Some organisations pay lip service to employee feedback, plastering their walls with mission statements that promise open communication and collaboration and sending out less-than-useful surveys with little intention to act upon the survey results.

It begs the question: how many of these organisations truly listen, engage with their teams, and act on employee feedback?

The truth is true employee feedback goes beyond annual engagement surveys and performance reviews. It requires a whole company culture where feedback is actively sought, encouraged, and acted upon. Only then can organisations enjoy the real rewards of employee listening: increased productivity, higher levels of innovation, superior customer service, and better decision-making.

That's why fostering a culture of employee listening is so important. It doesn't just keep employees engaged - it drives organisational success. It comes as no surprise that Insight 222's 2022 People Analytics Trend Report found that Leading Companies are utilising people analytics (and employee listening) to drive a feedback-driven organisation.

Creating a successful feedback loop starts with understanding employee needs. Ask yourself: what type of feedback do I want to collect? How often will I solicit it? What systems or listening tools can I use to capture it?

Pre-empting a Listening Culture

Creating a listening culture starts at the very beginning of the employee's journey. Organisations should emphasise their commitment to open dialogue and two-way communication from the first contact with a potential hire. They should gather candidate feedback on the role and offer a realistic job preview during the recruitment process, such as asking questions that provide a clear expectation from the start.

During the recruitment process, assessing the candidates' levels of continuous learning can also be an indication of how well they'll fit into a feedback-driven organisation; because, at the end of the day, candidates who express interest in developing their skills and knowledge and proactively seek out feedback will thrive in an organisation with a listening culture. Therefore, it is important to assess these traits at the recruitment stage and to make sure your organisation's feedback culture is aligned with its values.

Go Beyond Stale Surveys

Engagement surveys are a common tool for collecting employee feedback, but they often fall short. They tend to focus on general satisfaction and a pretty generic set of issues that drive engagement. To truly listen to your employees and create an employee listening strategy and feedback-driven culture that truly resonates, organisations must dare to be different.

Ask about their experiences with different aspects of their work, such as improving process-related difficulties, their interactions with colleagues, their ideas on achieving critical business objectives, or their alignment with organisational goals. Ask about their career aspirations and how the organisation can help them get there. And utilise AI-driven survey tools to gain continuous feedback in real-time - after a difficult meeting or when they're working on challenging projects.

Microsoft, which sends out daily pulse checks to a random sample of 2,500 employees, has reaped significant benefits with their approach. It allows them to address issues promptly, make timely improvements, and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to employee engagement and satisfaction. And by leveraging the employee voice to drive a feedback-driven culture where employees feel heard and valued — their contributions are proving to make a difference.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Collecting and analysing employee feedback is only the tip of the iceberg. If you really want to build a feedback-driven company culture, then you must take bold actions based on employee input and close the feedback loop.

No more empty promises or black holes swallowing valuable insights. Show employees that their voices matter by actively addressing their concerns gathering feedback and suggestions. Communicate the actions taken in response to feedback and share how these actions align with the organisation's goals and values. This will reinforce the importance of employee feedback and encourage further participation.

It's also important to celebrate successes. When employees see the impact their contributions have made, they'll be more motivated to continue providing valuable insights into how they work, think, and act. It is also worth investing in recognition programmes to reward employees for their constructive feedback. This will also help elicit positive reinforcement and drive a culture of 'continuous improvement'.

But again, how can this be achievable if your leadership team isn't on board with these initiatives? As mentioned earlier, leaders must commit to creating an environment where feedback is valued and encouraged - from the top down. Without buy-in from stakeholders, it's unlikely that any feedback loop will truly take off. So, if you're serious about cultivating a thriving feedback-driven culture in your organisation, then it starts with leadership alignment.

Fostering Psychological Safety

Fear and judgment have no place in a feedback-driven organisation. This means promoting an atmosphere of trust and respect and encouraging dissenting opinions - a safe work environment where everyone feels comfortable speaking up.

Train your managers and leaders in the soft skills and processes required to foster psychological safety — like active listening and emotional intelligence. And provide opportunities for dialogue and ensure that all voices are heard and respected without fear of repercussion or criticism.

Integrating Business Objectives

The previous feedback strategies may be the most obvious, and you may even be implementing them in your organisation already. But where I see organisations fall short is when they fail to link employee feedback with business objectives.

You need to be thinking about how feedback fits into the bigger picture. And that starts with integrating employee data and insights into the organisation's core objectives.

Take, for example, a recent client who really wanted to drive a more feedback-driven culture, but as an organisation - they were going through some major business changes. Rather than moving full speed ahead with their listening approach in isolation, they thoroughly discussed and considered how aligning their listening activities to their new business objectives could make a significant impact.

By leveraging this insight and slightly changing their original approach, they will be able to make an ongoing contribution to the business success moving forward – all while maintaining their focus on building a feedback-driven organisation. Ultimately, this will enable them to align their feedback-driven initiatives with the organisation's core objectives and create tangible business improvements.

Empowering Voices for Organisational Success

Creating an organisational culture of employee listening isn't always easy — but it is worth it. It requires a commitment to actively seeking employee feedback, responding to it in meaningful ways, and fostering an environment that encourages everyone to speak up.

A feedback-driven organisation goes beyond the superficial and rewards employees who have the courage to speak up. It's about creating a culture of transparency, trust, and respect — where everyone feels empowered to share their ideas frequent feedback and insights.

When organisations focus on understanding the "human factor" of the workplace, they gain invaluable insight into what drives employee engagement and job satisfaction, and even more – they gain the power of leveraging the collective intelligence of their workforce to help accelerate the business impact. And that's when the real magic happens.

So, are you ready to listen? Be Bold. Ask Questions. Take Action. Get creative with employee feedback and leverage it to drive organisational success - starting today!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jay Dorio

Jay joined Insight222 in 2022 and leads our products and services team. He is a globally respected leader with extensive experience in consulting, product management, and business leadership, with particular expertise in employee listening. Previously, Jay led strategy and revenue growth for EX solutions at Qualtrics and he’s also worked at KPMG, Korn Ferry, IBM, and Kenexa during his career. He holds multiple degrees including a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Jay has lived in several locations across the USA, as well as in Toronto, Canada. He now resides in Nixa, MO and spends much of his free time watching his daughter play soccer and discussing the latest video games with his son.

If you’d like to connect with Jay, please visit his LinkedIn here.

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