It takes maintenance to keep a bicycle running smoothly.
- Check the tire pressure, and inflate when needed.
- Keep the chain clean and lubricated, and check for signs of wear.
- Check cable tension in the brakes and shifters.
- Keep gears and surfaces clean, and replace brake pads when needed.
These are quick and easy tasks if you know what you’re doing. But if you’re not accustomed to caring for a bicycle, they’re unfamiliar and intimidating. And when things are unfamiliar and intimidating, they tend to get skipped or postponed until there’s a real problem.
It takes basic maintenance to keep a team running smoothly too. If you’re a team leader, consistently giving feedback is one of the most basic ways to do it.
But just like checking the tension on your brake cables, if you haven’t learned good technique, it’s easy to put off essential conversations until there’s a real problem. Crud starts to accumulate on the bike, and resentment and frustration builds up on your team.
The key is learning how to give feedback, so it’s not foreign and awkward, but becomes a standard practice as basic as putting on your bike helmet. The situation calls for it, so you do it.
If you’d like to learn techniques for giving feedback, come to this Friday’s 1-hour virtual workshop The Fundamentals of Feedback. We’ll review 4 key principles and 3 useful formulas, so you can make feedback a regular part of your routine and prevent hiccups down the road.
