Leadership development and the Feedback Fighter

Here’s one of my favorite “lightbulb” jokes.

Question: “How many people does it take to change a lightbulb?”

Answer: “One, but the lightbulb has to sincerely want to change.”

That’s funny when you’re talking about lightbulbs, but there’s something important here that affects leadership development. Mark Busine captured it well in his post at DDI titled “No More HiPos Please.” He writes about the people I call “Feedback Fighters.”

Leadership development and how we get there from here

People rarely improve weakness they are unaware of.
~ Ben Horowitz

That’s why we do feedback sessions and 360 assessments and coaching and mentoring. They’re all based on a development model where knowledge of an issue generates work to improve it. That leads us to another quote.

It’s hard to learn if you can’t admit that you might be wrong.
~ Laszlo Bock

Mark Busine gives an example of what that looks like in his post. Here it is. It’s classic Feedback Fighter.

Despite a strong performance, he questioned the results immediately and intensely. He argued strongly against the data and focused his attention on proving how these insights did not match his view of himself. He also focused on ‘who would see the results’ and the impression that others might form from the results.

Leadership development and the Feedback Fighter

You can have a marvelous, world-class leadership development program, but it only works for people who are willing to acknowledge areas where they need to improve. If a person isn’t sincerely willing to change, it doesn’t matter how wonderful your program is. So, what do you do with the Feedback Fighter?

Tell him or her the truth. There’s no point in avoiding a tough conversation by pretending that their obstinence is not an obstacle. Tell them that if they want to move up, they need to change and that can’t happen if they don’t admit there’s something that needs changing.

Give them a copy of Carol Dweck’s great book, Mindset. Have them read it and discuss it with you.

Give it time. People grow and change. The frustration of not moving upward may inspire a change in attitude. Something outside may do it. There’s no way to know in advance.

Wally Bock

Wally Bock is a coach, a writer and President of Three Star Leadership.