Springfield Business Journal_2021-06-07

SPRINGFIELD BU SINESS JOURNAL · 23 JUNE 7-13, 2021 I I I · 1 , 1 T here’s a reason people desire honest feedback from customers, employees or a boss but then dismiss the input if it’s negative. It’s simply because when feedback is critical, it stings. It creates a problem, though, when potential- ly helpful comments get ignored. When employees are getting ready to jump to another job, and cus- tomers are getting ready to switch suppliers over unmet expectations, you’d think relevant feedback would be valued by management even if it’s critical. But it’s not always. As you might imagine, most managers would like to focus on hearing the positives. No doubt, it can be hard to hear criticism from an employ- ee or customer without getting defensive or tell- ing yourself excuses such as, “That’s unrealistic,” “They don’t understand our business” or “They’re just negative.” Maybe that’s accurate, but it misses the point of what we can learn from it. Critical remarks offer managers several poten- tial benefits, including strengthening employee engagement, preventing costly mistakes and cre- ating a pathway for producing better results fast- er. Consider the insights we might gain after a customer’s poor service experience or when we lose a good employee, as long as we’re willing to listen to criticism with an open mind. One of the best critical comments I received came early in my speaking career from a prospec- tive client. She told me that I wouldn’t be a good fit for her organization because my style was “too intense.” I appreciated her honesty, but I wouldn’t say I liked hearing it. Fortunately, I used her feed- back to improve on my weaknesses, and it paid off. Here are five ways to get high value from nega- tive feedback. 1. Value your critics. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t know one exists. People who challenge your thinking are the ones whose input will help you make positive improvements that can directly benefit your employees or customers. 2. Gather opposing views before you make a big move. Remember when Lego made the switch from producing intricate plastic bricks to larger ones that players could assemble faster? According to a Wall Street Journal article, Lego’s switch to making larger bricks happened 20 years ago based on consumer data that indicat- ed the video game-loving generation desired in- stant gratification, not the time-consuming play required with Lego’s smaller, interlocking bricks. However, when sagging sales nearly bankrupt- ed the company, Lego interviewed various user groups and discovered that customers wanted to achieve gratification from completing challeng- ing, intricate tasks. So, Lego returned to smaller components and new designs and is now pur- portedly the largest toy company in the world by sales. It pays to understand views that may op- pose big data or our presumptions. 3. Welcome new perspectives . I remember when a client invited me to observe an engineers’ meeting to discuss a manufacturing problem. When a new, young engineer offered his input, his peers valued it. Although it disagreed with conventional thinking, his idea was adopted and saved millions of dollars in reduced downtime. You can produce better decisions if you involve varying perspectives. 4. Understand the feedback that’s coming from tough questions. Facing the truth by lis- tening to questions can produce helpful insights. Employees may have concerns about company pro- cesses or policies, maybe even the business direc- tion and goals. You can build trust with employees if you listen sincerely to understand their concerns and then make changes where it has merit. 5. Manage negative feedback. One busi- ness owner had a chronic negativist on her team. When the employee’s attitude spread to oth- ers, she held a private conversation with him in hopes he’d recognize the problem and stop. Un- fortunately, he wouldn’t change, and he eventual- ly lost his job. Negativity can be harmful, and you must manage it before it spreads. Whether it’s positive or negative, managers who welcome feedback provide a pathway for the com- pany to make continuous improvements. Consultant, professional speaker and author Mark Holmes is president of Consultant Board Inc. and MarkHolmesGroup.com. He can be reached at mark@markholmesgroup.com. OPINION Event business returning, cautiously Negative feedback should be valued, not dismissed E vents are back. At Springfield Busi- ness Journal, we have turned the corner and begun to hold in-person events again. The first event back in person, in- doors and without social distancing and occu- pancy limits, was the Dynamic Dozen awards on May 27, recognizing the fastest growing compa- nies in southwest Missouri. Crowd size is typical- ly on SBJ’s smaller end for this event, and this year brought together 195 people at The Barley House at Moon Crossing. It’s been well over a year, of course, since we’ve been face to face like that. The return was both energizing and refreshing, while at the same time trepidatious. Outwardly, there were some awk- ward moments in first-time greetings – no hand- shaking, but are you going to fist bump or elbow tap or the easy hand wave? You figure it out. Yet others went straight for the hug. Inwardly, that was nice to see. It was even better to hear the buzz of a crowd again. Familiar, yes, but for some I know social anxiety was present. Since appetizers and beverages were available at the event – served in individually encased to-go boxes by Simply De- licious Catering – most sat at their company tables without wearing masks. Event emcee Greg Burris remarked, tongue in cheek, that tomorrow all of this would be legal. It was one of his dry-humor jokes sprinkled through- out the night. Of course, he was referencing the mask mandate being removed on May 28. So, here we are. I feel like this is the point to say: Don’t burn all your masks just yet. But do bring on business done in person again. I know for some, it has been busi- ness as usual in the office for a while. But as the large-gathering event business is renewed, we can do so responsibly, knowing that not all attendees have been vaccinated. A simple way about that is whether you’ve been fully vac- cinated or never plan to, we can wear masks as we’re personally comfortable. Just like you would in your work setting or at the grocery store or res- taurant. At the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, organizers have managed their events in a hybrid manner for months now – with limited in-person attendance and virtual viewing options. Feedback in the business community is it’s worked well for them. The June edition of Good Morning, Spring- field! at Evangel University represents a return to the pre-pandemic structure, though a livestream was available through the city since Mayor Ken McClure delivered the annual State of the City ad- dress. Also, a to-go meal was offered rather than the typical breakfast buffet. At SBJ, our most successful event during the pandemic was arguably the 40 Under 40 Awards in March. We held it drive-in cinema style, so the honorees could still be together but safely in their own cars with family and friends. Honorees tuned in to the event audio through their car radios as a roving cameraman projected the delivery of the awards at each vehicle onto the “cinema” screen up front. People honked their horns and flashed their lights as applause. It was fun and lively, and in my mind a great example of making lemons out of lemonade during a pandemic. Next on the SBJ event calendar is the 12 People You Need to Know live interview with Craig Mc- Coy, president of Mercy Springfield Communities. Timely, right? We’re returning to Hilton Garden Inn for the first in-person, ticketed breakfast event since February 2020. The last live interview I did in person was with Toni Robinson of the NAACP back in March last year – and that was just a handful of us in the SBJ office to produce the video livestreamed on Face- book. From there, the interviews were all on Zoom and Facebook through last month’s livestream with Samuel Knox of Unite Publication and for- mer director of Minorities in Business. For planning, I asked the remaining 12 People interview guests and not one has indicated they are uncomfortable with an in-person interview. I look forward to seeing your faces again – at the 12 People breakfast first, then the launch of our annual Economic Growth Survey forums be- ginning in July. With all these plans, we’re not taking our eyes off the pandemic realities. Yes, the health stats are improved. But the latest numbers from the Spring- field-Greene County Health Department still give caution. Officials made a civic alert June 1 that the seven-day COVID-19 case rate was up 37% on suc- cessive days of 63 new positive cases. We’ll continue watching these trends and adjust our events as necessary. We expect the business community to do the same. Springfield Business Journal Editorial Vice President Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net. Send letters and comments to sbj@sbj.net BUSINESS SHIFT Mark Holmes EYES & EARS Eric Olson