It was back in the early 1980s that Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson in their book, The One Minute Manager, described feedback as "The Breakfast of Champions". Delivered well with care and positive intent, feedback can inspire us and help us access our full potential. Many of us, however, will be able to cite experiences of feedback (both delivered and received) when the impact has not been motivational.

Creating the environment and readiness for effective communication in the workplace is a critical leadership skill for people, whatever role they perform. For a team to achieve optimal performance, all members of the team carry the responsibility to hold themselves and each other to account for fulfilling their role. Being able to deliver strong messages of support and of expectation with clarity and respect for colleagues is a skill to be developed and nurtured for all aspiring leaders.

Glenn Devey presents a range of strategies to help us in this development. His engaging style, his authentic appreciation of the challenges this presents, and his enthusiastic encouragement to us all make this book a very accessible and enjoyable read.

He draws on his own experiences with a refreshing honesty, and his highly developed coaching and mentoring skills are in evidence as he encourages us to think for ourselves and work things out through experience as opposed to calling on us to simply take his word for it.

Looking back at my own experiences in managing and leading others, I recognize that I would have benefitted from knowing the techniques and approaches Glenn explores. Glenn's prompts for good practices have been a very helpful reminder for me, and I'm sure they will be helpful ideas for everyone working and interacting with others.

Mike Hurley

Director of Intuition Discovery and Development Ltd.

September 2013