Every employee’s voice and opinions matter, regardless of their role and position.
Building a healthy and strong organizational culture is among the top priorities of the human resource department. A healthy atmosphere encourages employees’ growth and high performance, while a negative, hyper-competitive culture may stunt the growth of employees, which may lead to higher turnover rates, and much more.
One of the best ways to create a more positive and happier work environment is through the practice and establishment of a “feedback culture”.
A feedback culture is where every employee in an organization or institution feels that they can freely share what they think about your organization, management, and other employees regardless of their assignment or status of employment.
The central aim of feedback is to innovate, ensure work-life balance, or encourage learning and professional development; therefore, it should not be dramatic, judgmental, and unprofessional. It should not be given or received in an incorrect manner where it may result in ultimately harming the employee experience instead of improving it.
Like in the popular 2021 movie Squid Game, you must be able to identify and categorize feedback that fall under “green lights” and those that fall under “red lights” in giving feedback.
Green lights are those appropriate, timely, well-wrapped, and valuable feedback that allow monitoring of performance and alert on the important changes that need to be undertaken.
Feedback may come from across the entire organization – the management, customers, clients, employees, suppliers, vendors, and stakeholders. Top performing companies and employees are not only good at accepting feedback, they deliberately ask for feedback. And they know that feedback is helpful only when it highlights weaknesses as well as strengths.
On the other hand, giving and subjecting both the management and workers with harsh feedback generates negative energy, and is under red light. While it is not always pleasant, feedback should be a critical input and not an attack on anything or anyone. Feedback should not be utilized to launch a personal attack against someone.
Why build a healthy feedback culture?
Aside from those mentioned above, we’ve listed a couple more reasons why organizations must have a feedback culture:
1. Boosts employee engagement – A feedback culture is essential to creating an atmosphere of employee engagement. Engaged employees are more effective workers and they’re more likely to stay in the company.
2. Decreases turnover – Turnover is harmful to the image of any organization. Establishing an effective feedback mechanism within the organization can help address both of these issues. When they receive feedback about how they can further improve their work, they are less likely to leave a company.
3. Improves corporate communication – An honest and welcome exchange of feedback between and among employees and the management can help improve corporate communication within the organization. Misunderstandings, interrupted workflows, missed deadlines, poorly executed projects, and other costly oversights may be reduced if communication internally is improved.
How to build a healthy organizational feedback culture?
Here are some basics to create a better feedback culture in your workplace.
1. Provide feedback training – One way to institutionalize feedback culture in the workforce is by formally introducing it to them. Feedback training should be among the to-do list of the HR department to help employees grasp its importance and learn how to appropriately share honest, open feedback with one another.
2. Leaders must set an example – HR leaders and the top management must walk the talk and also hone their abilities to give and receive feedback. This can help foster an atmosphere of openness and honesty between and among the workforce.
3. Redesign the way you approach employees – It is crucial to innovate how you communicate with your employees. Try peer-to-peer feedback which is incredibly useful when it comes to giving feedback to those underperforming or employees who slack off.
4. Do it regularly – It takes at least three weeks to make a habit. Instead of periodic feedback, try frequent and more informal feedback sessions, depending on the situation, maybe practiced to normalize the process of giving feedback.