October 7, 2025 • 14 mins
We’re continuing with the #LeaderSHIFT series on the podcast this week. These episodes are very direct & to the point, where we'll talk about the different challenges leaders tend to face & how to shift into becoming an influential leader who leads a healthy culture & engaged team!
In this episode, I’m sharing how you can shift from hoarding critical feedback to sharing feedback to help an employee grow!
Need one-on-one help with navigating being a new leader? Schedule your complimentary clarity call with me here!
www.baproinc.com/ep169
Apply to join the New Leader, BIG IMPACT Coaching Program to level up your leadership & build an engaging team... even if the culture is toxic & without management's support! https://baproinc.com/newleaderbigimpact
Questions about this episode? Topic suggestions for future episodes? Send them to culture@businessadvocatespro.com
Let's chat about this episode on “X”: @BAPROINC or IG: @CultureBuildingPRO
The Culture Building like a PRO Podcast: Simple ways to transform your company culture... Today!
| Company Culture | Culture Building | Organizational Culture | Employee Engagement | Effective Leadership | Servant Leadership |
baproinc.com
In this episode, I’m sharing how you can shift from hoarding critical feedback to sharing feedback to help an employee grow!
Need one-on-one help with navigating being a new leader? Schedule your complimentary clarity call with me here!
www.baproinc.com/ep169
Apply to join the New Leader, BIG IMPACT Coaching Program to level up your leadership & build an engaging team... even if the culture is toxic & without management's support! https://baproinc.com/newleaderbigimpact
Questions about this episode? Topic suggestions for future episodes? Send them to culture@businessadvocatespro.com
Let's chat about this episode on “X”: @BAPROINC or IG: @CultureBuildingPRO
The Culture Building like a PRO Podcast: Simple ways to transform your company culture... Today!
| Company Culture | Culture Building | Organizational Culture | Employee Engagement | Effective Leadership | Servant Leadership |
baproinc.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Culture Building Like a Pro podcast, helping
small business owners and managers lead a company culture where
employees are engaged to do their best work because they
want to and not because they have to. Now, let's
jumpstart your culture transformation with company culture strategists, leadership coach
(00:24):
and trainer Deanna Applin.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Happy Tuesday and happy start of Q four. Thanks for
listening to the Culture Building Like a Pro Podcast. I'm
your host, Dianna. I'm excited to be back with you
for another episode in our hash tag Leadershift series. These
episodes are centered around talking about the common challenges that
(00:48):
we face as leaders and even as new leaders, the
ones that just don't get talked about enough. But more importantly,
we dive into how to overcome them and how to
shift into the level of leadership that creates an impact
and influences excellence among your team. If you're anything like me,
you probably dabble a little bit into the reality TV world.
(01:16):
Sometimes you know that's a good thing, but depending on
what type of reality TV you like, it can be
a little problematic. But nonetheless, it's no judgment here. One
of the shows that has gotten so much recognition over
the past several years. In fact, I'm not even sure
if this show still comes on, but I think it's
(01:38):
one we could all relate to in some way, shape
or form, and that's called hoarders. If you're unfamiliar with hoarders,
it basically follows the lives of people who are notorious
for hoarding things, so much so that some of these
homes you can't even walk through, you can't navigate, and
you can't see things because it's so much stuff. And
(02:00):
we might know some people like that. I know I do,
And if we're being really, really honest, we could probably
admit that we all have some form of a hoarding tendency,
even if it's on the smaller scale. But what if
I told you that hoarding isn't something that I believe
(02:20):
is just with things physical things, but it's something that
is a bit of a mindset that a lot of
us can tend to have, and if we're not paying
attention to it can actually hinder how we lead others.
Here's what I mean. Think about your position as a
leader and how oftentimes it's a little bit challenging to
(02:44):
have conversations with your team, especially if it involves correcting them.
But The reality is it can be very unproductive if
you don't have these conversations with your team. So you
may notice a lot of different situations, patterns, have its
scenarios or even gaps in their performance. And because you're
(03:04):
uncomfortable with having the conversation, you're just hoarding these little details,
Hoarding the fact that they may not seem as detailed oriented,
Hoarding the fact that they aren't as responsive as you
would like them to see. Hoarding the fact that perhaps
you would like to see another skills set become stronger
in their work practices. That is hoarding. And if you're
(03:28):
hoarding critical feedback from your team, you aren't helping them grow.
