Some People Only Respond to Thunder

Some team members are dense. 

Despite receiving the same feedback or message, it doesn’t seem to register with them. They don’t necessarily disagree with the feedback as much as they think it doesn’t matter or apply. They disregard what they hear as unimportant and without merit. They go back to what they were doing without even considering the suggestions, much less incorporating them into their plan of action.  

Team members who repetitively receive the same feedback but don’t acknowledge or act on it create a huge leadership challenge. For leaders, failing to get through to a team member can become tremendously frustrating. 

What can they do to break through? 

Regrettably, some people only respond to thunder. Thunder can be loud, highly expressive, firm, or insistent. What makes it thunder is the manner in which the feedback is emphasized, not the volume of the leader. 

Thunder emphasizes and accentuates feedback in such a manner it cannot be ignored or avoided. When the leader has the full attention of the team member, the lightning of feedback finally exerts the influence it needs to.  

In addition to raising the actual volume of a given message, consider a few other examples of thunderous intensity:

• Asking a team member to arrive at an unusual time or location to discuss the feedback 

• Sharing written and candid feedback from a host of colleagues and asking them to read it out loud 

• Requesting the team member take the day off and reflect on what has been said 

• Suggesting the team member take the time to think about the feedback by skipping the next meeting or discussion 

• Insisting the team member take notes as to what is being said 

• Requiring the team member to apologize to others for not accepting the feedback 

Thunder sends a loud message, even when the volume level remains low. It comes in many forms, but it is always stern and unyielding. As unfortunate as it may be, some team members will fail to respond or act without it. 

Good leaders reserve the thunder of yelling for fires. There are many other more effective ways to create thunder. In the words of the writer Mark Twain, “Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.” 

For those hard-to-reach team members, the best leaders produce the thunder (emphasis) and the lightning (feedback) to get the job done.