Feedback Forms = Bad Gear: Throw Them Away!

Episode notes

️ Episode Description If you need a form to tell someone how they're doing, you've already missed the moment. In this episode of the Northbound Podcast, Chris challenges one of the most common — and most ineffective — leadership tools in modern organizations: feedback forms. While forms promise structure and safety, they often drain feedback of what actually makes it work — presence, trust, and human connection. Using the trail as a metaphor once again, Chris explains why broken gear slows you down in the backcountry and how broken feedback processes do the same thing in leadership. Transformational leaders don't hide behind paperwork or checklists. They give feedback in real time, face to face, when it actually matters — and they document it after the human moment, not instead of it. If your feedback process feels heavy, awkward, or ineffective, it might be time to throw it away.