Waiting for the annual performance reviews And if you've listened
to this podcast for a while, you know I've said
this plenty of times. Waiting for that performance review to
discuss and employee's performance is honestly too late, and it's
a disservice to your team. It's important to have regular
(03:52):
dialogue conversations where you're candid and more so collaborative about
the things that you like them to become stronger in
and offering resources for them to do so. So. In
today's episode, we are talking about how you can make
the shift from hoarding feedback to helping your team grow.
(04:15):
If we are being real here, which that is the
goal of this podcast, giving feedback is just not easy
most of the time, and that is often why leaders
tend to avoid it because they don't want to be
seen as the bad guy, They don't want to deal
with the emotions that come along with it, which many
times is more uncomfortable than pleasant, and they simply just
(04:39):
hope that the problem will just fix itself. I know
I've been in those shoes, especially when I first got
started into leadership. But the truth is with holding feedback
is more unproductive than having the uncomfortable conversation every day,
and every opportunity that you avoid sharing what your team
needs to hear, you are robbing them from the chance
(05:02):
to grow, which is so counterproductive of being an effective leader.
So let's talk about how you can intentionally make a
shift from hoarding that feedback to delivering it in a
way that actually empowers your team, helps them grow, and
builds trust and accountability. But before we dive in, let's
(05:24):
talk about a few myths that are keeping leaders silent
when it comes to feedback with your team. The first
one is if I ignore it, it'll just go away.
I want to be the one to tell you, as
your friend, it won't small performance issues, they turn into
big ones. It's a snowball effect and this is going
(05:47):
to happen without fail if you don't address these issues early.
Another myth is that giving feedback will make people not
like me. They'll dislike me, and that's wrong. Most employees
actually do want to hear what you have to say
because they care about how they're doing and they need
to hear that from you as their leader. So clear
(06:10):
and constructive feedback does the opposite. It builds trust, it
doesn't create a disconnect. In myth number three, feedback has
to be formal and it has to be scheduled. This
is also untrue. In fact, feedback is most effective when
it's timely and of course specific. But when you integrate
(06:33):
it into those regular conversations, those one on ones that
you have with your employees, it makes it real, It
makes it current, and it makes it something that they
can reasonably address instead of waiting until it becomes a problem.
When you think about it, if one of your team
members isn't performing well, and you never address it. Here's
(06:56):
what's going to happen. Number one. The issue is going
to continue and you are going to become frustrated. And
if you become frustrated, it's highly likely that it's going
to show up in a lot of passive aggressive ways,
ways that you think you're keeping your cool and your composure,
but it's creating some unspoken tension with your team. Another
(07:19):
thing that's going to happen is that your employee isn't
going to have a clue what's wrong and if they
don't know, how can they fix it? And also the
rest of the team begins to notice it as well.
It starts to show up in how you respond and
even react in team meetings. And what you don't want
to happen is for your team to lose trust in
(07:42):
your leadership. So here are three simple and impactful ways
to help you shift from hoarding feedback to helping your
team grow. Number one, make feedback a regular part of
your rhythm, meaning again for the third time in this episode,
please don't wait for annual performance reviews. Utilize your one
(08:07):
on one meetings with your team to share feedback the
good areas and the areas for growth. It doesn't have
to always be a weekly or bi weekly session of
just giving out criticism, but you can also highlight the
areas where they're doing well and frame the conversation when
you are bringing up things that they need to change
(08:29):
to areas for growth and how you can help them
do that. And there's another key to this. Don't always
rely on your employee to bring up the topics. It's
great if they do, but again, you're the leader here
and you have a part to play in curating the conversation.
So come prepare with things that you've observed, some questions
(08:50):
that you have to just get more context on why
they're handling things a certain way and bring specific points
to discuss. So to help you do this, a simple
action step that you can do is before each of
your one on one meetings, jot down one strength that
you've seen in your employee that week, and then one
(09:10):
area of growth or improvement. And this helps keep the
conversation more balanced and consistent. The second way that you
can shift is to define what done looks like. I
am a huge, huge, huge advocate for this and I've
spoken about this multiple times because one of the most
frustrating things for an employee is to have vague expectations
(09:36):
and if you want something completed in a specific way,
say so.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Now.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Let me also say this does not mean that you
are handholding your team, because, let's face it, we have
teams of responsible professionals who are skilled in what they do.
