Feedback is essential for any team to grow and improve, but it can be challenging to deliver and receive it effectively in a remote setting. How can you create a feedback-friendly culture in your remote team, where everyone feels comfortable sharing and acting on constructive criticism? Here are some tips to help you foster a positive feedback loop in your virtual team.
The first step to creating a feedback-friendly culture is to set clear and consistent expectations for how, when, and why feedback will be given and received. You can do this by establishing a feedback policy or framework that outlines the purpose, frequency, format, and tone of feedback, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the giver and the receiver. For example, you can use a simple model like SBI (Situation, Behavior, Impact) to structure your feedback, or adopt a tool like 360-degree feedback to gather input from multiple sources. You can also align your feedback with your team's goals, values, and performance indicators, and communicate them regularly.
Consider patience and empathy as the two most important traits to accept and understand feedback. I personally try to ask questions to establish what is being said and its context first, followed by simple questions like 'Can you please give me an example?' helps immensely separate perception from facts. Giving both the parties a lot of clarity of cause and possible ways of improvement. For remote teams there is nothing like overcommunication, I tend to keep a lot of communication channels open and make myself available. Also communicating in the classical Why, how and what framework helps a lot.
It is very important to empower your team to express themselves, so they are able to challenge the status quo if necessary for improvement. Many leaders today are still closed to the idea of changing, which is a fatal mistake. The team is the one receiving the direct heat and experiencing the ultimate obstacles to get the job done; Therefore, is them you need to listen to.
Communication with the team. Meet with each individual when possible, learn each person’s strengths and weakness. Keep all scheduled engagements, if you are not able to meet with the team or a team member reschedule, always provide updates. Share your thoughts and allow team members to share their experiences. Enable the team to be self-motivated and self-educated. Build a supportive environment geared toward leadership development and problem solving. Let the team know its value and create a culture where skills are recognized. Engage the team in new opportunities and focus on producing their best. Remote teams are still important and viable and ensuring your team understands their purpose ensures you have a strong team of leaders.
Emphasizing the purpose of feedback is crucial. It should be seen as a tool for growth, learning, and improvement rather than criticism. Highlighting the positive impact that effective feedback can have on personal and team development can encourage a more receptive attitude towards it. I also believe that, creating a feedback-friendly culture is an ongoing effort that requires commitment from leadership and active participation from all team members. It's about fostering an environment where learning and growth are valued, and feedback is a tool for continuous improvement.
I completely agree that the first step is to establish that feedback is part of the culture and policy of the organization for continuous improvement. Procedures should help build regular, formal, and trustworthy feedback both vertically and horizontally across the organization.
The second step to creating a feedback-friendly culture is to choose the most appropriate channel for delivering and receiving feedback, depending on the context, urgency, and sensitivity of the message. While written feedback can be useful for documenting and clarifying points, it can also be misinterpreted or ignored. Therefore, it is often better to use a video or audio call for feedback, as it allows you to convey your tone, body language, and emotions more clearly, and to have a two-way dialogue. You can also use a combination of channels, such as sending a summary email after a feedback call, or using a chat app for quick and informal feedback.
I understand there is never a better time than right now to provide the organization with meaningful feedback. Therefore, any tool be it live-messenger, email, blog, etc., is optimal for improvement. Once the topic has been brought up, the urgency and importance of the subject could be evaluated, but the matter is already on the table and, as a result, an opportunity to improve is unlikely to be missed.
Choosing the right channel matters. In my experience, feedback on something specific or technical can be provided through an email. However, feedback that involves a change in attitude should be delivered via an efficient audio and video channel.
Feedback is a two-way street. Unless you feel comfortable and open about receiving feedback, don't expect those around you to accept your feedback to them. It's always important to listen first without judgement or preconceived notions about the person, situation, and context. Don't be quick to response to feedback, think about it for a moment, let it sink in before responding with appreciation for the feedback given. Be sincere and positive. Feedback with subordinates should always be active and near-realtime to have impact. Formalized feedback should be in writing -- short, to the point, with examples that illustrate the feedback you are giving. Do it in a positive and encouraging way.
One thousand times, yes. Selecting the best channel requires a level of emotional intelligence that many good managers already have - the trick is building the habit of discreetly evaluating each opportunity for feedback to decide how it will be best received or most effective. While you're learning what works best for you and your team, creating loose rules or "buckets" can be useful in choosing the right channel. Keep in mind, the most important part is to effectively communicate the issue or request, whatever the medium, so be willing to adjust as needed. If your default is email, but you still don't know how to put something in writing after your 3rd draft, make it a phone/zoom call instead.
