RWL #136: feedback, originality, & robots!
Greetings from Bar Harbor, Maine! My wife and I are doing one last get-away before the summer ends for me. We're staying in a cute little cabin on the water - pic above is our view. I hope you have enjoyed the summer and have had a little time to unwind.
I had a great time at the Academy of Management (AOM) conference this past week and got a chance to chat with a few readers, which was cool. After 12 years of being in this academic game (including PhD time), I feel like I still have so much to learn - not only about my subjects, which will last forever, but how the academic world works. It’s like I keep getting little peeks behind the curtain, but never the full picture. Maybe someday I’ll figure it out. On the subject side, I went to some great sessions on topics like identity and the influence of class on careers, mentoring and inclusion, and the meaning of work. I also met a few people who seem willing to provide me with some mentorship as well, which I am really excited about. You’re never too old or accomplished to have a mentor (I’m definitely not the latter, and hopefully not the former).
Read
What: Farnam Street, How to Provide Great Feedback When You’re Not In Charge
https://fs.blog/2016/02/provide-feedback/amp/
Why: This is a short but impactful article built around three concepts of feedback:
APPRECIATION is expression of gratitude or approval of another’s effort. It is an expression of emotion, designed to meet an emotional need.
ADVICE (or COACHING) consists of suggestions about particular behavior that should be repeated or changed. It focuses on the performance, rather than judging the person.
EVALUATION is ranking the subject’s performance in relation to that of others or against an explicit or implicit set of standards.
Read the whole thing for advice on when to use each. This is great stuff - I wish someone had given me such a simple mental model when I was a young manager.
Watch
What: TED, The surprising habits of original thinkers, Adam Grant
Why: Adam Grant is a brilliant organizational psychologist and really good at popularizing his ideas. In this video he talks about the balance between procrastination and creativity. His version of creative procrastination involves a lot more testing and evaluation, not simply blowing off work. I’ve been procrastinating on writing my syllabus for my management class - I’m sure that’s because I’ve been testing and evaluating ideas in my head, right? Sigh...
Listen
What: HBR Ideacast, How Robots and AI Are Changing Job Training
https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/08/how-robots-and-ai-are-changing-job-training.html
Why: This podcast focuses heavily on the changing nature of surgery, and as a consequence, the changing nature of surgical training. Historically, master surgeons have needed assistance from surgical students. As a result, surgical students had a meaningful and critical role in the OR. Now surgeons are sitting off to the side conducting surgery with robots, and the need for assistance has diminished. The result is surgical students are getting less meaningful OR time because they aren’t needed anymore. The podcast argues the paradigm of surgical training is changing as a result. This lesson is then generalized, but from a healthcare leadership perspective, this change is concerning.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line at mark.bonica@unh.edu , or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend and do amazing things!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau