Josh's Weekly Insights: August 26, 2025

“A leader must be able to look a subordinate or superior square in the eye and tell him what the problem is and what needs to be done to fix it.”

-Paul R. Howe

In a class this week, we were discussing how to give negative feedback to someone. One issue that popped up is a lot of leaders try to avoid hurting the other persons feeling by starting with something positive before getting into the negative feedback. Have you ever done this as a leader?

The problem with including both positive and negative feedback during the same session is that it can confuse the person receiving the information. Are they getting praised? Is there a behavior that needs to change? What is the priority here?

The best leaders aren’t going to create confusion by sharing positive and negative feedback at the same time. Now, that doesn’t mean good leaders will be so direct that they crush the spirit of their team when providing negative feedback. It means that they will use language that doesn’t make it feel like a personal attack and show compassion while giving hard feedback. By using those tools, more of their feedback will sink in and have positive results.

This doesn’t just apply to team members that report to them but also leaders that they report to. The most valuable followers are the ones that can share issues at the organization with their leaders and show options to help correct them. The best leaders will want people that help them see issues before they become too big and find solutions.

If you want to be successful in your career, don’t learn how to avoid hard conversations. Learn how to approach them in a way that helps everyone collaborate for success. When you do this, you become both a great leader and a valuable follower.

What tough conversations have you avoided lately? My encouragement is to think about the issue, come up with a solution, and then have the hard conversation that will help your team.

Now get out there and crush your week!