Frequent Feedback                                  

"How Are We Doing?"     

Existing managerial activities provide everyone feedback from supervisors (vertical) and colleagues (horizontal) but it is difficult to manage feedback one gets from their own daily activities.  We provide a recipe with which frontline leaders can, however, lead activities to provide this feedback.

The "missing-link" --- A "Re-asking" or secondary group asking process to lead the frontlines of daily operations/activities.  Provide customer feedback for everyone from the workplace/daily activity itself !  Feedback from not only associates, but partners as well as customers.   

We believe these points are pivotal and can be an epiphany when placed into operations.  While feedback from colleagues and supervisors (typically managed from programs and procedures) is important for maintaining structure and discipline, it is internal feedback from the activity itself that maintains long-term learning, focus, and commitment.  The internal feedback must be lead through group experiences and relationships to be truly effective.  Keeping one engaged in their daily activities!  In fact, unless one does learn to get feedback from their own daily activities, and studies show only about one-third presently do, they will not be able to remain engaged in the groups efforts.

Learning to get feedback from ones daily activities is a skill that virtually all "star performers" in daily operations share in common.  They have practiced and developed the "ability" to give themselves objective feedback.  And as Dr. Csikszentmihalyi aptly points out "is in fact the mark of the expert."

The big payoff for enterprises and groups alike comes as the practice matures and a cycle of engagement builds.  Here engaged associates engage customers and customer interaction reengages associates as well as partners.   Born in the entrepreneurial ethic of an engaging product or service that engages the customer in such a way as to re-engage the entreprenuer.

We view feedback as two types--Internal, from within the enterprise and external from outside the enterprise.

Internal feedback is generally thought of as appraisals which are part of the structure and discipline of the organization.  There is, however, another important aspect which Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explores in his book "Good Business", that is feedback from a manager's personal standards.  Depending less on external signs and more on an internal sense of what constitutes a job well done.  Convictions based on experience and part of ones intuition and judgment.  The feedback from within the organization is needed to instill these in the providers of services and products.  The author suggests the strategy of establishing one's own standards clearly and then taking every opportunity to apply them so that others may come to recognize and learn from them.

External feedback is most often considered that from customers:

Many organizations have one or more mechanisms for obtaining feedback from customers.  It may be done from within or with an outside party who gathers data and measures it.  This is used for different purposes, very often to help define or determine:  "How we are doing."   This information very often is factored in both short and long range planning or strategies.  Such mechanisms often fail to serve the purpose of building and maintaining long-range customer focus.  One main reason is, even if effective, they are perceived at the customer level by team members as business projects and programs which determines where the focus goes long-term. 

This tool, because it is not a system or program, gives ownership directly to operational teams and their leaders at the customer level.  It is a "good news, bad news" story.  The good news is leaders can start today as there is no start up or setup, with the bad news being they will never finish.  Leaders can "run with it", have fun with it, learn by doing, become heroes and build relationships.  They want and need the support of management in terms of knowledge and participation in order to create and measure the feedback so they have confidence that they will be successful. 

As team leaders begin to succeed an important side benefit is their role as coach and leader becomes easier due to some relief from the inevitable "caught in the middle" syndrome.  As focus, priorities, and peer review begins to be customer-driven.  For  leaders, their subordinates, and their supervisors alike their actions and decisions have an objective (customer service) and are not personal.

The general rule is, feedback from customers is communicated completely in writing either on paper or electronic and is proactive so as not to interfere with the service/product delivery systems in place.  This provides team members with a "snapshot" of their efforts which can be bulletined or broadcasted and shared with everyone.  In the how-to section of the site we emphasize the importance of maintaining seven characteristics to feedback to lead relationships.