That's why we work together. So you're not handholding them.
By setting clear expectations, you're giving them what they need
(10:01):
to succeed and to succeed effectively the first time. So,
for example, instead of sending an email saying I need
this report by Friday, how about just reframing that and
being clearer and saying I need this report by two
pm on Friday, with these three points noted, sales numbers,
(10:23):
the feedback we've received from the customer, and any risks
that have been brought up. You've still communicated the same thing,
but you know what you were looking for. And when
you leave something as vague as I need a report
by Friday without specifying the expectations, you are leaving it
up to their interpretation of what a report, or this
(10:44):
particular report is supposed to include. So here's the action
step for you when you delegate a task to your
team end your email or end your conversation with them
by saying, here's what success looks like to me. And
this leaves little to no room for confusion. And the
(11:06):
third shift is to give space for growth. As a leader,
it's easy to think it'll be quicker if I just
fix it myself. If I do it, it'll be done right.
But if you are always the one flying in with
your cape to fix the problem, how will your team learn?
How will they develop the skills to be able to execute.
(11:28):
Feedback is about coaching, not control. So allow your employees
to have the opportunity in the space to try and
learn and adjust things. So the next time someone misses
the mark or you feel like they could have delivered better,
don't always jump in to speak over them, or to
take the responsibility from them, or reassign it to someone
(11:51):
else or do it yourself. Instead, just simply try to
walk through what could be done better and let them
correc and then celebrate the progress, and of course ask
them if they need anything from you to get the
job done well. The sooner you start sharing, the sooner
(12:11):
they'll grow. If you find that it is very uncomfortable
for you to give feedback to your team and you
don't want to figure out how to do this on
your own, and how you can better equip your team
to work through some of the challenges that you're noticing.
If you need help with this, I would love to
be your coach in this process to help you develop
(12:34):
those skills that will make you a more impactful leader.
And this is exactly one of the areas that we
go through in the New Leader Big Impact Coaching program,
and I'll teach you step by step how you can
have a growth focused conversation with each of your employees
that doesn't feel very awkward, how you can build trust
with your team through consistent and clear communication, and how
(12:58):
you can lead with struggle. Sure, so you're not just
winging it every day, because your team deserves clarity and
you do too. You deserve to be a leader who
operates in confidence, regardless of how long you've been in leadership.
So if you're interested in working with me, you can
apply for the program by going to Baproinc dot com
(13:19):
slash EP one six' nine AND i look forward to
working with. You if you have any questions about this,
episode or if you want to leave an honest rating or,
Review you can do so In apple podcasts or wherever
you're listening from and send an email AND i would
love to hear from. You that email address is culture
At business advocatespro dot, com which is always left in
(13:43):
the show. Notes remember that feedback isn't. Punishment it's an
investment in your team's, potential and the sooner you get
comfortable with having those awkward, conversations the sooner your team
can course correct and. Grow when you make the intentional
shift from hoarding feedback to helping your employees, grow you
(14:05):
not only build better, performance but you build a culture
of trust and clarity and accountability with your. Team have
a great.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Week
Welcome to the Culture Building Like a Pro podcast, helping
small business owners and managers lead a company culture where
employees are engaged to do their best work because they
want to and not because they have to. Now, let's
jumpstart your culture transformation with company culture strategists, leadership coach
(00:24):
and trainer Deanna Applin.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Happy Tuesday and happy start of Q four. Thanks for
listening to the Culture Building Like a Pro Podcast. I'm
your host, Dianna. I'm excited to be back with you
for another episode in our hash tag Leadershift series. These
episodes are centered around talking about the common challenges that
(00:48):
we face as leaders and even as new leaders, the
ones that just don't get talked about enough. But more importantly,
we dive into how to overcome them and how to
shift into the level of leadership that creates an impact
and influences excellence among your team. If you're anything like me,
you probably dabble a little bit into the reality TV world.
