Feedback - Hygiene for Your Culture
Over the years of being on the front lines of management and HR leadership, I’ve developed a strong conviction that having a culture of feedback is powerful hygiene for maintaining healthy teams that can efficiently collaborate and resolve conflict in ways that engender trust and inspire innovation.
Consider the concept of “hygiene,” practices that promote and maintain health and prevent disease. Just like the human body, company culture needs intentional and proactive practices to stay healthy and productive, all while avoiding becoming uncomfortably dysfunctional, or worse, toxic and hypocritical. Feedback is one such hygienic practice.
When employees are upskilled and supported to give and receive high-quality, affirming, and corrective feedback (up, down, and across the company), you create a force multiplier “antibody” against harmful workplace behaviors that weaken collaboration and morale and cause an erosion of your values and culture over time.
Frustratingly, feedback has an ill-begotten reputation for reasons that are not all that surprising:
No one knows how to do it effectively or productively. The lack of feedback training and underdeveloped skills have caused serious feedback trauma for many that is hard to let go of or forget. I’ve observed how poor feedback can haunt people for years if not for their entire career.
Feedback is still primarily used and often, weaponized, as part of the dreaded performance management & rating process. Do not get me started on the shitty state of performance management processes - stay tuned, that’s a whole other blog post.
No wonder feedback causes most people to sweat with dread and fear. Thankfully, much can be done to change and elevate the employee experience from something they avoid to something they find empowering.
“So how do I codify feedback as a form of cultural hygiene?”
If you're thinking about training, then you are headed in the right direction. Training is essential because it provides the foundation, the shared framework, and the language necessary for all employees to be on the same page with what your company expects of them and what they can expect from each other.
Really good training includes:
The“BIG WHY” - why is engaging in giving and receiving feedback important to your company specifically? This “why” can ignite a healthy sense of cultural duty that helps employees see just how much their effort matters in creating a work environment that feels healthy and intentional.
A simple model and easy language for offering and receiving affirming and corrective feedback constructively
The importance of delivering feedback directly (1:1) and how that builds trust and connection
Reflective listening skills to ensure mutual understanding and improve the impact of feedback conversations
Time to practice, giving, receiving, and listening
However, training alone falls short of building a culture of feedback because 1) there is no substitute for the practice necessary to build skill and confidence over time and 2) from a change-management perspective, training is only the beginning step of codifying any change as a new cultural norm.
Beyond training, you’ll need to build the infrastructure that supports and inspires your employees to keep feedback flowing.
From our experience at AnnemHR, here’s our tried and true “ingredient list” to build and maintain a culture of feedback:
Feedback is treated as a shared value with a compelling and believable “why” that inspires all employees to do their part.
Leaders consistently and authentically discuss and model giving and receiving constructive feedback (kind, clear, and 1:1) that demonstrates vulnerability and engenders trust.
Employees accept that giving and receiving high-quality is a key responsibility. They feel free to give and receive feedback as often as they need or want.
Employees demonstrate delivering feedback constructively with the intention of being helpful to the person receiving it.
Feedback is operationalized as an org-wide, bottoms-up 360 practice that involves all employees, not just manager to employee. (A tease: more on this progressive practice soon!)
In addition to training all current employees, include feedback training in your formal onboarding program so new hires are equipped from day one.
Employees understand what supportive options are available to them should their feedback be repeatedly ignored or dismissed. While I believe there is personal agency in choosing what feedback to act on, behaviors identified as harmful or willfully undermining your company’s values cannot be ignored.
HR and Managers are clear on how to act in the moments that matter to reinforce the culture of feedback. This includes when to redirect employees to give direct feedback to one another and when to intervene where harmful or undermining behaviors have been identified and need to be brought to a clear and swift resolution.
Missing or excluding any of these “ingredients” would be a costly pitfall in your efforts. Each one builds on the other to create a self-sustaining system that will help your company weather the inevitable crisis or a regrettable hire.
“M, where do I start, what’s the most important first step?”
I know this list can be more than a little intimidating so consider the following as the two most important first steps:
Since feedback is such a fundamental communication skill - it’s well worth it to train all employees regardless of whether you intend to move forward with creating a culture of feedback or not.
Before embarking on creating a culture of feedback - you’ll need the majority of your leaders enthusiastically onboard for the journey, aligned on the “why”, and ready to be role models. This is not something HR can “force through” just because you can see your company needs it. Take caution, speaking from experience, approaching it that way will cause more harm than good.
The bottom line is that you can’t go wrong with providing quality feedback training to your employees. And it just might be the catalyst you need to have an organic conversation with your leaders about their readiness to take things further. Just know, you are not alone. Anne and I have been in your shoes and are here to support your success when you are ready.
In the meantime, join us for one of our upcoming public Leadership Workshops:
How to Authentically Navigate Sweaty Conversations to experience our feedback philosophy and content first-hand.
Click here to learn more & enroll in our next workshop. We welcome you to reach out anytime to hello@annemhr.com with questions or to engage us in providing a private feedback workshop for your team(s).
~M
Co-Founder, AnnemHR
We provide progressive HR solutions that build & nurture a healthy, sustainable, and rewarding employee experience
