leaders. I guess they may not be totally ineffective, because through watching them we sometimes learn what not to do when we are in leadership positions.

When I was a young teacher I had a principal who came to the room every morning to say good morning to our class. It was a great way to begin our day. When he said good morning and asked how we were doing, we would answer that we were in our happy place. Ahh...the joys of working with elementary school students. Unfortunately, years later in my last year of teaching, before I was fortunate enough to become a principal I worked for a different kind of principal. One who was not so positive.

This principal checked lesson plans on a cycle. It was their first year as a principal and my last year as a teacher. I complied like I always did because my plans were always done (Of course, it didn't mean I taught those well laid out plans!). One time I forgot to hand them in, so the following morning I dropped them off apologizing to the principal for my tardiness. " I never check your plans any way," was the comment returned to me. Years after I left the school the same cycle of checking lesson plans was continued.

See also: 5 Strategies Leaders Can Use to Stay Out of the Weeds

So, why did I have to hand them in? Because everyone else did. Just because my plans looked completed didn't mean I taught anything that I wrote, and the principal wouldn't have known anyway because they never came into the classroom to watch me teach...and the students were never asked what they were learning.

This is just one example of what I learned what not to do when I became a principal. Instead of checking for plans I would rather sit next to students, ask what they are learning, which meant going into classrooms as often as possible. And like one of my leaders, I went stopped to say good morning to each class before the day officially began with the sound of a bell.

Leadership...It Depends
Leadership styles sometime depends on the situation. Some people head into a leadership position with big dreams and the best intentions, and then they remember they have to work with people who may not be on board with those big dreams, and they lose those best intentions.

Other times leaders enter into the situation ready to move forward, but because of mandates, rules and the politics of distraction (Hattie. 2015) they become insecure and not sure what to do first. As leaders, when we have so many choices of where to start we sometimes choose not to choose at all. Understanding our current reality is important, but what should be on our radar is not always so glaringly obvious.
Leadership is not for the faint of heart...
In Stephen Covey's seminal work, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People he showed us...some may even say inspired us...with 7 habits that all successful people have, and taught us that with some hard work we can adopt those habits too. Those 7 habits of course are...

Be proactive - Anticipate and act, no matter how difficult the situation.

Begin with the end in mind - What do we want out of leadership, and what should we want as a school community?

Put first things first - Drop the politics of distraction, understand our current reality, and take actionable steps to achieve that goal.

Think win/win - Instructional coaching expert Jim Knight's work focuses a lot on the partnership principles, learning from others, and equality which means that everyone brings something to the table we can learn from. Leaders shouldn't always look to get what they want, but understand that through collective efficacy (1.57 effect size) we can have a powerful impact through our collective work.

Seek first to understand then to be understood - Leaders should listen more than they talk, and try to understand where the other person is coming from before they try to move forward.

Synergize - This is all about collective efficacy, which Tschannen-Moran, M., & Barr, M. (2004) says,"refers to the collective self-perception that teachers in a given school make an educational difference to their students over and above the educational impact of their homes and communities."

Sharpen the Saw - Know when to take a break. Schools with initiative fatigue never sharpen the saw.

Covey believed that we need to take responsibility for our actions, and that we are shaped by our decisions and not circumstances. Unfortunately, not all leaders feel the same. As a school principal I was very fortunate to work with leaders who had different ways of thinking, but they were all successful in the way they approached situations. Since being on the road running workshops and working with leaders, I realized that not all leaders are created equally. However, I guess I kind of learned that in my last year of teaching...

There are many leaders who take responsibility and look at their circumstances as a challenge they can learn from, no matter how difficult those situations may be. To them success means they can increase the self-efficacy of others and build collective efficacy among their staff, students and families.

Other times there are leaders who blame their teachers, students or parents for their lack of success. Those are the leaders who check lesson plans on a cycle without giving any feedback, and send e-mails to staff saying they have to pick their children up on time from lunch even though they know it's only a couple of teachers who are late.

7 Habits Of Highly Ineffective Leaders
And yet other times, there are leaders who work hard but they spend most of their time chasing the circumstances they may be in. They are constantly chasing a goal, but not sure what that goal is because it changes frequently depending on what they hear from others and what they read in books, blogs and articles.

Just like there are habits of highly successful leaders, there are habits that can bring leaders to a place of ineffectiveness. Those habits are:
Be reactive - Leaders who always seem to not see things coming, and lack the ability to work with their school community on a collective goal.

There's no end in mind - Everyone in the school is working on their individual goals...if they have one...and the leader doesn't think about the future as much as they keep getting stuck in issues in the present.

Ego first - In Jim Knight's work we talk a lot about status. Leaders have it because of their position. However, great leaders have status but they lower theirs and raise the status of those around them, which is often referred to self-efficacy. Unfortunately there are leaders who let their ego rule and that's what they lead with every time.

My way or the highway - Instead of focusing on win/win these leaders are more concerned with controlling everything and getting their own way. They walk into a faculty meeting with one idea and walk out with the same one.

