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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Let's Talk summary
Therese Huston
Make Effective Feedback Your Superpower
23 mins
Brief summary
Let's Talk by Therese Huston is a book on improving communication skills, with specific tips and strategies based on research. It emphasizes listening, collaboration, and constructive feedback, making it a useful resource for individuals and organizations.
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Let's Talk
Summary of 7 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 7
To give effective feedback, think about whether your employee needs appreciation, coaching, or evaluation.
The first step to understanding how to give effective feedback is to know exactly what kind of a conversation you need to have. After all, you can’t know if a conversation went well if you don’t know what you were trying to accomplish, right?
Since most people aren’t taught effective feedback skills, they might think that there are only two types of feedback: positive or negative. But that’s not a useful framing – in reality, different situations call for different types of positive or negative feedback. Instead, you should think of all feedback as being either appreciation, coaching, or evaluation.
The key message of this blink is: To give effective feedback, think about whether your employee needs appreciation, coaching, or evaluation.
Appreciation is the most straightforward kind of feedback – it’s positive recognition. Did an employee lead a great presentation this morning? Tell them that! That’s appreciation.
To make appreciation most effective, it should be delivered immediately after the event, when it’s still fresh in the memories of you and your employee. This will help reinforce the behavior, and the praise will be most significant in that moment. Appreciation is also especially critical for building relationships. At a deeper level, it’s really about telling others that they’re valued. For this reason, appreciation is particularly important for new employees, or employees doing a task for the first time. It’s a great way to make them feel at home.
Now for coaching, the second of our three types of feedback. Coaching is advice designed to help the other person learn and grow. Maybe an employee led a presentation that was pretty good overall, but when it came time to answer follow-up questions he struggled to explain things clearly. Good coaching would explain where the employee struggled, and give him advice on how to avoid it next time. Coaching doesn’t have to be in-depth: sometimes just checking in with a quick bit of advice can work wonders.
And what about our final type of feedback, evaluation? Evaluation lets the other person know where they stand. When you tell an employee that her sales numbers are third on their team, that’s evaluation. This is where you can let your employee know if she’s meeting expectations or likely to receive that promotion she’s been hoping for.
One important note – make sure you’re clear to distinguish coaching from evaluation. When an employee wants coaching but gets an evaluation, or when they think an evaluation is just friendly advice, the result is confusion on both sides. And this can lead to considerable damage.
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What is Let's Talk about?
Let’s Talk: Make Effective Feedback Your Superpower (2021) is a guide to handling one of the trickiest parts of being a manager – giving feedback. Dr. Therese Huston draws upon her cognitive psychology research and her experience as an educator and consultant to help you understand how to give feedback in a way that benefits everyone involved.
Let's Talk Review
Let's Talk (2018) by Therese Huston is a valuable book that explores the art of effective communication in any setting. Here's why this book is worth reading:
- Packed with practical strategies, it offers actionable advice on improving our communication skills, leading to better relationships and outcomes.
- Backed by research and real-life examples, the book provides insights into the common communication pitfalls we face and offers practical solutions to overcome them.
- With its engaging anecdotes and relatable scenarios, the book keeps readers captivated, transforming what could be a mundane topic into an exciting and insightful journey.
Who should read Let's Talk?
- Managers
- Anyone interested in effective communication
- Bearers of bad news
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Let's Talk FAQs
What is the main message of Let's Talk?
The main message of Let's Talk is to improve our communication skills for better relationships and success.
How long does it take to read Let's Talk?
The reading time for Let's Talk varies, but it can be completed in a few hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is Let's Talk a good book? Is it worth reading?
Let's Talk is worth reading as it provides valuable insights and practical tips to enhance our communication skills and enrich our personal and professional lives.
Who is the author of Let's Talk?
The author of Let's Talk is Therese Huston.
What to read after Let's Talk?
If you're wondering what to read next after Let's Talk, here are some recommendations we suggest:
- Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone
- The Discomfort Zone by Marcia Reynolds
- Feedback (and Other Dirty Words) by M. Tamra Chandler and Laura Dowling Grealish
- Handbook of Strategic 360 Feedback by Allan H. Church
- 12 Rules For Life by Jordan B. Peterson
- How to Know a Person by David Brooks
- Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari