Christiane Drha is a sales manager at Union Investment (Privatfonds GmbH). In her "Courage is good!" story, she asks herself whether it's okay to give feedback to a managing director. You can find the answer here!
"Is it okay to give feedback to the managing director? People often talk about an open feedback culture in companies or teams, but at the end of the day, is it really?
During an internal sales event, I approached him and asked if I could give him a hint before his part. It was a small request, a filler word that likes to creep in rhetorically in his talks. I could observe this in sales for years in his lectures. It was not infrequently a topic of conversation internally and I wondered if it had been shared with him before. This year I wanted to tell him so that he would have the chance to improve it, if he wanted to. And so I did: appreciatively I shared my tip with him.
Then came his appearance and I myself was curious whether he would use fewer filler words. At the same time, the first doubts arose in me: How did I formulate the request? Was it appreciative enough? What will he think of me now?
He entered the stage and started his contribution very differently than all the years before. He wanted to say "thank you" at this point. He spoke of a successful distribution year, a unique culture and the people sitting here in the room right now. And then he said: "Before we look at our goals for this year, I would like to say thank you. Thank you, Christiane, for giving me feedback just now!" He also briefly mentioned that in the future it will be even more important that we are open in our communication and also address critical points or points that need improvement. This is the only way we can remain fit for the future and improve. We should definitely expand our open communication, which is why he was more than grateful for my advice.
Bam! Did that really just happen? It felt like around 260 sales people were looking at me. Appreciation and a "keep it up" live and direct from the stage from the CEO to me. I had not expected that!
At the end of his speech, he actually used his filler word significantly less. Experienced sales people came up to me during the break and wanted to know what I had said to him. That remained our little secret in parts and I had achieved two goals at the end of the day: I had proved COURAGE and TEAM SPIRIT and therefore gained APPRECIATION . I had also increased my VISIBILITY for that day."
Christiane's conclusion:
Trust yourself and your gut feeling! If you have a thought, act on it and don't "think it through". Be brave and speak up, because your voice is valuable!
Dear Christiane, thank you for your inspiring and encouraging story!
