THE LEAFLET

November 16 2023

reveal + remark - why and how, “reading to do” as parent and coach

REVEAL + REMARK: WHY IT WORKS

There is nothing more effective for improving employee performance than the personal experience of doing something correctly. This is what we provide when we reveal someone's positive choice to them. And there is nothing more lasting than an emotional memory, which is what happens when we remark on the tangible impact of that behavior.

Thus, there’s a formula for offering praise that can radically transform behavior and performance permanently. It’s what I call “Reveal and Remark,” and all it takes is pointing out the connection between someone’s tiny, positive choices and better outcomes. 

Not only does this simple act improve performance, but it will also increase your leadership influence and improve your relationships with team members. And the best part? It shouldn’t take you longer than 30 minutes per week, max. (Yes, really.)

Read the rest here.

-Ben

REVEAL + REMARK: HOW TO DO IT

1. Praise behaviors, not people

2. Recognize tiny choices. 

3. Be specific and authentic.

4. Remark publicly when possible 

5. Do it often

The number one most important factor is to Reveal and Remark whenever you can.  

Read the rest here.

-Ben

“READING TO DO” AS PARENT AND COACH

Read to find moves and mindsets. Then make those moves and try on those mindsets. 

This approach has developed a whole generation of leaders at Collegiate Academies (just celebrating their 15 year anniversary), which Ben founded. I’m using it now with hope that an earnest, inexperienced stay-at-home uncle can become the right kind of caring adult for the little people he loves most.

Read the rest here.

-Eric

COMPELLING QUOTES

Poet and publishing exec Felix Dennis on building and breaking morale, in The Narrow Road:

Experienced leaders will tell you of the importance of morale. It is important. Good morale cannot compensate for sloppy work or an ill-conceived business plan, but a pervasive feeling of “us against the world” in a start-up company, combined with the promise of promotion based on achievement—this can move mountains. And can just as easily be destroyed in a few weeks by glory hounds (who seek to steal praise for the efforts of others) and toads (who sneer at any junior person’s honest error).

Professor Adam Grant, in Think Again:

Process accountability might sound like the opposite of psychological safety, but they’re actually independent. Amy Edmondson finds that when psychological safety exists without accountability, people tend to stay within their comfort zone, and when there’s accountability but not safety, people tend to stay silent in an anxiety zone. When we combine the two, we create a learning zone. People feel free to experiment—and to poke holes in one another’s experiments in service of making them better. They become a challenge network.

Former Marine Corps general Jim Mattis, in Call Sign Chaos:

You cannot order someone to abandon a spiritual burden they’re wrestling with.

Keep going, keep growing,

Ben & Eric