While some companies already have a strong feedback culture, this isn’t yet the case for all. Some don’t have structured processes, while others have tried but haven’t achieved effective results. Many have yet to discover the power and importance of continuous feedback. So, if you need to understand how to create a feedback-friendly environment , know that you’re not alone.
Many professionals are looking for solutions to this topic, whether they work in HR, management, or leadership. You want to change the culture of your company, but you’re not sure how to go about doing it.
Even though there’s no ready-made answer to this topic, and each approach must follow the particularities of the companies, you can start to “plant this seed” even with small actions, did you know?
Below, we’ve listed some tactics and ideas that will help you in this first step, making feedback much more natural and positive for all employees.
How to create a feedback environment in 6 strategic steps
1 – Focus on active listening and empathy in professional relationships
The first step is to start small, as cliché as that phrase may sound. A good feedback culture is based on empathy and active listening in every company, did you know? After all, this is the fundamental concept of evaluations: knowing how to observe, listen, and understand others, whether to analyze their performance or to receive feedback, positive or negative.
So, start listening more to your team members. Pay close attention to their words and actions, and do everything you can to understand the motivation behind each professional move.
2 – Open new communication channels and set an example
If the first step involves listening, the second is all about speaking. It takes time to develop the ability to give thorough feedback in a relaxed setting. You need people to be accustomed to being heard and speaking up, in a communicative culture that encourages collaboration and healthy feedback from everyone.
So, don’t hesitate to evaluate new channels and ways of communicating with your team. This will make communication more transparent and natural for everyone, paving the way for a stronger feedback culture.
3 – Start by giving compliments to the people on your team
In fact, how about starting by giving out positive praise? You’ll definitely notice great results and performances from your team. So, start sharing these moments and highlights more often, helping everyone feel more comfortable with the practice of evaluation.
Even though feedback isn’t always as positive as praise, it will help prepare the environment, making everything lighter and more conducive to feedback in the near future.
4 – Turn one-off feedback into an established practice
Finally, it’s time to make feedback official. You can start slowly, if you have the autonomy, by establishing routines with your mentees or subordinates.
Gradually, feedback meetings will become part of the company’s daily routine. Perhaps with more formal and established processes that include more employees and go beyond one-on-one meetings.
5 – Include other leaders and managers in the feedback conversation
With promising and positive results, you can bring in new leaders and managers to share their experience with feedback. This way, they’ll realize the value of having a culture that values analysis and evaluations, focusing on employee development, and they’ll be able to help you expand this important project.
Who knows, you might even start a true revolution and elevate your company to an even higher level? After all, developing professionals is a great way to increase productivity, achieve organizational goals, and attract and retain talent. In a scenario of talent shortages, with few professionals who meet the prerequisites for selection processes, this could be a golden opportunity.
6 – Be prepared to receive different evaluations along your journey
Finally, once your processes are defined, you’ll need to be prepared to receive feedback about yourself. This feedback may even be about the process of implementing the assessments.
Here, the important thing is to understand how to be on the other side, whether to hear praise or constructive criticism, after a long period of being the coordinator of feedback, and not the receiver.
