Developing a feedback culture in the team: 10 tips

Feedback is actually an old shoe. Nevertheless, it is far too often used incorrectly. Anyone who has ever worked in a proper feedback culture knows about its transformative effect. In the following article, I will give you ten tips on how you can develop a positive feedback culture in your team.

Somehow, everyone has heard feedback before. Most of us have also been in the situation of giving or receiving feedback. I myself came into contact with a proper feedback culture for the first time in my student organisation AIESEC. It was an epiphany for me. Open and honest feedback has helped me the most of all personal and professional development programmes.

At Raidboxes, feedback has become an integral part of our corporate culture. Before I tell you in the ten tips how you can improve your feedback culture even further, let’s take a quick look at what makes a good feedback culture and what advantages it has.

Why feedback? The advantages at a glance

Feedback is a compulsory event in many companies. Employees are asked to attend an evaluation meeting once a year, at least if their line manager has nothing more important to do. However, if you handle feedback in this way, this is wasted potential.

Used correctly, a strong feedback culture has the following advantages:

• Personal conflicts can be resolved more quickly and effectively.
• Misunderstandings in communication can be clarified more quickly.
• Aggression and frustration are reduced by the feedback provider before they escalate.
• The feedback recipient gets to know their strengths and weaknesses much better. This also reveals opportunities for development.
• External and self-perception are compared. The feedback recipient is shown their “blind spot”(Johari window).
• Mutual expectations are clearly communicated. Everyone knows where they stand. This provides orientation and security in everyday working life.
• Collaboration runs more smoothly when disruptive factors have been eliminated in the feedback dialogue.

Overall, a positive feedback culture in the team lays the foundation for good and effective collaboration. It promotes open communication and creates space for ideas. At best, a relationship is created between the feedback giver and feedback recipient that is characterised by appreciation.

A strong feedback culture also ensures that your team continues to develop. The open dialogue uncovers weaknesses or, conversely, shows that you and your team are on the right track.

What makes a good feedback culture?

Openness and trust are the two most important building blocks if you want to develop a good feedback culture in the team. Both should be firmly anchored in the corporate culture, just like giving feedback itself.

This is not just about trust within teams, but also across hierarchies. Feedback should be possible both horizontally (i.e. among colleagues) and vertically between different levels in the organisation.

It is also important that feedback is given continuously – meeting once a year does not make a feedback culture (see also tip 8).

Feedback tip #1: Take notes beforehand

This is often neglected or considered unnecessary. Of course, you can spontaneously give a person a few points of feedback. Especially if you just want to get rid of your criticism.

However, for appropriate and balanced feedback, you should take at least ten minutes to note down both positive aspects and those that could be improved. You’ll be amazed at what you can think of.

Feedback tip #2: The power burger

The most important aspect of giving feedback is the structure and manner in which it is given. There are numerous methods here. The Power Burger is particularly famous.

A burger starts with the burger buns that encase the meat (the review). At the beginning, you should tell the recipient of your feedback what you appreciate about them and what positive aspects you would like to emphasise. This initial introduction will help the other person to open up and receive the following feedback with a better feeling.

Especially if you yourself are upset for some reason and are focussing a lot on negative aspects, remember: there is always positive feedback about a person. If you can’t think of any points off the top of your head, sit down and think about them.

Now comes the constructive criticism, i.e. the meat in the feedback burger. The following two tips will give you even more precise tips on how best to formulate this.

Last but not least, you should end on a positive note. This is the last burger bun and rounds off the conversation. Both sides will leave the conversation feeling better. Example:

“Nevertheless, I am very happy to have you as a team member and I am very confident that you can improve significantly in this area.”

Feedback tip #3: Always criticise from a first-person perspective

With feedback, you only share your own subjective perspective with someone else. There is no objective truth here per se, but at most intersubjectivity (several people perceive the same facts).

It is therefore very important that criticism is formulated from a first-person perspective. Especially if you haven’t given feedback often, this is not at all natural. In our everyday lives, we usually communicate in the first person.

“You work sloppily.” (You perspective)

“It seems to me that you could still work on how thoroughly you complete tasks.” (first-person perspective)

Formulations from the first-person perspective often contain the following phrases:

“I perceive this …”
“From my point of view …”
“It seems to me that …!”
“I feel …”
“It seems to me that …”

If the other person starts arguing with you, it is a good indication that you have slipped into the “you” perspective. You formulations in particular are often taken as an attack.

Feedback tip #4: Provide constructive suggestions

Telling the other person what you don’t like so much is a first step. However, this should be followed by a concrete indication of what you would like to see improved. Only then can the feedback recipient really change something and meet your expectations in the future.

Example: “I would like you to let me look over your work over the next few weeks to check its thoroughness.”

