Feedback at workplace: how to get the most out of it

The importance of feedback at workplace translates into benefits for both the company and workers, as it seeks to reinforce team commitment, drive employee development, establish a constructive culture focused on tangible goals, and improve the corporate climate, among other advantages.

However, one of the most significant challenges it poses is managing the expectations of the parties involved and creating a favorable environment for respectful exchange between all of them.

Since it is a positive methodology that can help you drive your project, we want to share some tips with you so you can get the most out of it.

What is feedback at workplace?

Feedback at workplace (or at work) is a contextualized information exchange methodology in a company that is based on sharing teams’ observations and perspectives on their job performance to analyze roadblocks and problems from new perspectives.

This process should help achieve the goals set by the company while not forgetting the employees’ expectations, and it is crucial to find the balance between positive and negative feedback at work.

Traditionally, more emphasis has been placed on pointing out what is not being done well, as it highlights blocking elements or weak points in the company and teams.

However, positive feedback also serves its purpose by, for example, improving decision-making because you will be reinforcing people’s self-esteem, motivation, and involvement.

Receiving feedback at work: 4 strategic benefits

The importance of feedback is evident in what you achieve by implementing it in your company, something intimately linked to talent management strategies:

• Show your teams that they are taken care of. 
• Signal the company’s commitment to people’s evolution, development, and performance. 
• Appreciate a job well done and correct behaviors that harm the company and employees. 
• Strengthen relationships among employees through open and transparent communication. 
• Value the existing talent in your teams.

This teamwork feedback process offers several benefits that help improve internal processes. On the other hand, it provides the opportunity for each person to find their place and becomes a key element for talent retention.

Let’s look at these and other benefits in a little more detail.

Reinforces commitment 

Making it easier for teams to contribute to business strategies reinforces the sense of belonging and commitment to the project. 

People feel they are part of a corporate culture that evolves with them rather than being imposed unilaterally.

Improves results

The feedback process fuels employee motivation and improves the company climate. In the same vein, constructive communication reduces the turnover rate of your employees. 

Consequently, these two circumstances have increased productivity and reduced the cost of talent recruitment processes.

Boosts employee development

Listening to, studying, and following up on the needs of teams drives their evolution by incorporating them in analyzing roadblocks and obstacles.

Similarly, this technique allows you to detect essential skills in the development of your employees.

Similarly, good two-way communication between management and employees strengthens both parties’ bonds, creating constructive bridges of trust that ultimately improve productivity.

Helps to define objectives

At this point, the importance of feedback at work takes on a strategic significance.

Sometimes, a company can set goals that do not reflect reality; we could say they are not SMART goals – goals that must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and contextualized in time.

Feedback helps reset the goals in a real context, considering the possibilities that can be developed in the company and the necessary skills to improve your teams and gain competitiveness.

How to take benefit from positive feedback at work?

A feedback culture at work is much more than just a simple exchange, so its success lies in conceiving it as a living project that requires organization, structure, and follow-up and that, in the same way, must respect some guidelines in order to grow.

Establish the periodicity and structure

The success of any methodology requires establishing a frequency and a context. Without these two parameters, it is doomed to failure.

Additionally, all parties involved must understand how this information exchange process can help them and the desired goals.

Finally, it’s necessary to foster a positive, respectful, and personalized relationship between participants that focuses on active listening.

Translate the project into reality

Participants should know that personal and professional expectations should be realistic and achievable.

Promote reflective monitoring

It is crucial to carry out a continuous follow-up that invites reflection on the exchanges, specifically how they help progress. 

This supervision is also an opportunity to detect potential communication blockages, gradually creating a path that favors the professional development of those involved.

Incorporate feedback into the future

Given that feedback is a process anchored in one’s own experience of past events and contextualization in the present, adding a future vision through feedforward will allow you to work on long-term action plans.

Introduce an experience rating system

It is essential to provide the opportunity for participants to evaluate the experience they are participating (or have participated) in. 

This allows, on the one hand, for participants to be aware of the importance of feedback and, on the other hand, provides you with crucial data to improve the methodology.

In this exchange process, technology can help you. Our proctoring products are online supervision solutions that allow you to get the most out of exchanges and evaluations in your company.

Request your free demo, where we will share innovative and highly effective solutions to increase your employees’ confidence and strengthen your corporate culture.