August 29 2022
By: Shawn M. Galloway
Early in my corporate career, I had a great mentor and coach. He gave me feedback that I could improve my leadership role and the performance of those I'm leading by providing balanced and significantly more positive feedback. He asked me to keep six pennies in my left pocket. My job was to move each, one by one, over to my right pocket. I could only do this when I gave specific positive feedback on the observed desired behavior and made it sincere. There were many days I went home with six in my left pocket. Not because of undesired performance issues, but because I was busy or forgot.
Getting in the habit of the critical behavior of giving better and more frequent positive feedback can be difficult and takes time. The idea of six pennies was a tool provided to me as a young leader. What worked or works for you? Even better, what tools are you sharing with others as they become leaders of people?
"Make feedback normal. Not a performance review." — Ed Batista
"Positive reinforcement changes behavior for the better, while criticism stabilizes negative behaviors and blocks change." — Virginia H. Pearce
Shawn M. Galloway is the CEO of ProAct Safety and an advisor to leading organizations across all major industries. With over twenty years of experience in safety systems, strategy, culture, leadership, and employee engagement, he is a trusted advisor, keynote speaker, and expert witness.
He is the author of several bestselling books and has multiple regular columns in leading magazines, with over 400 articles and 100 videos to his credit. He also created the first safety podcast, Safety Culture Excellence, with over 800 episodes. Shawn has received numerous prestigious accolades and has been featured in Power 101 Leaders of the EHS World, Top 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS, Top 40 Rising Stars, Top 11 Health and Safety Influencers, and Top 10 Speakers.
He serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and the Fast Company Executive Board. He has appeared as a guest on Bloomberg, Fox News, The Daily Mail, Dubai One, U.S. News & World Report, Sirius Business Radio, Wharton Business Daily, and leading safety magazines and podcasts, reinforcing his status as an authority in the field of safety excellence.
For more information, call +1.936.273.8700 or email info@ProActSafety.com.
