E-couragement: The Problem with Anonymity
“I have agreed to know others and be known by others…to say yes to the terror of being known.” Dan Allender, To Be Told
We were spending an afternoon at the beautiful Graylyn International Conference Center. Our focus was organizational culture and its impact on performance and growth. My client made a wise decision by committing time and resources to this critical topic. Gathered with thirty of their top leaders, we entered into a lively and honest conversation around intentionally creating the right culture to fuel their growth strategy. Bridging to the topic of leadership and feedback, we dug in, allowing the conversation to go deeper.
Chapter nine in my book, Your Employees Have Quit—They Just Haven’t Left makes a case for the importance of creating a company culture where honest and candid feedback presides. I coach my executive clients to actively seek and provide performance feedback. Traditionally, companies utilize an online 360 method, which touts the ability of feedback providers to remain anonymous. If we pause to consider this rationale, we’ll uncover inherent troubles with this ideology. Let’s consider the problem with anonymity as part of an effective listening and feedback culture:
- Leads to Guessing: When reviewing data from online feedback the receiver often resorts to guessing. Lacking dialogue and clarifying questions, the best a recipient can do is imagine what the provider really meant which devalues feedback usefulness.
- Limits relationship building: Providing or receiving important information without the benefit of meaningful conversation can deteriorate trust. People attain mutual understanding from words, voice tone, facial expression, and body language. Communication restricted to written words or phrases limits the opportunity to strengthen relationships and deepen trust.
- Unnatural: Anonymity is not real-life. Where else do we ask for honest feedback while providers remain veiled behind technology? Do we utilize this method with our families, friends, or neighbors? No. Those important relationships involve people-to-people interaction, a simple and timeless concept.
Employee engagement doesn’t occur through anonymity—it requires getting personal. When it comes to developing a culture of honest and candid feedback, let’s stop hiding behind the curtain of technology. Providing and receiving performance feedback makes its greatest impact when accompanied by a strong and trusting relationship. Strong and trusting relationships emphasize ongoing face-to-face conversations. Let’s resist the counterfeit safety of anonymity and have the courage to “know others and be known by others.”
Leave your comments: Recall a time when you provided or received valuable performance feedback. What made it effective?