Find Five Errors

It is easy to get fascinated by this little game. Two pictures are almost alike, and then our task is to find the five differences or errors. It can be OK for killing time, but less OK if used for killing talent!

I have met many managers who unfortunately use this approach with huge passion. An employee have spent talent and time on exploring an important area, hand in her report, and then you can literally see the “find five errors” look on the managers face. How can we find the holes in the arguments, the errors in typing, the missing pieces etc, etc.? The rational result can of course be that we end up with a more sound recommendation, but the downside is that it creates negative focus, de-motivation and at times even resistance.

Why is this “find five errors”-approach so popular? I would think that partly it is our educational system (I still remember the red line under the words that were misspelled!), but probably even more deeply rooted than that. If you look at a lot of journalism, being it either TV or newspapers, it is more often about finding weak points, creating crooks to make a story, errors in the system etc, etc, than about finding every day hero’s and systems that work well. Anyway, back to management.

Do I mean we should not look for errors? No, that would be counter productive. But it does not have to be the default style and approach for the manager!

I remember a story about a Japanese manager who got an important report in his hands. After reading the report he looked at his employee, smiled and said: “This is very good, now let’s see if we can make it even better”. This is a very different approach with a very different outcome. This approach shows respect for the person and the work that has been done, it creates a joint responsibility for making it even better, and it potentially creates energy around improvement.

Some have learned to say a few positives before they dive into the “real” feedback. It is actually better, but not ideal.

I encourage the approach of starting with “Here are the things I liked the best” and then move on to “Let’s see how we can make it even better”.

Which part did you like best?

Many years ago I was lucky to meet Benjamin Tonna at a management program in Malta. He was a priest but also a great management thinker. He gave a fantastic speech in the grotto in Rabat where St. Paul is said to have taken refuge after his shipwreck on Malta. His speech was about spirituality and management, but what happened after the speech is what made the biggest impact on me.
I wanted to give him some feedback, so I walked over to him afterwards and said: “That was a wonderful speech”. He grabbed my hand, smiled, looked me in the eyes and said: “Thank you”. It could have stopped there, but then he added: “Which part did you like best?” I was not prepared for this, but I reflected quickly and shared some of the parts that I remembered being the best. It could have stopped there, but he still looked at me and asked one more important question: “Why was that part so important to you?” The conversation then moved into a “on the spot” coaching session.
What a great lesson in leadership! Not through big words, but through action and role modelling.
He demonstrated true caring and empathy, but also genuine interest in his own performance and how it impacts others. He taught me how to use feedback in a constructive way to make it more precise and as a learning opportunity. He also demonstrated how a situation can be used for coaching. We were there on a management program, so it was appropriate. He used the opportunity to turn a potential polite exchange of words into a situation of great interaction and learning. The question “Which part did you like best” turns the general feedback into precision, but the even more powerful follow up question “Why was that so important to you” allows deeper reflections and learning into values and motivational foundations for what we do and react to.
Our everyday dealings give us these opportunities all the time. Grab them!

Benjamin Tonna died in 2001. He graduated with a degree in sociology from Louvain University. He served as parish priest of his native town of Rabat in the Republic of Malta as well as co-director with Brian P. Hall of the Omega Institute of the University of Santa Clara. Thank you, Benjamin and also Brian for making it possible to meet him!