Welcome back to the look and sound of leadership, an ongoing series of executive coaching tips,

designed to help you be perceived in the workplace the way you want to be perceived.

I'm Tom Henshiel, your executive coach, and today we're talking about giving upward feedback.

Julie wanted to give her boss, Zawena, some feedback.

Knowing Julie's devotion to Zawina, I was curious to hear the situation.

Julie said, she has this habit of thinking out loud in meetings,

and she'll say something like, we ought to look into the regulations on that,

and then she keeps talking.

Now, some of us think it's just, Waina, thinking out loud.

If she really wanted us to do anything, she would tell us.

But sometimes, a couple weeks later, she'll ask about whatever it was, and then someone, usually me, has to say,

"'Cheez, Weena, sorry, we didn't know we were supposed to do anything.

Yikes, I said with a little cringe.

How does that go over?

Well, sometimes she lets it go, but sometimes she throws a little fit, and people are angry about that.

They don't like her blaming them for a problem they think she created.

Are the angry folks asking you to give this feedback to Zouena?

No, no, they're not.

At least not yet.

I mean, I am closest to her.

If anyone's going to do it, it's going to be me.

But no, they're not asking.

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