The Counseling Session: A Supervisor's Most Potent Tool

"What is the most feared word in business? Feedback. The most feared five words? Can I get some feedback? The most feared six words? I have some feedback for you."1 In this article, the author explains that, to improve communication and relationships between employees and supervisors, the aversion to face-to-face candor must be transformed. Noting that John Kenneth Galbraith has said, "All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: It was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership," the author offers a methodology to achieve Galbraith's paradigm.