Feedback is a powerful tool for learning and improvement, but it can also be used to foster a culture of sustainability and social responsibility in your organization. In this article, you will discover how to use feedback to align your team with your values, engage your stakeholders, and measure your impact.
Sustainability and social responsibility are not just buzzwords or compliance issues, they are essential for creating long-term value and positive change in the world. However, to achieve these goals, you need to have a clear vision, a shared understanding, and a continuous learning process. Feedback can help you with all of these aspects by providing you with information, insights, and suggestions that can improve your performance, your relationships, and your outcomes.
Absolutely important to have a close loop on the efforts made for sustainability and social responsibility. This is where constructive feedback matters. Data driven impact feedback derived from quantitative and qualitative matrices are often useful to strengthen sustainability and social responsibility initiatives. Absence of same will lead to inefficient use of resources for the efforts.
Feedback in the form of Affirmations or Coach Ups is key to a team member's continuous journey of growth. The key when giving feedback is that the feedback needs to be based upon a standard and not just an individual's personal opinion or perspective. Feedback that is NOT grounded in a standard is frankly just "my preference" and that is opposite of supporting a team member to achieve their highest and best. High Achievement Leaders recognize this and are disciplined in giving feedback and NOT opinion.
It's important to stay connected to the community you serve. You cannot be relevant if you are not connected to the community. People love to share their opinions, needs, desires about your services. We are about to embark on another community needs assessment and are looking at ways to engage the community through town hall meetings, surveys, pop up questions in various locations and much more. We do patient satisfaction surveys, measure our impact in the community, and more. We see our role as meeting the needs of our community, even if every program isn't profitable, but is the right thing to do.
Sustainability and Social Responsibility are very emotive subjects which mean different things to different people. Striving to achieve your personal goal or your companies goals for these areas might not mean that your colleague/peer or friend views this direction in the same way that you do. As such, feedback is absolutely critical, communication is key such that there are shared goals and direction in order to understand what sustainability and social responsibility means not only to all of us but more importantly to each of us and how we individually can take pride and ownership of these critical areas.
Feedback plays a role, in the realm of sustainability and social responsibility. Here are some key aspects to consider; 1. Feedback holds organizations for their actions and commitments. 2. Collecting feedback from different stakeholders assists in aligning sustainability efforts with their needs and expectations. 3. Feedback enables organizations to adapt to changing circumstances emerging issues and evolving practices. 4. Valuable feedback can ignite innovation by shedding light on areas that require solutions or approaches.
To build a culture of sustainability and social responsibility, it's important to ensure that your team is on the same page with your values and expectations. Feedback can help communicate your vision, clarify standards, and reinforce behaviors. You can use feedback to recognize and reward team members demonstrating your values in action, as well as provide constructive and specific feedback to those who need to improve their alignment. Additionally, it's beneficial to solicit feedback from your team members on how they perceive your values, experience your culture, and suggest ways to enhance alignment.
Research has found (per @ Marcus Buckingham) that the most impactful tool is a weekly one on one with your manager and direct report. Make this weekly check- in a non negotiable. Questions to ask are: what is going well? What are you having trouble? Where do you need help? How can I help?
To align your team with your values using feedback, start by clearly defining your organization's values and collecting feedback from team members. Analyze the feedback for alignment with these values and prioritize areas for improvement. Engage in open communication with your team, set clear expectations, involve them in solutions, and create action plans to address areas of misalignment. Continuously monitor progress, celebrate successes, and adjust your approach as needed to foster a values-driven work environment.
Open communication is the key here! Having courage to seek feedback is crucial. Defining the values of the organization in a collaborative way ensures that everyone's views are heard and then aligned. All the leaders need to know the values of the organization as their decisions will be based on this. Our thoughts need to be oriented based on the values, thoughts get reflected in our behaviours and then in actions. That's why everyone's values - which can be different from the organization's - need to be aligned and be on the same page with respect to expectations and decisions.
When you provide feedback you are giving others a perspective they may not be aware of. Now that doesn't mean feedback should be negative, derogatory, or offensive. It should be honest, empathetic, and factually based and from your perspective, not right or wrong. The individual receiving it should also have the opportunity to respond in terms of their thoughts and reflection in terms of what is shared.
I strongly believe that leaders have a crucial responsibility to proactively communicate their vision and values, ensuring that each and every team member comprehends the significance of these principles in relation to the team's goals and daily operations. The creation of your team vision and what they value cannot be done in a silo as it requires their buy-in for it to be successful. Feedback should be delivered promptly and effectively when a team member does not align with the agreed-upon goals. It should be actionable and provide valuable insights for improvement. I also recommend that you provide a clear explanation regarding what specific aspect is out of alignment, as well as the reasons why it holds significant importance.
Engaging your stakeholders is a key step for building a culture of sustainability and social responsibility. Feedback from customers, partners, suppliers, the community, and society can help you understand their needs, expectations, and satisfaction. You can ask for feedback through surveys, interviews, or focus groups. It's important to respond to their opinions by acknowledging them, addressing their concerns, and implementing their recommendations via social media, newsletters, or reports. Involving feedback from stakeholders in your decision-making, strategy, and innovation is also beneficial; this can be done through co-creation, consultation, or collaboration methods.
Responding to feedback is a vital, and often overlooked, part of this process. Too often an organization will request feedback on services or projects and while they may or may not use that feedback , the respondents never receive word. Letting those whose opinions you have solicited know the outcomes provides continued engagement.
A feedback culture needs to be something that is adopted at all levels, encouraged, and demonstrated. Again this doesn't mean it should be negative, feedback can also be positive. Good feedback should make the individual feel as if insight they weren't previously aware of for personal development. It can be both encouraging as well as developmental.
