When I used to run men’s retreats around the country, often for the first few hours of Sunday morning, I had little to do. My role was winding down, the staff and the co-leaders were handling the individual assignments and, other than formal feedback sessions with those who were aspiring to lead, I had nothing to do.

I walk up to one of the aspiring people, the one I saw who needed some tough love, and ask, “Do you have anything scheduled for the next 15-20 minutes? From there, we would go for a walk and talk.

“How do you think you did on the weekend?

“What did you do well?”

“What did you struggle with?”

“Where could you have done better?

I would listen to their self-evaluation carefully because sometimes they revealed something personal that allowed me to understand why something broke down for them.

We would stroll casually during this time, looking ahead, looking from sided to side. Walking and talking. I delivered some very tough love during those “walk and talks.” Now, I would also take someone who did extremely well on it, too.

As someone who leads, it is important to share yourself, listen and provide quality feedback to people. Walk and talks are a great way to do it where you get out of the formality and structure of the office and, metaphorically, pat them on the back or offer some tough feedback.

ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2300 episodes. He also hosts Job Search TV on YouTube, Amazon and Roku, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smart sets.

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Having The Difficult Conversation