The third step to creating a feedback-friendly culture is to embrace feedback as a gift, not as a threat. This means that you should adopt a growth mindset, where you see feedback as an opportunity to learn and improve, rather than as a personal attack or a sign of failure. You should also express gratitude and appreciation for the feedback you receive, and show that you are willing to act on it. Likewise, you should give feedback with the intention of helping and supporting your team members, not of judging or blaming them. You should also be respectful, specific, and constructive in your feedback, and avoid harsh or vague language.
I have learned, the hard way, that I shouldn't be the smartest guy in the room. When that happens, the organization is in trouble. So, as proactive leaders we should let people know that we are very open to discussing topics where deficiencies have been identified. The contributions, feedback and corrections from your subject-matter experts (SMEs) must be taken seriously. Active listening is key!
If I think of feedback-friendly culture, then listing, pointing, surfacing or making visible the other person's mistakes is an idea that must be moved away. An organizational culture linking feedback to mistakes, may not be in the best way to feedback-friendly culture. Therefore, the idea of embracing feedback as a gift can turns the tables in many positive ways for each individual involved: How did you pack and deliver the best gift you ever gave? How do you remember the best gift you ever received?
I believe it's a significant challenge that should be led by the visible leaders of the organization, setting an example of how to receive feedback. It would be exceptional to reach a point where taking feedback is seen as a gift.
I love receive constructive feedback because help me to grow, improve, and learn from my mistakes. It's an opportunity to gain different perspectives and enhance my skills. As the article mentions, it is important to express gratitude when someone provides constructive feedback. It not only shows your appreciation for their effort but also encourages open communication and a positive relationship. Gratitude can foster a supportive environment where people are more willing to provide feedback, ultimately benefiting your personal and professional growth.
It is important for a team to feel comfortable in giving and receiving feedback, understanding that everyone's personal and professional growth is at the heart of any feedback. There is a need to set the expectations that any feedback is for positive results, not for negative or discouraging results. I have approached this with sharing feedback that I have received from within the team (360 degree approach), and how I accepted and further encouraged that feedback. When sharing this across the team, the team became more growth minded as a unit as well as individually.
The fourth step to creating a feedback-friendly culture is to ask for and offer feedback regularly, not just during formal reviews or when problems arise. By making feedback a part of your daily or weekly routine, you can build trust and rapport with your team members, and create a habit of continuous learning and improvement. You can also use different types of feedback, such as positive, negative, or developmental, to balance praise and criticism, and to motivate and challenge your team members. Moreover, you can use feedback as a way to celebrate successes and achievements, as well as to identify areas for improvement.
it doesnt matter if its for a team member or your own manager or your manager’s boss etc, the feedback should be vice versa; no ones grew so well without failures/mistakes they prioritized to work on.
The key is to build the habit of regular practice. You can start by reminding everyone that feedback can also be positive reinforcement. As long as it is specific and on-the-spot, this serves to build the feedback muscle. Even small :"How you kept on saying 'us', 'we' during the meeting increased our chances through this tough negociation meeting with our partners"
One thing I've found helpful while providing feedback is to provide specific examples of the behavior the person demonstrated. I explain why I believe the behavior demonstrates a valuable skill.
Positive feedback is what keeps organizational environment moving on a productive and top-performing path. As long as there is a well-defined mechanism to frame the feedback process, the outcome of this best practice should be always positive.
I agree. Having the confidence to ask for/give feedback in any necessary situation will expedite the correction or improvement of our work.
The fifth step to creating a feedback-friendly culture is to follow up on feedback, both as a giver and a receiver. As a receiver, you should show that you have understood and accepted the feedback, and that you have taken action to implement it. You can also ask for clarification or support if needed, or share your progress or results with the giver. As a giver, you should check in with the receiver to see how they are doing, and to provide further guidance or encouragement if needed. You can also acknowledge their efforts or outcomes, and give them more feedback as they grow.
I agree, this should be a two-way street scenario. As you receive feedbacks, you take actions to improve and ask for further feedbacks about outcomes. Same applies when you are the one giving feedback, it is your duty to monitor the development of any previous agreements between you and your collaborators.
