Building A Culture Of Trust, Feedback, And Coaching

Imagine a workplace where trust fuels growth, feedback sparks transformation, and coaching turns potential into performance. In this article, Lisa Armstrong, ECI’s senior director of global learning and development, shares actionable insights into principles that can be game-changers for any business.

Here are key takeaways:

• Trust is the foundation – Employees are more willing to accept feedback when they believe you care about their success. They will also respect your expertise more.
• Coaching does not equal feedback – While feedback reflects on past actions, coaching focuses on future problem-solving. Using tools like the GROW model, you can prepare for upcoming one-on-one discussions with your team.
• Clarity and timing matter – Among other impactful tips, providing specific feedback within 48 hours sparks real change.

Ready to lead differently? Let’s dive into the full Q&A and discover how to build a culture where trust drives real, measurable success.

Lisa Armstrong (LA): I always tell people: without trust, you don’t have much! Strong leadership that starts with a foundation of building and sustaining trust is critical for a culture to thrive. When there is trust in one another, things get done faster and more effectively. You aren’t second guessing, operating in silos, or duplicating work across different teams because you feel like it won’t get done correctly.

To build a culture of trust, coaching, and feedback, you must demonstrate to those you work with that you have strong character and are competent. When people see that you operate with integrity, genuinely care about others, and strive to improve and deliver on what you say you will do, you can accomplish almost anything as an organization.

LA: A common mistake is assuming encouragement, feedback, and coaching are the same thing. It is important to understand that they are quite different.

• Encouragement is cheering someone on. “You got this”, “You can do it. I believe in you.”
• Feedback reflects on something that has already happened. The goal of feedback is to help instill self-awareness.
• Coaching is guiding someone to a better future outcome. Think of coaching as creating self-reliant problem solvers. By coaching, you ask good, thought-provoking questions to help people uncover how they could tackle that problem or issue differently in the future.

Coaching and feedback should help people grow and progress in their careers. Encouragement is necessary to instill belief in individuals. A good leader will do all three regularly.

LA: Good feedback has a few key components that need to be in place for it to resonate:

1. It must be specific. For example, telling someone they didn’t do well on a presentation can do more damage than good. Their mind will start to tell its own story. “What did I do poorly at?”, “Did I not do enough preparation?”, “Was it the delivery?”, “Was it the content?”.
   
   They can start to feel overwhelmed and defeated. With so much information swarming around in their heads, they may not understand what needs to be fixed, so they don’t fix anything.
   
   Instead, leaders should consider saying: “You did a great job with your research and the data points on your slides. One area I’d like you to work on is your pace. Your delivery was very fast and hard to follow along.” This information lets the employee know exactly what they need to work on to improve.
   
2. It must be timely. Nothing is more defeating than receiving feedback on something that happened six months earlier. Immediately, an employee will wonder why their boss has been upset about this topic for so long and is just now telling them. When constructive feedback is delivered, aim to have a conversation within 48 hours of that event taking place. It will be fresh in both people’s minds, and you’re more likely to have a productive discussion.
   
3. It must be simple to understand and not overwhelming. If your boss gave you feedback on 13 different things, your brain would go into fight or flight mode and shut down. When our brains feel overwhelmed, cortisol impairs our ability to think clearly and make good decisions. If you want to spark change, feedback should focus on 1-2 specific areas at any time.

LA: I like the GROW model for good coaching. I see it more as coaching behavior. This concept is simple to understand and weave into your meetings and conversations.

• G (Goal) - What goal are you working to improve? Aligning on that first is essential to ensure you and the employee agree on what excellence looks like.
• R (Reality) - This is where you ask the employees how they think they are doing and then share your feedback. It is essential to get the employee’s perspective first, and then I share specific feedback.
• O (Options) - What do the employees think they could try differently to get better results in the future? Be sure to encourage self-reliant problem solving by asking good questions and listening. There will be more accountability if the employee comes up with the idea, but it only works if the employee has a good amount of competence in this area. If they get stuck, you may have to help with ideas on what to try.
• W (Willingness) - What is the employee willing to do differently and by when? This is when they become accountable and commit to trying something with a dedicated time to follow up.

LA: Start with your dedicated one-on-one meetings with your employee. Effective communication is critical. Before each meeting, think about the following:

• How can I continue to demonstrate my character and competence with this individual?
• What goal is critical to this individual right now?
• What encouragement do they need around that goal?
• What feedback can I share to help them build self-awareness?
• What questions can I ask to help create a self-reliant problem solver and produce a better outcome?

As Lisa notes, the elements trust, feedback, and coaching have the power to drive measurable success. By implementing specific frameworks like the GROW model and adhering to timely, actionable feedback principles, leaders can transform potential into performance. Start small, stay consistent, and watch trust become the catalyst for lasting change.