Utilizing feedback to engage your stakeholders is akin to playing the Game of Thrones with your audience. Just as characters in Westeros engage in complex political maneuvering, involve your stakeholders in your sustainability and social responsibility efforts. Encourage them to voice their opinions, concerns, and expectations, much like negotiating alliances with various houses. Listen attentively to their feedback and use it to shape your strategies and actions, similar to adjusting your political moves based on changing loyalties. By making your stakeholders active participants in your sustainability journey, you can secure their support and loyalty, just as skillful players secure allies in the Game of Thrones.
It is important to seek and listen to the feedback of both the internal and external stakeholders. We can engage a qualified professional to have conversations with the stakeholders and to summarise the feedback. This gives a personal touch and the stakeholders feel seen, heard and understood. Summary of the feedback will be without mentioning who said what, as the contents are more important. Also seek feed forward to get ideas about how the stakeholders perceive ways of implementation. Then create a plan of action and communicate this plan to the stakeholders involved.
Receiving and giving feedback are crucial for personal growth and impacting those around you. Throughout my career, I have consistently sought feedback, whether through direct channels or anonymous surveys, with the sole aim of fostering personal growth and empowering my team to excel. I always make a point to request feedback from individuals with whom my interaction may not have been ideal. Our perception shapes our reality, and I firmly believe that any feedback they give me will significantly improve our relationship when I act upon it, even if I may not necessarily agree with it.
The final step to build a culture of sustainability and social responsibility is to measure your impact, both internally and externally. Feedback can help you to evaluate your progress, your results, and your contributions. You can use feedback to collect data from your team on their goals, challenges, and growth, as well as from stakeholders on how you are meeting their needs. Furthermore, you should share this feedback with your organization and audience through dashboards, presentations, or testimonials. Feedback is not only a way to learn and improve, but also a way to build a culture of sustainability and social responsibility. By using feedback to align with values, engage stakeholders, and measure impact, you can create a positive and lasting legacy for your organization and the world.
Measuring your impact through feedback requires a structured approach. Begin by defining clear objectives and collecting relevant feedback from stakeholders or those affected by your initiatives. Design effective feedback mechanisms tied to measurable metrics and key performance indicators. Analyze the data, considering both quantitative and qualitative insights, and if applicable, make comparisons before and after implementing your efforts. Regularly review your process, communicate your findings transparently, and use the feedback to make informed improvements. Set new goals based on your insights to ensure a continuous cycle of impact assessment and enhancement, ultimately helping you achieve your objectives more effectively.
Collection of data on the progress is the key here to measure the impact of the actions taken based on the feedback and feed forward. While taking the feedback, ask the stakeholders where they perceive us to be on a scale of 1 to 10. After sharing the action plan and subsequent implementation, do ask for feedback again after say 6 months and ask them to rate our progress in each of the action points on a scale of 1 to 10. This helps us to measure the impact of our progress.
To gauge the efficacy of our sustainability initiatives, we established key performance indicators (KPIs) and solicited feedback from both team members and external stakeholders. We tracked this data on a dedicated dashboard, shared quarterly updates, and welcomed input for continual improvement. This feedback-driven approach not only helped us fine-tune our actions but also promoted a culture deeply rooted in sustainability and social responsibility.
Measuring your impact is crucial for keeping your team motivated and moving forward, especially when you are a mission driven organization. We provide offer free dental care for children. You have to LOVE what we do because there are some tough days. Measuring impact is vital when working with funders because they want to hear your stories. How is the money they have provided being used and how is it making a difference in the lives of others? And finally, measuring the impact of what you are doing matters to the communities you serve. We provide schools with a "report card" of dental health at their school and the dollar value of the free services we provide. You can get creative with infographics and pictures on social media.
Being mindful of how often you are asking people for feedback is important. Survey fatigue can dilute the value of information necessary to gain actionable insights. Are we asking the same people all the time? Asking the same questions? Asking questions that don’t provide actionable insight? Finding we’re unable to act on feedback provided? In order to promote a feedback culture, others must see our efforts as strategic. Spend more time developing that than on the dashboards.
I believe we should instead of feedback encourage feedforward ?? This means that instead of asking our people to give feedback about what already happened, to give feedforward about innovative ideas how to improve the future ??
I would like to highlight three aspects - firstly, most often feedback is considered as an input for improvement or change. However, most people miss providing the acknowledgment, appreciation - a crucial feedback element. When team members know that their actions have met or exceeded standards, and the specifics of that - they are propelled to learn from those experiences as much. Secondly, the value of real time feedback in building cultures of trust, transparency and building innovative ideas with each other with speed, over feedback kept for performance appraisals etc, is so much more. Finally, seeking feedback is as important as giving feedback as it creates a relational space of courage - so essential for any change to take place.
Teams don't share their thoughts with leaders who haven't cultivated safe spaces. You cannot expect honest feedback if (1) the only time you ask for feedback is during a formal review process or after failure (2) you are not accessible (3) you never implement the feedback that you are given. THe feedback process begins and ends with good leadership.
From my exerience If you ask an honest question in an honest way then you can expect to receive an honest (and usefull) answer. Let's go dipper. If you start to honestly ask questions and to talk with employees about problems, they will feel it. They will open themselves. They will see that you are honest to build a culture of sustainability and social responsibility, and even more, to give your own example. For example: They say: "Manager "A" don't behave in a professional way towards employees." Your move should be to resolve that "feedback". If you start to resolve "their" problems, there will be more usefull feedbacks and, hence, a better culture. In other words, building of a culture of sustainability and social responsibility.