Management and Leadership Are Tiny Taps on the Wheel

This month, our Esteemed MBA students are learning about one of the most important practices in management and leadership: giving effective feedback.

Feedback is the daily discipline of great managers. It’s how we shape behavior, develop people, and sustain high-performing teams. But there’s a simple analogy that ties both management and leadership together: Tiny taps on the wheel.

The Manager’s Steering Wheel

I often tell managers that they should give feedback at the same frequency they make small adjustments to a steering wheel while driving.

You would never hold a steering wheel perfectly still, because the road always curves. Similarly, a manager can’t stay silent and expect the team to stay in its lane. Tiny taps — frequent, specific feedback — keep people aligned and on course.

If you wait until the last possible moment to yank the wheel, the correction is jarring. It’s the equivalent of shouting, overreacting, or giving vague, emotional feedback after weeks of silence. Those moments leave scars.

Three Keys to Effective Feedback

1. Be specific.
Managers manage behaviors, not results.

A baseball manager doesn’t coach the scoreboard. They coach the swing, the stance, the focus. They ask, “Are you taking batting practice? Seeing the coach? Afraid of the ball?” The same principle applies in business.

When giving feedback, describe the specific behavior you observed, not the attitude you think caused it. We give feedback to change future behavior, not to punish past mistakes.

Example:

“When you arrived 15 minutes late to the meeting, we had to restart the agenda and rush through the material.”
That’s clear, factual, and impossible to ignore.

Compare that to:

“You’re unprofessional and don’t respect people’s time.”
That’s an opinion, not feedback. And it’s easy to dismiss.

Specific feedback also matters when praising performance. Saying “Great report!” is lazy. Instead, say:

“Your financial analysis in the Q4 section was sharp and detailed. It helped clarify our expense trends.”
Specific praise reinforces the right behaviors.

2. Describe the impact.
Help your direct reports understand how their actions affect others.

Example:

“When you were late, we had to pause to catch you up, which shortened the discussion and cut into Q&A.”

Seeing the ripple effect is what changes behavior.

Avoid telling people how you feel. “It annoyed me when you were late” centers the feedback on the manager, not the mission. People may not care how you feel, but they will care how their behavior impacts the team, project, or customer.

3. Let them own the solution.
You don’t have to tell someone what to fix. Ask them.

Example:

“You were 15 minutes late, which caused us to rush the meeting. What can you do differently next time?”

Let them take responsibility for their own improvement. Ownership builds accountability far better than instruction.

Positive feedback follows the same formula:

“Your financial analysis in the TPS report was excellent. Keep it up.”

Give feedback like this five times a day, and you’ll have the foundation to lead teams of hundreds or thousands.

The Leader’s Helm

For leaders, “tiny taps on the wheel” takes on a broader meaning.

I ask CEOs to imagine themselves as the captain of a massive cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers. Their job is to constantly scan the horizon, searching for calm waters and spotting icebergs early.

When they see an obstacle miles ahead, a small adjustment is all it takes. A gentle turn of the wheel and the ship glides smoothly onto a new course. Most people on board won’t even notice.

But if the captain ignores the horizon and suddenly jerks the wheel at the last moment, chaos erupts below deck. People panic. Nobody knows what’s happening, only that the world is tilting.

In small teams — rowboats, if you will — you can make sharp turns. In large organizations, even a minor pivot requires foresight, planning, and communication.

The Lesson

Whether you’re leading a crew of five or steering a company of 50,000, the principle is the same:
Constant, specific, intentional adjustments. Tiny taps on the wheel.

Keep your eyes on the horizon.
Keep your hands on the wheel.
And never stop communicating.