Ray Dalio’s Post

Great principles Ray. And, the most significant qualities are to have the feedback be: 1. Timely and in context. 2. Delivered respectfully, directly, and with compassion. Compassion is critical, especially if someone is having a hard time being vulnerable and embracing a developmental area. 3. And then asking the person, "What do you think?" so you can gauge how they are receiving and thinking about the feedback. Engaging in a conversation versus throwing feedback over the wall, is critical. Any other tips you might have from your own experience?

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 🔥 😬 I usually don't repost to criticize another's work, but the Bridgewater notion of critical feedback and its sister "radical candor" get so much fanboying that 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 needs to offer differing perspectives. 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫: I do love Ray Dalio's book Principles, and I have a ton of respect for how much he and Bridgewater pioneered in terms of how organizations can work. If you recruit people who love being direct and who can take it, then radical candor can work. But that doesn't generalize well to the rest of humanity. My issues are with #1, #4, and #9 in the original post: 📍#1: Evaluating kindly is not mutually exclusive with doing so accurately. At Amazon especially in the people-intensive operations division, we used to say "assume positive intent." This nugget alone has helped me deal effectively with countless workplace issues, and I was happier while doing it. I lead with heart, and I expect my team to do so as well. ❤️ ↳ 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Smart, ambitious people who have never led feed on stuff like this. They love the idea of sucking kindness out of the souls of their employees. "If only everyone could be reduced to an analytical machine, they will be optimized and serve my purposes. Beep. Boop. Profit." 🤖 💰 🤮 📍#4: "achieving 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 goals." [1] I prefer to focus on the organization's goals(!). A charitable explanation could be that #4 was shorthand on the author's part. Maybe it should read, "...worry about achieving your goals 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧." ↳ 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: What we need more of is bros only out for themselves. There are plenty of selfish, toxic people out there, so please don't encourage them. ☠️ 📍#9: This one seems in conflict with the hint of empathy elsewhere in the author's guide (e.g. #2). Style in leadership is 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. Okay, not everything but close. Word choice, body language, and the context of how you give the feedback 𝒂𝒓𝒆 important. Don't overprepare or spend hours drafting a note, but treat people like the humans they are. They'll take the feedback better and not fear or resent you. ↳ 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Startup bro says to himself, "Beep boop. I give other robot much needed data. Why they not react like good robot?" 🤖 🤷🏽♂️ ⭐ Let's get split-hairy. 💇🏻♀️ Terms. I'm not super namby pamby about things in the workplace, but using the term "critical" for a key process in a workplace culture is immediately going to turn many people off. "Constructive feedback" is an improvement IMHO. ✅ I've worked with the toughest, most direct people you can imagine: the SEAL Teams, Wall Street, Amazon. So I'm not being thin skinned here. Feedback is crucial. But too many people use this idea as an excuse to feed their own ego and be a jerk. Your people are humans. Act like you're one, too. 💙 -- #feedback #evaluation #performancemanagement [1] emph added

Great advice from one of the best entrepreneurs in the world

#CriticalFeedback Principles

Giving critical feedback effectively involves a balance of honesty and empathy. Ray Dalio's principles highlight the importance of accurate evaluation, integrity, and the value of tough love in fostering growth and improvement. #6 really resonates with me. #leadership

This is not just useful for leaders to give constructive, critical feedback to their team but great tips for educators too! 1. Evaluate accurately, not kindly/ Recognize that while most people prefer compliments, accurate criticism is more valuable/Put your compliments and criticisms in perspective:   - "Your story is good" vs "Your story started with a foreshadow, it arouse the reader's curiosity. However, it needs a clearer ending. Let's work on finishing your thoughts. I believe this will make an even greater story." 2. Help people through the pain that comes with exploring their weaknesses/ Learn about your people and have them learn about you through frank conversations about mistakes and their root causes:   - "You hated Chinese that's why your result is so bad!" vs "I know you find Chinese hard as there are a lot of strokes to write and some words looks too familiar for you to differentiate them. Why not change your prospective on how you perceive the writing of Chinese words? They are just like symbols and drawings and you are the artist that let them be known to the world. https://lnkd.in/gyg3MrMb Is one example on how you can look at it differently. " 3. Don’t worry about looking good—worry about achieving your goals: - Many students would worry that giving a wrong answer would be judged, thus they prefer to remind silent, missing the golden opportunity to get feedbacks/reviews on their strength and weakness, which, is essential for their to achieve their goals by conquering one milestone at a time. 4. Have integrity and demand it from others:   - "Wow, you spend so much time and effort to get this done! Good job!" vs "I appreciate your effort on this project. However, let's look at how we can streamline the whole process such that time can be put to use to tackle your challenges. No worries, I'll walk this process with you." 5. Recognize that tough love is both the hardest and the most important type of love to give.   - "Your re-correction is still wrong. But it's ok. I know you tried." vs "I’m asking you to redo this homework again because I believe you have the potential to score a deserving AL1. This work does not reflect your ability. Let's review the errors and strategies." 6. Worry more about substance than style   - Example: "Wow, your illustrations is beautiful!" vs "While your drawing is beautiful, the story it’s supposed to illustrate needs more detail and clarity." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Do share your own experience on how you give feedbacks, let's learn and grow together!

Critical feedback tell the truth about the situacion. Acceptance and support is important to follow new agreements in performance. These principles are very important for leaders.

I would add to the list: explaining how the person could achieve their goals. What would you add?

The first question a feedback provider should ask is, "What was my role in the performance I am about to express my opinion about? ✅ How did I help this person? ✖ How did I hinder this person? ✅ How did I support them? ✖ How did I neglect them?" The second question a feedback provider should ask is, "To what extent does my perspective assume that this person has operated in isolation from the rest of the people, practices, processes and technology in our organization?"

Giving honest feedback matters as much as giving it accurately. Support people when they get feedback so that they won't react painfully but become able to respond consciously. Feedback is about changing something that needs to be changed for your success! #Feedback #GiveFeedback #GettingThingsDone #Honesty #RayDalio