(01:16):
Sometimes you know that's a good thing, but depending on
what type of reality TV you like, it can be
a little problematic. But nonetheless, it's no judgment here. One
of the shows that has gotten so much recognition over
the past several years. In fact, I'm not even sure
if this show still comes on, but I think it's
(01:38):
one we could all relate to in some way, shape
or form, and that's called hoarders. If you're unfamiliar with hoarders,
it basically follows the lives of people who are notorious
for hoarding things, so much so that some of these
homes you can't even walk through, you can't navigate, and
you can't see things because it's so much stuff. And
(02:00):
we might know some people like that. I know I do,
And if we're being really, really honest, we could probably
admit that we all have some form of a hoarding tendency,
even if it's on the smaller scale. But what if
I told you that hoarding isn't something that I believe
(02:20):
is just with things physical things, but it's something that
is a bit of a mindset that a lot of
us can tend to have, and if we're not paying
attention to it can actually hinder how we lead others.
Here's what I mean. Think about your position as a
leader and how oftentimes it's a little bit challenging to
(02:44):
have conversations with your team, especially if it involves correcting them.
But The reality is it can be very unproductive if
you don't have these conversations with your team. So you
may notice a lot of different situations, patterns, have its
scenarios or even gaps in their performance. And because you're
(03:04):
uncomfortable with having the conversation, you're just hoarding these little details,
Hoarding the fact that they may not seem as detailed oriented,
Hoarding the fact that they aren't as responsive as you
would like them to see. Hoarding the fact that perhaps
you would like to see another skills set become stronger
in their work practices. That is hoarding. And if you're
(03:28):
hoarding critical feedback from your team, you aren't helping them grow.
Waiting for the annual performance reviews And if you've listened
to this podcast for a while, you know I've said
this plenty of times. Waiting for that performance review to
discuss and employee's performance is honestly too late, and it's
a disservice to your team. It's important to have regular
(03:52):
dialogue conversations where you're candid and more so collaborative about
the things that you like them to become stronger in
and offering resources for them to do so. So. In
today's episode, we are talking about how you can make
the shift from hoarding feedback to helping your team grow.
(04:15):
If we are being real here, which that is the
goal of this podcast, giving feedback is just not easy
most of the time, and that is often why leaders
tend to avoid it because they don't want to be
seen as the bad guy, They don't want to deal
with the emotions that come along with it, which many
times is more uncomfortable than pleasant, and they simply just
(04:39):
hope that the problem will just fix itself. I know
I've been in those shoes, especially when I first got
started into leadership. But the truth is with holding feedback
is more unproductive than having the uncomfortable conversation every day,
and every opportunity that you avoid sharing what your team
needs to hear, you are robbing them from the chance
(05:02):
to grow, which is so counterproductive of being an effective leader.
So let's talk about how you can intentionally make a
shift from hoarding that feedback to delivering it in a
way that actually empowers your team, helps them grow, and
builds trust and accountability. But before we dive in, let's
(05:24):
talk about a few myths that are keeping leaders silent
when it comes to feedback with your team. The first
one is if I ignore it, it'll just go away.
I want to be the one to tell you, as
your friend, it won't small performance issues, they turn into
big ones. It's a snowball effect and this is going
(05:47):
to happen without fail if you don't address these issues early.
Another myth is that giving feedback will make people not
like me. They'll dislike me, and that's wrong. Most employees
actually do want to hear what you have to say
because they care about how they're doing and they need
to hear that from you as their leader. So clear
(06:10):
and constructive feedback does the opposite. It builds trust, it
doesn't create a disconnect. In myth number three, feedback has
to be formal and it has to be scheduled. This
is also untrue. In fact, feedback is most effective when
it's timely and of course specific. But when you integrate
(06:33):
it into those regular conversations, those one on ones that
you have with your employees, it makes it real, It
makes it current, and it makes it something that they
can reasonably address instead of waiting until it becomes a problem.
When you think about it, if one of your team
members isn't performing well, and you never address it. Here's
(06:56):
what's going to happen. Number one. The issue is going
to continue and you are going to become frustrated. And
if you become frustrated, it's highly likely that it's going
to show up in a lot of passive aggressive ways,
ways that you think you're keeping your cool and your composure,
but it's creating some unspoken tension with your team. Another
(07:19):
thing that's going to happen is that your employee isn't
going to have a clue what's wrong and if they
don't know, how can they fix it? And also the
rest of the team begins to notice it as well.
