Every once in a while, if you’re lucky, you get to work on something that is so fun you can’t believe it’s work. For me, collaborating with my team and the folks at Second City Works to create a workplace comedy series, The Feedback Loop, was one of those experiences. Not only was it fun for me, it's full of fun feedback exercises, and it's guaranteed to make feedback conversations fun for everyone.
Since Radical Candor was published, my team and I have been working hard to figure out the best ways to help teams put the ideas into practice in a way that scales but still feels human. It’s so easy to say, “Be radically candid,” and so hard to actually do it.
One of the things that people liked about the book was that I broke it down into some practical suggestions, but I think I didn’t break it down quite far enough.
So how can we learn how to practice this? What’s the best way to practice? Fun feedback activities that go along with our hour-long, five-episode series! (Read all the way to the bottom to get 10% off The Feedback Loop digital course!)
Engaging your team with fun feedback exercises can help create a culture of open communication and continuous improvement. Here are a few ideas you might find helpful:
Use feedback role play scenarios to mimic real life. Have team members play the roles of a feedback giver, receiver, and observer. This exercise helps individuals see the impact of their feedback in real-time and navigate emotional responses. It's effective for understanding different perspectives and practicing Radical Candor.
If you're a regular listener of the Radical Candor podcast, you know that my co-founder and Radical Candor CEO Jason Rosoff do this all of the time.
Pair up team members and have them give each other specific and sincere praise. One of our favorite fun activities on providing feedback helps build mutual appreciation and trust within the team. You can also include kind and clear criticism to help each other grow.
Use the Radical Candor framework and have team members rate the feedback they receive. This helps to understand if the feedback is landing as intended and provides insights for improvements.
During this fun feedback exercise, encourage team members to present their ideas and invite others to challenge them directly. This fosters a culture of healthy debate and collaborative problem-solving.
Conduct sessions where the team can brainstorm ideas and use 'plussing' to build on each other's suggestions rather than dismissing them. Follow up with clarifying questions to refine the ideas before moving to debates.
One of the most successful fun feedback exercises I have used is Whoops-a-Daisy. This is a system where team members publicly admit and learn from their mistakes and win cash in the process. This promotes a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
These exercises not only make feedback fun but also help in creating a trusting and open environment where everyone feels safe to give and receive feedback.
There’s research that supports this idea that laughter is an incredibly effective way to learn and for messages to really sink in. Radical Candor is the very stuff of human drama and human relationships.
While it’s easier to be funny when you’re getting Radical Candor wrong — what I like to call Radical Candor wipeouts — even when you’re getting it right, it can be quite funny.
Comedy can play a significant role in making feedback conversations more engaging and effective. The integration of humor can help individuals relax and lower their defenses, making them more receptive to both giving and receiving feedback. Here's how comedy ties into feedback conversations:
Comedy creates an enjoyable and memorable learning experience. When people laugh, they are more likely to retain information and apply it in real-life scenarios.
“We learn when we laugh,” Kelly Leonard of Second City Works said to me one day. And that was the start of Improvising Radical Candor, a whole new way to think about how to teach managers, both first time managers and seasoned CEOs, to handle the human drama associated with the job was born.
Humor can break down barriers and make difficult conversations less intimidating. By incorporating elements of comedy into your fun feedback activities, actual feedback sessions can feel less like a chore and more like a collaborative and light-hearted exchange.
Improvisation, a staple of comedy, involves drills that teach discrete skills necessary for Radical Candor. Improv exercises can help teams engage in feedback role play scenarios and practice listening with the intent to understand rather than respond, ensuring that feedback is received and digested effectively.
Comedy often reflects real-life situations that people can relate to, making the lessons more applicable to daily work interactions. For example, characters in The Feedback Loop deal with common workplace challenges, and their humorous attempts to practice Radical Candor make the learning process enjoyable and relatable.
Comedy can illustrate the pitfalls of poor feedback methods in an impactful way. We wanted The Feedback Loop to help people distinguish between what’s Radical Candor — being kind and clear — and what’s not; for example, what’s actually Obnoxious Aggression, or basically just acting like a jerk.
And all the different ways we try to get Radical Candor right, but we accidentally get it wrong. I think this show manages to do that, and thanks to the hilarious cast, including David Alan Grier, you’re laughing as you’re learning.
Comedy enhances the effectiveness of feedback conversations by making the learning process enjoyable, breaking down barriers, providing clear examples of dos and don'ts, and creating relatable scenarios that teams can learn from.
We get a lot of questions about feedback role play scenarios and which ones people should use to practice their feedback skills. I love roleplaying on the podcast and often take on the role opposite of how I generally behave.
Feedback role play scenarios are not only one of the most effect fun feedback exercises, they're also an excellent way to practice and refine feedback skills within your team. Here are some scenarios you can use to create practical and engaging exercises:
One team member plays a boss who excessively micromanages, stifling the team's growth. The other plays a concerned employee who needs to address the issue with clear examples of how the micromanaging behavior affects team performance and morale.
A team member repeatedly misses deadlines, impacting the project's progress. The feedback giver must discuss the issue kindly and clearly, highlighting the importance of meeting deadlines and offering support to improve time management skills.
Have one team member play a role where they achieved something significant, and another give specific and sincere praise. This scenario helps practice providing meaningful praise that reinforces good performance.
One person plays an employee who disrupts meetings with off-topic comments. The other person needs to provide kind and clear feedback about staying on topic and respecting team members' time while encouraging relevant contributions.
A team member's work quality has declined, and another needs to offer criticism. The feedback should be clear, focusing on specific areas for improvement while showing personal care and offering help.
Two departments are struggling to communicate effectively. Team members role-play as leaders from each department, providing feedback on how miscommunications are affecting workflows and suggesting ways to improve collaboration.
One team member provides feedback to a peer about a professional growth area, such as improving presentation skills. The focus should be on offering actionable suggestions while maintaining respect and support.
One person consistently performs well but feels underappreciated. The feedback giver practices recognizing their contributions without necessarily linking it to promotions, highlighting the value of their stability and reliability.
Role plays like these can create a safe environment for team members to practice delivering and receiving feedback effectively, using the principles of Radical Candor. Encourage participants to reflect on the exercise afterward to discuss what worked well and what could be improved.
The Radical Candor Practice Playbook is a valuable resource to help you and your team practice giving and receiving feedback effectively by incorporating practical strategies and structured approaches. Here's how it can assist you in improving feedback conversations:
By following the guidelines and principles outlined in the feedback loop playbook, you can make feedback conversations more effective, fostering a culture of Radical Candor that promotes growth, trust, and collaboration within your team.
Download the Practice Playbook >>
*This post was updated July 18, 2024.
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