This piece of performance management is often lost in the sauce, but it's a huge opportunity to help your employee grow! Develop a system that helps track & plan what feedback you're giving, when its given, and when to circle back. Then follow up relatively soon, ideally within a week or two, to keep the conversation open and active. Checking in reminds employees you are paying attention and care about how they're doing. It keeps their areas for improvement on your radar without nervous hovering or micromanaging. Feedback & coaching are most effective over an extended period of time. It's worth taking notes and following up. Bonus points: When giving feedback, set the expectation THEN to check in soon to see how it's going. Then do it!
The sixth step to creating a feedback-friendly culture is to encourage feedback from others, not just from within your team. You can do this by seeking feedback from your customers, clients, partners, or stakeholders, and by sharing it with your team. You can also invite external experts, mentors, or coaches to give feedback to your team, or to facilitate feedback sessions. By doing this, you can gain new perspectives and insights, and expose your team to different styles and sources of feedback. You can also learn from best practices and benchmarks, and enhance your team's reputation and credibility.
Using Feedback is a powerful management for teams and inviduals. Celebrating success should be done in a group or audience to spark motivation. Giving advice for improvement is easier for personal face to face meetings, but can be also efficective in virtual 1-2-1 meetings. Last year I have asked my team for feedback about me as manager and the answers were really helpful for me. I gave them a week to prepare and asked to be really transparent. The results of this mirroring helped my personal development, but your leadership style needs to resonate with it. Obvisiouly such an exercise should be done in a more quiet period and not during 'crunch time' of big projects.
In my opinion, this tracking could be reserved for scheduled feedback only – the kind that requires a change or action to be taken. This way, we don't complicate the management process.
I recommend to encourage your team to ask for feedback proactively to other person after completing a project or task. You want to move away from generic feedback.
When the openness of receiving feedback begins at the top, and the team sees how the manager has accepted and taken feedback sincerely and seriously, the team will respond and organically encourage feedback. Time should be given during team meetings to solicit team feedback. "How are we doing as a team?" "What can we do better as a team?" A team that is open to feedback will respond with incredibly great ideas and thoughts -- the team will grow.
Managing virtual teams can be challenging and easy. It takes a lot of work by the manager to develop relationships across the team and organization. Honesty, credibility and follow-through are important. Use opportunities to visit remote team members as a time to bond and build the inter-personal relationship, not the business relationship.
Work well on yourself to provide good feedback. The friendly culture must start with me. Is there such thing as bad feedback? Yes. This can go within the concept of a person weaknesses and actual strengths. Let's set a sport analogy: think about a sport which needs people in defense and to score, get the name of the all times best in scoring points and try to provide feedback to that person for not being the best defender in the team; the feedback is not constructing on the person strengths, or worst it is not actionable. We can ask ourselves: Is this feedback: timely, relevant, with compassion and honest care about a positive impact in the receiver's strengths? Is it actionable?
So we've talked about setting expectation, 'Channels' and about following up. One more aspect is Timing. I am not just saying set aside specific times to feedback team members (though for routine discussions of KPIs or particular customers a regularly scheduled time is a good idea). When I say timing I mean finding out what is going on with that team member so you can deliver the feedback when it will best be received, that might mean delaying feedback even as you work through an urgent matter with the team member; hold the actual feedback for a better time. On the other hand; if my Team Lead and I are fixing a situation I realize I might be receiving feedback but should feel comfortable saying 'Boss this ain't the time, here's why.'
To remove this struggle about remote feedback, address this by co-creating team working principles that incorporate the behavioral norms, including feedback. Here is what our 'Team Working Principles' look like on the section about feedback : - Feedback is foundational. We give and request it often, on a timely manner (asap), in a structured, actionable way (e.g. SAINT model), with continuous improvement in mind. Except for clarifying questions, the only answer we say when we receive feedback is ‘Thank You’. - We will tell each other if feedback is too vague or not actionable enough. - We won’t shy away to give feedback, no matter how uncomfortable this might get. - We won’t take it personally and should always assume positive intention.
One thing I found helpful in creating a more connected team while working in a global-virtual environment was to unite the team through shared experiences or values. Each team member would take on the "lead" role for a team session and share a cultural or local event they had been involved in and the other team members would align to similarities in their own events. Highlighting the similarities across the team members diluted the differences. This brought a human side to the team and showed how small the world really is, compared to the physical miles between each of the members. It also was extremely interactive and created bonding across the miles/team.