It starts to show up in how you respond and
even react in team meetings. And what you don't want
to happen is for your team to lose trust in
(07:42):
your leadership. So here are three simple and impactful ways
to help you shift from hoarding feedback to helping your
team grow. Number one, make feedback a regular part of
your rhythm, meaning again for the third time in this episode,
please don't wait for annual performance reviews. Utilize your one
(08:07):
on one meetings with your team to share feedback the
good areas and the areas for growth. It doesn't have
to always be a weekly or bi weekly session of
just giving out criticism, but you can also highlight the
areas where they're doing well and frame the conversation when
you are bringing up things that they need to change
(08:29):
to areas for growth and how you can help them
do that. And there's another key to this. Don't always
rely on your employee to bring up the topics. It's
great if they do, but again, you're the leader here
and you have a part to play in curating the conversation.
So come prepare with things that you've observed, some questions
(08:50):
that you have to just get more context on why
they're handling things a certain way and bring specific points
to discuss. So to help you do this, a simple
action step that you can do is before each of
your one on one meetings, jot down one strength that
you've seen in your employee that week, and then one
(09:10):
area of growth or improvement. And this helps keep the
conversation more balanced and consistent. The second way that you
can shift is to define what done looks like. I
am a huge, huge, huge advocate for this and I've
spoken about this multiple times because one of the most
frustrating things for an employee is to have vague expectations
(09:36):
and if you want something completed in a specific way,
say so.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Now.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Let me also say this does not mean that you
are handholding your team, because, let's face it, we have
teams of responsible professionals who are skilled in what they do.
That's why we work together. So you're not handholding them.
By setting clear expectations, you're giving them what they need
(10:01):
to succeed and to succeed effectively the first time. So,
for example, instead of sending an email saying I need
this report by Friday, how about just reframing that and
being clearer and saying I need this report by two
pm on Friday, with these three points noted, sales numbers,
(10:23):
the feedback we've received from the customer, and any risks
that have been brought up. You've still communicated the same thing,
but you know what you were looking for. And when
you leave something as vague as I need a report
by Friday without specifying the expectations, you are leaving it
up to their interpretation of what a report, or this
(10:44):
particular report is supposed to include. So here's the action
step for you when you delegate a task to your
team end your email or end your conversation with them
by saying, here's what success looks like to me. And
this leaves little to no room for confusion. And the
(11:06):
third shift is to give space for growth. As a leader,
it's easy to think it'll be quicker if I just
fix it myself. If I do it, it'll be done right.
But if you are always the one flying in with
your cape to fix the problem, how will your team learn?
How will they develop the skills to be able to execute.
(11:28):
Feedback is about coaching, not control. So allow your employees
to have the opportunity in the space to try and
learn and adjust things. So the next time someone misses
the mark or you feel like they could have delivered better,
don't always jump in to speak over them, or to
take the responsibility from them, or reassign it to someone
(11:51):
else or do it yourself. Instead, just simply try to
walk through what could be done better and let them
correc and then celebrate the progress, and of course ask
them if they need anything from you to get the
job done well. The sooner you start sharing, the sooner
(12:11):
they'll grow. If you find that it is very uncomfortable
for you to give feedback to your team and you
don't want to figure out how to do this on
your own, and how you can better equip your team
to work through some of the challenges that you're noticing.
If you need help with this, I would love to
be your coach in this process to help you develop
(12:34):
those skills that will make you a more impactful leader.
And this is exactly one of the areas that we
go through in the New Leader Big Impact Coaching program,
and I'll teach you step by step how you can
have a growth focused conversation with each of your employees
that doesn't feel very awkward, how you can build trust
with your team through consistent and clear communication, and how
(12:58):
you can lead with struggle. Sure, so you're not just
winging it every day, because your team deserves clarity and
you do too. You deserve to be a leader who
operates in confidence, regardless of how long you've been in leadership.
So if you're interested in working with me, you can
apply for the program by going to Baproinc dot com
(13:19):
slash EP one six' nine AND i look forward to
working with. You if you have any questions about this,
episode or if you want to leave an honest rating or,
Review you can do so In apple podcasts or wherever
you're listening from and send an email AND i would
love to hear from. You that email address is culture
At business advocatespro dot, com which is always left in
(13:43):
the show. Notes remember that feedback isn't. Punishment it's an
investment in your team's, potential and the sooner you get
comfortable with having those awkward, conversations the sooner your team
can course correct and. Grow when you make the intentional
shift from hoarding feedback to helping your employees, grow you
(14:05):
not only build better, performance but you build a culture
of trust and clarity and accountability with your. Team have
a great.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Week
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