How to build a Feedback driven culture and why it matters

Disclaimer: “The views stated here are my own, not those of my company.”

Everyone is talking about it, everyone thinks it is important and that it is a gift. But why feedbacks matter? And how to build a culture around it?

In my personal opinion, an optimal feedback culture cannot properly be started without satisfying six basic elements:

1. Feedbacks are delivered to anyone by everyone, no matter the level or the direction. It can indeed flow from managers to reports, but also vice-versa and at different "skip" levels. Ideally a new joiner in a Company can even provide feedback to a Director(in fact, wise Directors seek feedback from all the levels and directions). The assumption here is that everybody in the organization can hold or formulate specific bits of information that can enhance the existing stock of institutional knowledge.
2. Clarify Channels through which feedbacks will be delivered. Especially in an early stage of feedback implementation, an anonymous channel might help a lot of those people that might feel not comfortable in sharing feedbacks upward. In time, however, with growing perceived team psychological safety, other Direct channels will be used more and more. Direct Channel (not anonymous) might be face2face, via mail, or in the context of regular 1:1s.
3. The team can provide feedback in the context of a strict No Retaliation policy. It means that even the boldest feedback will not be used against the person providing it.
4. Feedbacks are Process related, Specific & Constructive: they do not focus on the Outcome (Good / Bad) but on how the Recipient can improve. E.g. "I think this specific Task or Behavior can be improved/changed/stopped by doing X instead of Y, providing, therefore, a better benefit/Impact as defined by Z. What do you think?".
5. They are delivered Real-Time & transparently to the person interested. When providing feedback, it is better to do it as soon as possible. This way the recipient can evaluate it, and steer the wheel if needed before it is too late.
6. It is done Continuously but without a specific Goal/Metric to do so: in other words habits create a culture. However, the culture should arise naturally, and once People feel they are valued and appreciated for sharing what they think. I personally believe there is very limited value in setting a Target or Reward for providing feedback (e.g. N of minimum feedbacks per month), as it might create a culture of providing feedback for the sake of it.

Once defined the perimeter of a Feedback Driven Culture, the benefits can be many:

• It is Efficient. With a feedback-driven culture, information spread easily around the organization, and, depending on the speed, it provides people with critical insights and opportunities to do even better and to adapt to changing circumstances.
• It increases Trust. If teams are comfortable in sharing feedback and see no retaliation, they will hopefully become more and more comfortable in sharing what they think. It is however important that you stress the fact that each feedback should be specific and process-related, with an agreed Action Item to follow (if any). Of course, people must be convinced that no retaliation is in place, so practice and consistency in time might help in this sense. As said above, in the beginning an anonymous tool can be provided for people to submit feedback.
• It expands on Growth opportunities as individuals, professionals, and as a Team. Feedback is no more than pieces of information that are transmitted between individuals and sometimes teams. Why wait for an informal survey? Why wait for another round of formal information gathering? Business moves fast, and you should do so. It also provides both individual contributors and managers with the opportunity to grow as individuals and professionals.
• It is about fostering a culture of Responsibility. Each person learns that valuable pieces of information should be communicated, as releasing them might increase the overall knowledge and efficiency within the organization.

The best is always to start with small experiments, and then iterate. Fine-tune the outcome, and then expand to the whole department. Wonders will follow!