Two Piers Digest 💫 - Feedback as a Leadership Practice 🎃
Hello, First name / friend,
First of all, Happy Halloween! 🎃
This month, we’ve been exploring one core leadership capability: feedback as a trust-building practice. As leaders engage in performance conversations and planning cycles, we’re reminded that feedback, when done well, is not criticism, but an act of investment, clarity, and belief.
And since it is the spookiest time of year, it seems an appropriate time to pull away the curtain on the most dreaded of topics: difficult conversations and telling the truth when it matters. 👻
In today's digest:
Coaches' Corner 🧭: Feedback As A Bridge 🌉
What We’re Reading 📚: Fostering A Feedback Culture 🌱
The Podcast 🔊: Communication As Connection and Equity 🤝
Where to Find Us 🗺️: Nesting After Conference Season 🪹
P.S. If you're getting this email, it's because you're one of the valued folks we've worked with, collaborated with, or connected with over the years. If it’s not your thing, feel free to unsubscribe at the bottom—no offense taken. But if you’re curious to stick around, we’re glad you’re here!
This time of year, many leaders brace themselves for performance conversations. And yet, feedback season is about more than forms, ratings, or year-end checklists. It’s an opportunity to invest in the growth and development of those who rely on us.
Too often, well-intentioned leaders default to the Golden Rule: “I’ll give feedback the way I would want to receive it.” And yet, skilled leadership entails understanding how others need to be supported to grow.
In this month’s article, we explore why the Golden Rule hinders development and why shifting to the Platinum Rule, i.e., “Treat others how they want to be treated,” creates environments where honesty and dignity coexist.
We dig into real-world leadership dynamics, including:
Why withholding feedback to “protect feelings” actually undermines trust and performance
How to deliver difficult messages as an act of investment, not critique
Questions leaders can use to approach feedback with clarity, humility, and curiosity
Why feedback is not just a message but rather a nervous system signal about safety and belief
Done well, feedback becomes a bridge instead of a verdict.
If you’re heading into performance cycles, planning conversations, or simply wanting to strengthen trust on your team, this one’s for you.
📚 Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative by GG Renee Hill
GG Renee Hill, a two-time guest on the Two Piers Podcast (on journaling and community), returns with this deeply reflective and practical guide. In Story Work, she argues that the stories we carry about our lives — the ones we absorb, retell, and believe — are neither fixed nor final. Through essays, prompts, and personal narrative, GG invites readers to reclaim their voice, refract their experience through curiosity rather than judgment, and treat life’s material as creative terrain not just for performance but for growth and dignity.
Whether you’re leading, coaching, writing, or simply turning the page on a new phase, this book offers a compass for self-discovery and conscious leadership.You can pre-order her book from Bookshop.org.
When people routinely ask for input rather than just offering it, it signals that the organization values learning more than perfection. This mindset shift models humility, normalizes vulnerability, and allows mistakes to become catalysts for growth rather than sources of shame.
A feedback-seeking culture requires modeling from leaders, rewarding the behavior, and embedding it into the everyday rhythm of work. It doesn’t happen by accident, only by intention.
Note: We link to Bookshop.org using affiliate links because they support not only our work but also local bookstores.
Annual Women Offshore Conference Erica facilitated a Sea Stories panel, amplifying experiences from mariners across the industry and strengthening community through storytelling, vulnerability, and shared learning.
ICF Converge - San Diego Three days of deep learning and connection with global coaching leaders and peers, exploring ethics updates, neuroscience, inclusive coaching frameworks, and emerging best practices in the profession. We've brought it all back to our clients, our students, and our community.
(Yes, three days surrounded by thousands of enthusiastic coaches… and yes, the introverted engineer made it home to the cats and chickens to recharge.)
📍 Where to Find Us Next
November — Strategic Planning + Local Connection This next month will include time to plan for 2026, deepen community roots here in Maine, and reset before a busy end to the year.
December — Massachusetts Conference for Women Look for Erica in the Coaches Corner, volunteering with ICF New England, and supporting women leaders across industries. The conference is already sold out, so it's sure to be a vibrant event!
We hope that everyone has had a successful spooky season, whatever that might look like for you. Don't forget to floss after all that candy, or, ehem, apples. 🎃
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Erica and the Two Piers Team
PO Box 554 Woolwich, Maine 04579-9998, United States
