Formula 2+2: The Simple Solution for Successful Coaching

In today’s fast-paced business environment, frequent feedback and “course correction” is absolutely vital. But about the only time most managers offer employees feedback is during scheduled (and generally infrequent) performance appraisals, which tend to be stiff, formal, and—whether intentionally or not—adversarial, and therefore ineffective. Formula 2+2 offers a simple yet powerful approach to revolutionizing feedback conversations. It details the five secrets of effective feedback:

Timeliness
Balance
Focus
Specificity
Follow-up

Formula 2+2 shows how to foster a culture of continuous feedback which increases the effectiveness of the manager, protects the spirit and dignity of employees, and provides a systematic approach to reinforcing and improving employee performance.

Douglas B. Allen is associate professor of management at the University of Denver Daniels College of Business. He is also a guest professor at Renmin (People’s) University Business School in Beijing, China, and a visiting professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. He received his doctorate from the University of Michigan, a masters of business administration from Harvard, and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Zimbabwe.
Previously, Doug worked as a human resource management specialist at Chrysler World Headquarters and as an international placement consultant at the Bahá’í National Center. He has consulted with and conducted training programs for many organizations, including Amoco, Boeing, Chrysler, General Electric, Honeywell, Nokia (China), and Tata (India).
Doug has published articles and makes frequent presentations on management in China, globalization, human resource management, and cross-cultural and diversity issues, as well as the 2+2 feedback system to a wide variety of conferences and organizations. He has made thirty visits to China and has lived, traveled, and/or worked in over forty-five other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Dwight W. Allen is Eminent Scholar of Educational Re- form at Old Dominion University and has developed educational reform initiatives for more than forty years. At Stanford University he was director of teacher education and helped develop an award-winning internship program. As dean of education at the University of Massachusetts he helped develop over twenty simultaneous teacher training programs to explore the relative efficacy of a variety of theoretical models, one winning an award as the outstanding program of the year from the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. At Old Dominion University he cofounded the PRIME program in Norfolk Public Schools involving many systemic change initiatives focused on teacher empowerment. He has served as a consultant to more than one hundred national, state, and local school authorities.
Dwight has worked with UNESCO, where he was found- ing chief technical advisor for the first National Teacher Training College in Lesotho and was technical advisor for in-service teacher training programs in Malawi and Namibia. It was in Namibia that the idea for 2+2 was first developed. For the past eleven years, he has served with the United Nations Development Program as chief technical advisor and international ad- visor for the largest UNDP education programs in China.
Dwight is the author of nine books on educational reform and teacher education, the latest of which is American Schools: The 100 Billion Dollar Challenge (with Bill Cosby). He has visited China over twenty times and has lived, worked, and/or traveled in over sixty countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.