How to Respond to Vague Feedback: Being More Collaborative (Part 1)

Understanding Vague Feedback

• 💡 When told to "be more collaborative," it often stems from behaviors that create barriers to communication, prevent work from moving, or make work more difficult for others.
• 🎯 It's crucial to remember that while you judge yourself by intent, others judge you by your observable behavior.
• 🔑 If you immediately recognize the behavior that prompted the feedback, apologize sincerely without defending yourself.

Barriers to Communication

• 🗣️ Not communicating at all is a primary barrier; assume you should overcommunicate rather than undercommunicate.
• ⚠️ If your boss expresses surprise at not being informed, it's a clear signal that your communication standards differ from theirs.
• 📧 Using the wrong communication medium (e.g., email when Slack is the team norm) or responding too slowly can also hinder communication.
• 📞 When written communication is misunderstood, escalate to verbal communication (phone calls, video chats) for better comprehension and nuance.
• 🗓️ While deep work is important, availability for meetings is essential for team productivity; sometimes personal work preferences must be sacrificed for the team's benefit.

Preventing Work from Moving

• 🏭 In knowledge work, work progresses through a series of dependencies, similar to a factory assembly line.
• 📌 Becoming a bottleneck occurs when you don't complete your part or fail to notify others when your task is done.
• 🚀 Simply updating a project plan is often insufficient; contemporaneous communication (e.g., a quick message) is vital to signal task completion to waiting colleagues.
• 📁 Moving or altering shared documents without clear communication can lead to confusion and halt progress, even if you believe it's an outdated version.