All great leaders have their own stories of where they've failed - ways they feel they could have done something differently, and these usually come with the beauty of hindsight.

When thinking about my leadership failures, one instantly springs to mind. I was in my first management position and had to directly manage a team, meaning I was responsible for completing annual appraisals, linked to performance-related bonuses.

“It’s like we are having two different conversations”

“Why are they being so *insert judgemental adjective here*?”

“Here we go again - same old!”

Sound familiar? We all have experiences of working with people that just press our buttons. At best it causes frustration; at worst, conflict. Now, I hate to take the wind out of your sails, but we can say with some confidence that it’s highly likely this is how they feel about you, too.

Discover the merits of Kim Scott’s “Radical Candour”, among a multitude of other ideas on how to give your employees feedback.