Seek to be understood - Ego first. My way or the highway. Get on board or get out.

Discord - These leaders always seem to be in disagreement with someone and they try their best to build consensus by getting others to agree with them at the same time they vilify those who disagree with them.

Efficacy Killers - These leaders are consistently going after new initiatives so their staff feel tired, lost and insecure. They micromanage and look for compliance on all issues. This behavior does the opposite of building self-efficacy. It kills it. It is the reason why there are teachers in schools who feel a lack of self-efficacy, which Bandura (1977) showed to have negative effects on students. Teachers with a low level of self-efficacy don't feel as though they can have a positive impact on their students.

In the End
Leadership is hard but it's also important. Vitally important. And it begins with how leaders treat people. Unfortunately, if you're a leader and you're reading this, I'm probably preaching to the choir. Ineffective leaders are those who have all of the attributes from the above list. Have you worked for one? What would you do differently?

Understand however, that we can have situations where we may show one of those attributes in the ineffective list. For example, maybe we spend too much time being reactive. Is it possible to survey, interview and create focus groups of stakeholders to help us understand our current reality to help change from ineffective to effective? Can we work with a leadership coach to help us create a goal and achieve it?

Leadership isn't about getting what we want and feeding our egos. Leadership is about raising the self-efficacy of others and collectively working to improve our school community together. That happens in creative communities more than it happens in compliant communities, and we know which 7 habits belong to each one.

Peter DeWitt, Ed.D. is the author of several books including Collaborative Leadership: 6 Influences That Matter Most (September, 2016. Corwin Press/Learning Forward). Connect with Peter on Twitter.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Sorry about the title. Not a very positive way to begin a blog about leadership. However, the truth is, not all leaders are created equally. Many of you reading this know that, especially if you have worked for one or two of those ineffective leaders.

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A different perspective on the feedback sandwich appraoch.

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A different perspective on the feedback sandwich appraoch.

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How do you give feedback to a CEO who's twice your age? I was 25, a new professor called in as a last-ditch, Hail Mary effort to save a dying company. They had already fired three consultants, so why not try me?

The CEO had been leading longer than I'd been alive. After several weeks of watching him in action, interviewing his senior team, and gathering data from his employees, it was time for me to bring down the hatchet. His company had merged with another firm and he was still trying to figure out where to go. His team desperately needed him to outline a vision.

When I went to colleagues for advice, they all told me the same thing. Put a slice of praise on the top and the bottom, and stick the meat of your criticism in between. It's the compliment sandwich, as Stewie Griffin called it on Family Guy  - a technique for giving feedback that's popular among leaders and coaches, parents and teachers.

But when I looked at the data, I learned that the feedback sandwich doesn't taste as good as it looks.

Problem 1: the positives fall on deaf ears. When people hear praise during a feedback conversation, they brace themselves. They're waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it makes the opening compliment seem insincere. You didn't really mean it; you were just trying to soften the blow.

Problem 2: if you avoid that risk and manage to be genuine about the positives, they can drown out the negatives. Research shows that primacy and recency effects are powerful: we often remember what happens first and last in a conversation, glossing over the middle. When you start and end with positive feedback, it's all too easy for the criticism to get buried or discounted.

Giving a compliment sandwich might make the giver feel good, but it doesn't help the receiver.

Instead, try these four steps to make your criticism feel constructive:

1. Explain why you're giving the feedback

Recently, a team of psychologists was able to make feedback 40% more effective by prefacing it with just 19 words:

"I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them."

Rather than feeling attacked, now you feel like the person has your back and believes in your future. People are remarkably open to criticism when they believe it's intended to help them. As Kim Scott observes, people will accept being challenged directly if you show that you care personally.

2. Take yourself off a pedestal

Negative feedback can make people feel inferior. If you level the playing field, it's a lot less threatening:

"I've benefited a lot from people giving me feedback, and I'm trying to pay that forward."

"I've been studying great managers, and I've noticed that they spend a lot of time giving feedback. I'm working on doing more of that."

"Now that we've been working together for a while, I think it would be great if we gave each other suggestions for how we can be more effective."

All of these messages send a clear signal: I'm not perfect. I'm trying to get better too.

3. Ask if the person wants feedback

"I noticed a couple things and wondered if you're interested in some feedback."

I've opened this way many times, and no one has ever declined. Once people take ownership over the decision to receive feedback, they're less defensive about it.

4. Have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue

Organizational psychologist Roger Schwarz suggests a thought experiment. Imagine that you're about to give feedback to two employees, but you have to be transparent about what you're trying to accomplish:

"I have some negative feedback to give you. I'll start with some positive feedback to relax you, and then give you the negative feedback, which is the real purpose of our meeting. I'll end with more positive feedback so you won't be so disappointed or angry at me when you leave my office."