Feedback tip #5: Ask for the other perspective

Discussions should be avoided at all costs when giving feedback. They have no place in a feedback discussion, as the person giving the feedback is only sharing their subjective perception.

Nevertheless, the following question at the end of a conversation makes sense:

“What do you think?”

This gives the other person the opportunity to share their perspective. Ideally – and this happens quite often – they will see it the same way. If the person receiving the feedback has a different opinion, that’s completely fine. It is up to you to respect their perception.

The feedback recipient has three options for dealing with feedback:

1. customise communication

From his point of view, the feedback may be wrong. For him, it may mean that he needs to improve certain aspects of his communication in order to create a different perception in the other person.

For example, after completing their work, the person receiving the feedback takes time to review their work to check whether other people can also understand it. The feedback giver may be the only one who finds their work unclear. To avoid misunderstandings, the feedback recipient could now make sure to clearly communicate that they are already checking extra and that other people find the work clear. An example of an appropriate response:

“I can understand that this impression has arisen and will make sure to structure the results more in your style if they are relevant to you.“

2. acceptand initiate improvement

The feedback recipient may share the criticism. He adjusts his behaviour accordingly in order to improve his results in the future.

“I can understand that a different structure is required here and I will think about how I can change that.”

3. do not adapt perception and behaviour

The feedback recipient does not share the criticism and does not want to adjust their behaviour any further. This is also legitimate, but can have negative consequences in the long term.

“From my point of view, it’s clear and I think it’s appropriate; other people should also be able to work with it.”

Feedback tip #6: Ask for feedback yourself

How do you establish a proper feedback culture in the company? A culture in which colleagues also give each other feedback and it is not always the manager who criticises others.

As we use holacracy at Raidboxes, the idea of keeping a slot free for feedback discussions at the monthly governance meetings was an obvious one. However, this has not led to more feedback.

The aim should be for everyone to have both given and received feedback. Preferably several times and on their own initiative.

The following points are recommended to get a real feedback culture going:

• Even as a manager, ask others for their feedback. The feedback dialogue can be designed to be two-way from the outset.
• Give regular feedback yourself. If someone learns that feedback is not a bad thing and is part of an open culture, they are more likely to give feedback themselves.
• Always conduct discussions openly. If nothing is concealed in factual discussions, there is also a culture of open communication in personal relationships.
• Speak out publicly against blasphemy. Blasphemy has no place in a company. If someone has problems with a person, feedback should be sought as quickly as possible. This should be made clear publicly at the first sign of slander.

Feedback tip #7: Involve mediators

Sometimes it can happen that particularly serious conflicts arise in the team. In these cases, there should be a mediator role in the company who then moderates the feedback process and pays attention to the points mentioned above.

If possible, this person should have moderation and feedback experience and not be part of the management team. In this way, they can also ensure a balanced balance of power for critical topics.

Feedback tip #8: Give feedback spontaneously too

It is a big mistake if the feedback culture degenerates into a formal action. In the worst case scenario, you sit together once a year and work through a checklist without speaking openly and honestly with each other. Many points made during the year have already been forgotten and there are no concrete examples of suggestions for improvement. Certain opinions about other people have already become entrenched as they have not had a chance to correct their behaviour.

For this reason, it is not unusual for Raidboxes to receive or actively request feedback several times a quarter.

Feedback tip #9: Feedback can only be positive

There is often a widespread opinion that feedback is bad per se or must always contain criticism. In my opinion, this is not the case. Particularly good employees often do everything right and inspire by exceeding expectations and not needing to talk much at all.

Nevertheless, you should sit down with the others at least once every six months and let them know how much you appreciate their work. Especially if there have been points of criticism in the past, it is particularly nice to receive feedback that these are no longer perceived as such and that your own further development is appreciated.

Feedback tip #10: Give feedback in a targeted manner

Especially if there have already been many feedback meetings, situations can arise in which you no longer have anything new to say to each other. It is therefore important to include feedback in personnel development.

Ultimately, there is no point in constantly criticising someone’s strengths and weaknesses. The aim should be for everyone to work according to their individual personality in areas that match their strengths. Feedback meetings should therefore also be an opportunity to change job descriptions.

Feedback is best based on a strengths profile that everyone should ideally achieve. This can be divided into professional, social, strategic, methodological and personal competences. Appropriate promotions can be linked to the achievement of competences. In this way, there is broad transparency in the company about what is expected. Thanks to the feedback meetings, everyone knows where they currently stand without being constantly made aware of deficits.

Conclusion – feedback needs to be practised

I hope you were able to take away one or two points to further improve your feedback culture (or that of your team). Giving and receiving constructive feedback may sound easy at first, but in reality it requires sensitivity and practice, especially when it comes to negative criticism.

As you have seen, there are a few aspects to consider when it comes to feedback. With this in mind, have fun practising!