How to Cultivate a Culture of Feedback

Emma King is Head of People at Costello Medical, a global medical communications business that operates in the UK, Singapore, China and the USA. Emma has been with the business during its growth from 60 UK-based employees to 400 global employees, now working in a hybrid and remote environment. She spoke to Appraisd about helping to maintain the organisation’s culture through feedback.

You can watch the full conversation with Emma here: https://www.appraisd.com/podcast/podcast-feedback

Training from the outset

To set expectations from the outset, all new hires and new managers are offered training on giving and receiving feedback. This covers types of feedback, the importance of developing feedback skills, and the organisation’s own process for feedback. As the organisation focuses on internal mobility, the aim is for new managers (who usually join at entry level), to get confident about feedback early on and carry that through their career at Costello.

Find out how feedback lands best

Based on the framework of Radical Candour , feedback at Costello Medical is brought into everyday conversations. Manager coaching explains the pitfalls of ‘ruinous empathy’ and the benefits of being radically candid – in a way that works for each employee – without diluting messages. Emma says it’s also important to ask people how they want to receive feedback, especially if someone is struggling to hear it. Would they like a 1:1? Or a heads up on email?

Employees want and expect timely feedback

Employees want and expect feedback that will help their progression; regularly, and in the moment. Sometimes that means multiple times a week. Emma believes this is essential to career development and that rather than being unkind to give constructive feedback, it’s unkind to withhold it! That’s because the sooner someone receives the message, the sooner they can act. Part of Costello’s training programme explains how to give feedback in the moment, rather than letting it stagnate.???

All year round 360

Costello Medical uses Appraisd to collect 360-degree feedback twice a year which is relayed to employees by their managers. As part of an initiative to give and receive 360 feedback all year round, Costello is working with Appraisd to make feedback more continuous and Emma’s team is also piloting sharing feedback directly with employees. Evolving the performance management process to match a company’s growth is just part of working with the team at Appraisd ????

Watch the full episode with Emma King

Enjoyed the highlights? Watch the full episode here: https://www.appraisd.com/podcast/podcast-feedback And, to learn more about Appraisd, talk to us ??