Robert Glazer’s book, Elevate Your Team, is a valuable resource that provides actionable steps to having performance conversations through giving and receiving feedback. Glazer outlines the type of culture that leaves space for these feedback conversations stating that, “A learning culture is by definition a feedback culture; one cannot be decoupled from the other. If managers are not able to deliver feedback to help their teams improve–or if employees believe they can ignore feedback without consequence–there is a ceiling on the entire organization’s growth.” This disconnection in communication creates confusion, blocking the path to innovation. To be an organization that creates the growth and feedback culture mentioned, you must also be able to have these crucial conversations that deliver feedback to help your team improve. This starts by learning how to talk through a conversation and not around it. Noting that as you directly address the issues it is just as valuable to know how to receive feedback as it is knowing how to give it. You do not want to create a culture of inauthenticity as employees cannot foster innovation and new ideas here, creating a space where employees would be afraid to make mistakes, ask questions, or report problems with fear of retaliation. If you can strengthen psychological safety, then you will also strengthen a feedback culture within your organization. 

Creating a trusting and psychologically safe workplace is directly related to higher intellectual capacity. Glazer defines intellectual capacity as, “how you improve your ability to think, learn, plan, and execute with discipline. In an organizational context, companies with high intellectual capacity are constantly helping their employees learn new skills, build better habits, achieve personal and professional goals, learn from feedback, and coach each other to improve.” This book highlights how integral performance management conversations are in all aspects of the workplace. With high intellectual capacity an organization is not only more able to give and receive feedback but is also more innovative, aspiring for growth. As Glazer summarizes for us, “this is the essence of intellectual capacity: incremental improvements that yield significant results, personally and professionally.” And that is the goal, personal and professional development within our organizations and teams to create mutual success, because, in the end you must think, do you want your organization to create robots or free-thinking individuals willing to learn and focus on growth and innovation.  

Learning how to create and foster a feedback culture with high intellectual capacity is why we loved this book, but there is so much more to learn about: authentic leadership, capacity building, strategic hiring, core values alignment, continuous learning, etc. This book is a valuable guide for leaders seeking to build a high-performance workplace culture through holistic employee development. We highly recommend reading Glazer’s book, Elevate Your Team!