Hello Waggle Community!

May the Fourth be with us all, as we turn our focus to the force of feedback.

Feedback is a crucial leadership skill, albeit challenging, as it requires finesse in delivery, empathy, and fostering an environment of trust and growth.

Feedback is a tool for growth - both for the individual receiving it and the manager providing it. But, too often, we view feedback as this dreaded occasion for harsh criticism, and that antiquated approach couldn't be further from the truth of feedback's true power.

When delivered thoughtfully and with emotional intelligence, feedback transcends being a critique. It becomes a collaborative dialogue that not only corrects course, but brings teams closer together through increased understanding, and mutual respect. 

👂🏼Leadership Challenges:

You can start with the use of proven feedback models to make the process smoother, as these will give you the structure and help you prepare better. There are a variety of techniques to choose from, each with their own subtle nuances depending on the goal.

Is the priority making an on-the-spot adjustment to behavior? Ensuring full alignment around expectations? Strengthening the foundational relationship between two people? Or empowering an entire team to take more accountability for their performance? 

The model and approach you select should fit that particular context.

But regardless of technique, the core premise remains: Feedback conversations are an opportunity to cut through the noise of judgement, address reality, and agree on a path forward. When held regularly and cultivated as a safe practice, they become the backbone of a high-performing, highly engaged culture.  

Next time you receive or give feedback, reflect on how effective it was based on these checks. 

• Was it clear and actionable?

• Was it objective?

• Did it help the recipient understand the significance of their actions?

• Did it foster a collaborative environment for understanding and improvement?

• Did the conversation end on a positive and constructive note?

Here are tips to build better feedback habits to uplift your team’s engagement. 

1. Be specific: avoid vague terms

2. Focus on observable behavior: avoid assumptions and guesswork

3. Highlight impact: Use "I" or "We" 

4. Uncover what they are expected to achieve

5. Encourage Two-Way Communication

6. Establish a Path Forward

Reply to this email to send in your questions for next month’s newsletter!

🔔 What is new on the app

We've got some exciting news to share about what is new on the app!

🌞 Daily digest  

Last month, we shared our plan to put in place daily notifications on Email and Slack. We're pleased to say Waggle's daily digest is now being delivered via email to Waggle users for the last two weeks. These notifications ensures you don’t miss any feedback or action items from the meetings you’ve attended.

⚡Faster meeting insights

We’ve also levelled up our feedback game; users wanted faster insights and we're stoked to have made it happen. Your meeting insights are now generated 10 times faster so that it's delivered to you while the meeting you've just had is still the freshest in your mind. 

What you’ll get from the insights:

• A brief overview as well as summary by topic

• A list of all tasks that were discussed

• A list of the key decisions taken

• Identification of skills that were practiced & missed opportunities for skill development

• Measure of the meeting metrics

😍 Improved Tasks view

We wanted to make it even easier to stay on top of your workload. You no longer need to filter a long list of tasks; we've now given it a daily and a weekly view.

Applying additional filters to see tasks by their completion status has also become faster. That nagging issue of trying to link your meeting notes to your to-do list? Not a problem for a Waggle user as this is automatically done for you so you'll see the progress of all tasks that came out of the meeting.

🔗 Essential Reads from Our Blog

Grown, Not Born: Insights from a Remote Management Veteran, Laurent Parenteau (Senior Director of Engineering)

Discover the journey of Laurent, a seasoned remote Manager, in our latest "Grown, Not Born" interview series. As she has only ever managed teams that have been hybrid or remote for the last 15 years, the biggest challenges she's faced are usually related to company culture. How can a Manager begin to overcome this challenge? In her own words, "Once you have 1 remote employee, you need to manage everything as if everyone was remote. Everything needs to be accessible online and in public spaces". 

At first, Laurent too felt lost in the role of Manager. She has built confidence by being able to seek advise and ideas from people with more and different experiences to refine her own thinking. She believes in the trickle down effect and emphasizes the importance of a clear vision that has to start from the top. Navigate the challenges of team management with her guidance and insights. 

Waggle's top tools for Managers who lead remote teams

With so many tools available out there and different challenges to overcome, choosing them isn't always simple. Waggle has made it a little easier for you with our own recommendation of top tools under 8 different categories. We've highlighted our favorite features in each tool, our top tips to get full value out of them as well as indicative pricing.

Remember to evaluate them based on how well they work with other tools you're already using, be clear about the problem you're trying to address and most importantly; don't just choose them because they are popular!  .

🤝 Invitation: Manager's Hive events of 2024

Each month, we host engaging events tailored to help you overcome the unique obstacles that come with your role as a Manager. These events are designed to be interactive and collaborative, allowing you to connect with fellow managers from diverse industries and share experiences, best practices, and proven leadership techniques.

Our very first event of 2024 for Manager's Hive was on 'Beating performance reviews' and it was fantastic! ​Riding on the wave of this successful launch, we organized a Learning circle to learn about and practice two feedback techniques. We explored a sensitive, complex and challenging topic and gained a little more confidence in giving feedback. 

We can't wait for the next event where we'll focus on delegation. Register here to attend this virtual session on the 22nd of May and see more events!

⭐️ Focus: Giving feedback

This month we invite you to join us in focusing on key skills to recognize the value of your team's work, create a sense of belonging & help identify potential for advancement. 

This is why we began the Learning Circle series, at the Managers Hive, with an exploration of best practices in giving feedback. 

By practicing giving feedback at every opportunity you get and strengthening complementary skills such as active listening & emotional intelligence, managers can achieve two crucial outcomes:  ensuring feedback is well received & collaboratively setting a goal. 

Consider leveraging tools like Waggle, to help you track the progress of these skills and find opportunities for you to practice giving feedback. 

Warm regards,

Aparna & Sarah

P.S. We love hearing from you! Share your feedback on this newsletter and performance review tips and ideas with us.