Two Pluses; Two Deltas

I always want to improve - while I can improve looking outward: current trends, best practices, classic literature, etc. The best is to improve on the problem I have within my immediate circle of influence at work.

So, I asked a group of managers:

How can I get more feedback from my directs?

A CTO, DC, told me a process she used in her previous positions which is:

• pair everyone in your team for 10 minutes
• each would have 5 minutes to share:
  • two pluses - things the listener is doing well
  • two deltas - things the listener should change
• for any new member in the team - instead of having two things to keep/change, participants can use that time to get to know each other
• keep it professional
• goal is to introduce the feedback - have follow up meetings for details

It sounds easy, almost too easy.

I did not introduce it right away because I wanted time to think it over, get more details from DC, introduce the concept to team members in my 1:1 for initial feedback and make sure I didn’t overlook anything. There was hesitation on the utility of such a meeting from team members.

Another hesitation was we are in the middle of hiring and maybe a new person will join, another team member will go back to their team. So, I held off from doing the two pluses/two deltas right away.

After two months, I took a leap and scheduled a meeting with the whole team. It was eight people including me.

The whole thing took about 90minutes and I made break-out rooms for everyone in a round-robin style. Tournament Scheduler is a great tool for creating who should meet who in which round.

Feedback from the team was fantastic. Everyone appreciated me setting up the meeting and (most importantly) everyone wants to do the two pluses, two delta meeting again!

One of my team members loved the meeting so much, this is what he wrote

Thanks DC!