Episode Overview

Theme:
In Moment 141, "The Truth About ‘Honest’ Feedback," host Martin G Moore draws on his decades of executive experience to tackle one of leadership's thorniest areas: providing genuine, valuable feedback. Moore explores why honest feedback is so rare, how corporate processes dilute its impact, and why there are times when even the most candid leader cannot tell you the whole truth. He offers practical advice for leaders and employees navigating feedback in complex organizational settings.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Rarity and Value of Genuine Feedback

• Moore opens with a candid admission: Despite formal review processes, consistent, quality feedback from leaders is exceptionally scarce.

  "I've come to realise how rare it actually is to find a leader who gives consistent, high quality feedback." — Martin G Moore (00:32)

• Formal reviews are inadequate:
  Corporate performance reviews are often “time consuming, expensive and highly subjective.” (00:40) For feedback to matter, it must be ingrained in the daily culture and routine of the team — not just a box-ticking exercise.

2. The Power of Continuous Feedback Cultures

• Feedback should be frequent and natural:
  In high-performing teams, feedback “happens spontaneously,” addressing issues, offering praise, or confronting underperformance as needed.

  "Feedback’s just a natural part of the team dynamics." (01:21)

• Trust and honesty thrive:
  When feedback is normalized, it “tends to be honest and direct... at least it’s delivered with the right intent.” (01:35)

3. Why Some Feedback Is Crafted (Not Honest)

• Corporate realities constrain openness:
  Leaders often resort to “crafted messaging” in situations like redundancies, promotions, or terminations (01:55).
  Example: During restructures, companies are legally and ethically bound to disconnect structural changes from performance management, making honest feedback impossible.

• Redundancy scenarios:

  “One of the things about redundancies and retrenchments is that if you’re making decisions that are ostensibly about structure, you can’t pollute those decisions by talking about performance.” (02:21)
  Leaders use careful planning to ensure weaker performers are let go, but performance can’t be explicitly discussed once a structural redundancy process is underway.

4. When Not to Seek Feedback

• Don’t ask after big corporate actions:
  If you’re made redundant, overlooked for a promotion, or terminated “for convenience,” it’s pointless to seek feedback.

  “Your boss is going to be obliged to follow the script and even if he's good at giving feedback, he won’t be able to disclose any of the details that might actually be useful to you. That could just open the company up to legal risk and no smart leader is going to do that.” (03:02)

• Moore’s direct guidance:

  • Don’t expect the truth in these moments; legal risks and corporate policy prevent it.
  • For deeper insight, Moore points listeners to a related full episode: “Your boss is probably lying to you” (Episode 327).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On cultural feedback norms:

  “In continuous feedback cultures, the conversations are so frequent that they're usually pretty relaxed and there's very little fear involved on either side of the conversation.” — Martin G Moore (00:58)

• On honest feedback vs reality:

  “There are many circumstances, though, where leaders resort to crafted messaging rather than giving you genuine feedback.” (01:52)

• On asking for feedback after redundancy:

  “There's absolutely no point in asking for feedback. Your boss is going to be obliged to follow the script.” (02:52)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:24 — Introduction to the importance and rarity of honest feedback
• 00:58 — Description of healthy, continuous feedback cultures
• 01:52 — Explanation of why and when leaders can’t give real feedback
• 02:21 — Example: Redundancies and the barriers to candor
• 02:52 — Advice on why not to ask for feedback post-redundancy
• 03:12 — Reference to related deep-dive episode for further learning

Summary Takeaway

Martin G Moore pulls no punches: While honest feedback is the lifeblood of high-performing teams, its existence is threatened by both cultural deficiency and corporate realities. Leaders and team members alike must recognize the limits of candor within the system — and learn both when feedback is meaningful and when it’s, by necessity, a scripted exercise.

For anyone navigating corporate life, Moore’s message is clear: Seek continuous, genuine feedback where you can, but know when the structural realities mean the “truth” just isn’t on the table.