Engagement Anywhere – Employee Feedback Processes and Systems. 1 of 2

Online employee research has been part of what I do for the past 15 years and to be honest, it hasn’t changed much during this time. Although over the past couple of years, I have been involved in some new and more flexible approaches.

The standard annual employee surveys have too often become somewhat of a routine exercise and are regarded by many employees and managers as a chore rather than adding insights and value, or being a catalyst for positive change.

Trust has to be earned and can’t be bought

Many years ago, I accompanied the research director of a well known HR agency as a technical consultant to the headquarters of a large UK corporation. The plan was to move more participants to an online methodology. The first topic on the agenda was the re-branding of the employee survey. Because nothing was done with last year’s result, employees were dismissing the whole exercise as pointless. The new branding should no longer mention the name of the consultancy involved, but the funny thing was, that the agency in question prided itself on the name and charged a premium for the employee surveys to bear their name. Naturally, this didn’t go down well with the research director at the time, but it illustrates an important point:

Don’t ask me if you are going to ignore me

If there is no intention or ability to act on feedback, don’t ask for it in the first place. I suspect that we often seek feedback as a way of seeking positive re-enforcement. If my daughter asks me how I like the picture she painted for me, she is not looking for criticism or constructive feedback. She just wants to be praised and that’s fine (and of course I appreciate her effort as much as the result!). Companies are no different and HR departments, and indeed all department managers, take pride in receiving high engagement scores. But if feedback is ignored or not appreciated, encouraged, or rewarded – what is the motivation for employees to give their honest feedback in the first place?

The time is now!

Every business is probably aware that if ever there was a time to get the most out of their employees – the time is now! Engaged employees can only thrive in a feedback culture. A feedback culture is one where feedback is encouraged, received with appreciation, and acted upon.

Feedback training?

This only works if employees are also taught HOW to give feedback and management learn how to act on it. Having read through a lot of employee survey open ended comments in my lifetime – it is hardly surprising that most are about money. And you guessed it, nobody complains about earning too much. The other comments are often about direct line managers or management in general and are mostly very specific. If employees only have the chance once a year to tell management what’s been nagging them, they will often vent their anger.  However, acting on individual concerns is mostly beyond the purpose of company wide employee surveys. Imagine the feedback had been about customers consistently asking about misleading product information or the feedback was about inefficient working practices? Feedback needs to be more current in order to be effective. Almost every line manager will say: “But I always encourage my team members to speak to me about any concerns or problems they have.“  But is it realistic to expect staff to put their necks on the line and risk being seen as ‘trouble makers’ or ‘complainers’ unless there is a real culture of feedback appreciation in the organization?

Make feedback part of the culture

I think that giving and receiving feedback should be part of the prevailing culture. Not everyone is comfortable giving or receiving feedback. Feedback should always be viewed as a chance to improve, especially if it’s negative, and praise should be appreciated. Yes, some staff are eager to provide feedback whenever and wherever, while at times losing sight of reality. But that’s a small price to pay to avoid missing important and constructive criticism and ideas. Things can change quickly and yesterday’s feedback may not reflect the mood today, so even extremely positive feedback has to be earned again the next time around. Could there be danger of complacency if feedback received is always positive?

But let me stop musing about the psychology of feedback. I am even more interested in the systems and infrastructure which would support an all encompassing feedback strategy. I will discuss the systems and infrastructure in part 2 of my post – to be published in a few days.