It sounds ridiculous. It's destined to elicit the kind of rage that I haven't seen since Ross Geller bellowed MY SANDWICH?! Here's what Schwarz recommends instead:

"The presentation you gave to the senior leadership team this morning may have created confusion about our strategy. Let me tell you how I'd like to approach this meeting and see if it works for you. I want to start by describing what I saw that raised my concerns and see if you saw the same things. After we agree on what happened, I want to say more about my concerns and see if you share them. Then we can decide what, if anything, we need to do going forward. I'm open to the possibility that I may be missing things or that I contributed the concerns I'm raising. How does that work for you?"
Putting it in action
When I was preparing for the meeting with the CEO, I learned that all three consultants had tried to compliment him, and he saw right through it. It was time to take the feedback sandwich off the menu and be radically candid.

I started by explaining why I was giving the feedback. "Your senior team all believes you're the right guy to save this company, and I do too. I hope I've seen something that can help you do that."

Next I took myself off a pedestal. "I see this as a two-way street - there's a lot I can learn from you about leadership. Who are the leaders who have taught you the most in your career?"

He gave me a few examples, and one was a leader with a clear, compelling vision. I took the opening and asked if he wanted feedback: "Your team actually has some pretty consistent views on how you can deliver your vision. Do you want to hear them?"

He nodded and took out a pen. I shared a few of their observations and asked if he agreed. He did - he needed to clarify the vision. A few weeks later, he stood up and rolled out his vision. It was a triumph.

Later that year the company failed anyway. But if I had given a compliment sandwich, it might have failed even sooner.

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Stop Serving the Feedback Sandwich - Adam Grant - Medium

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How do you give feedback to a CEO who's twice your age? I was 25, a new professor called in as a last-ditch, Hail Mary effort to save a dying company. They had already fired three consultants, so why not try me? The CEO had been leading longer than I'd been alive.

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Did you know that great teachers feel slightly disappointed and somewhat unappreciated with a perfect evaluation? Take a look at the following quotes.
"I want to be better. Telling me how great the lesson was does not help me to grow. I want student and teacher growth." - Janice Cizek"I never got any constructive criticism except to make my plan book easier to read. I begged for real feedback." -Larry Fliegelman"During my first year, I had two perfect evals... sort of wanted something on there to improve on." - Phillip Whitelaw"I need to know a weakness. No feedback = lack of attention, if you ask me." - Brian Bennett"I want honest feedback. I want to be given extra ideas and ways to take it further, angles I haven't thought of myself." - Pernille Ripp"If you thought I was perfect, you weren't paying attention." -Elizabeth Nelson
Did you know what's happening in the classroom differs between a good principal and a great principal? A good principal spends time at the back of the room focusing on teaching. A great principal spends valuable time in the center of the learning focusing on students. Take a look at the following chart. Review each principal's notes taken during the same classroom observation.
Principal Mia Deoker's Notes Principal Ed Fektuv's Notes

The teacher's lesson plans are complete and meet the districts expectations. Teacher plans for low, medium and high level students.

Student work/outcomes much look the same regardless of student ability level.

The teacher moves about the room and seems to have a great rapport with the students.

Although the teacher is moving about the room, I have recorded 4 students who have worked 3 of the first 5 problems incorrectly.

The students are well behaved and seem to be engaged in the content.

Students are working independently. Two students have put their unfinished work away and are reading a novel. One student is doodling on his notebook. The teacher provides low-level feedback... Great job... You're working hard....

The learning goal is located in front of the class.

After randomly asking 8 students to explain/demonstrate the learning goal, only two students could recall the learning goal while one student could demonstrate the learning goal with mastery.

Students are answering questions correctly and seem to have mastered the learning goal.

The teacher asked 7 questions throughout the instructional delivery and the same 3 students answered all 7 questions correctly.

Which principal do you believe is focused on learning? Which notes were grounded in facts? Which notes will more likely translate into meaningful data to assist the teacher in improving his/her pedagogy?

It's important to create the conditions so that teachers become more skillful in teaching because great teaching and high levels of learning go hand in hand. I believe the key to creating these conditions and transforming a teacher's thinking and perspective, is asking the right questions. After reviewing Principal Ed Fektuv's observation notes, I would pose the following questions during a post-observation.

When you were moving around the room, what did you hear your student's say or do that demonstrated understanding of the learning goal? Which students?

What artifact can you provide that demonstrates differentiation of instruction?

What were you looking for specifically when you provided feedback to the students?

What were you thinking when only 3 students raised their hands?

After asking your question, what If you were to allow students to discuss for 30 seconds collaboratively with their peers before calling on a student? What do you predict would happen?

These type of open-ended questions require a teacher to think cognitively and deeply about his/her own practice and if presented thoughtfully, can lead to collegial conversations. I would like to pose one last question. When you conduct observations, are you effective (Ed Fektuv) or mediocre (Mia Deoker)?

Something to think about.

Stay connected, Shawn

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If You Thought I Was Perfect, You Weren't Paying Attention

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Did you know that great teachers feel slightly disappointed and somewhat unappreciated with a perfect evaluation? Take a look at the following quotes. "I want to be better. Telling me how great the lesson was does not help me to grow. I want student and teacher growth."