When was the last time you got a compliment from a colleague? Or do you know that feeling of getting a genuine pat on the back for that presentation you had to give? These are small examples of a feedback culture, a positive team spirit that leads to good collaboration as the key to success. To work well together, feedback is essential. Top-down, peer-to-peer, and bottom-up!
When there's no room to give feedback, "noise" often arises: unspoken expectations, mounting frustrations, unclear situations… It's also a missed opportunity to reward employees and work together towards a nutritious and pleasant work environment. Feedback is therefore at the heart of personal leadership and growth, for both the giver and the receiver.
According to the McKinsey Global Institute, employees who feel engaged with their employer are 20-25% more effective in the workplace.
In this article, we'll dive a bit deeper into building a positive feedback culture and share our new campaign. These come free with our snack boxes.
So what exactly is a feedback culture?
A feedback culture is the workplace culture focused on giving and receiving genuine feedback between employees. Top-down, peer-to-peer, and bottom-up, on a regular basis.
Building a feedback culture is essential for building a thriving business in the long run:
- It boosts employee engagement
- It creates a positive atmosphere
- It improves internal communication
- It leads to better performance in the workplace
Tips for introducing a feedback culture
Introduce feedback right from the selection process
The selection process is an important moment to explore a candidate's outlook on feedback and personal development. People with a growth mindset take feedback on board much more easily, even (and perhaps especially) when it comes to areas for improvement.
Ask how the candidate deals with setbacks, with the fact that a colleague might not be doing something quite right—or might be doing it really well...
Explain that feedback is an important part of the organisation and how you put this into practice.
Have managers lead by example
Introducing a feedback culture starts with senior management. With the people who serve as role models within the organisation. Make sure they build support across the organisation. They do this by starting to give feedback themselves, but also by staying open to receiving it.
This gives other employees the confidence to get started too.
Routine matters
A culture only takes shape when something happens on a regular basis. So, as an employer and manager, make sure there are regular feedback moments. This can be done by evaluating projects midway or afterwards. By planning weekly one-on-ones. By scheduling feedback meetings to strengthen each other and the team, but above all, by encouraging everyone to reward good work with compliments.
By giving regular, genuine feedback, employees are motivated to keep improving.
Get to know each other
Make sure the team really gets to know each other! This builds a bond of trust that makes it easier to give feedback. Celebrate birthdays, go on team-building outings...
Introduce internal training
Bring in experts to run training sessions on giving and receiving feedback. These sessions are often ideal for finding ambassadors who can kick-start the feedback culture.
Write a charter on the feedback culture
Document why you, as an employer, value feedback so much, what the benefits are, and how employees can get started. This last point especially matters, since many people don't immediately know how to give good feedback.
Rules and agreements around giving feedback help encourage employees to actually do it.
Get started!
There's only one way to create a feedback culture, and that's to actually start doing it! Good luck!
Feedback campaign
Our mission at JustBite is to help people feel fitter and more productive throughout the day! We firmly believe that giving feedback plays a big part in this. That's why we've created feedback cards, which you'll find with our snack boxes. The cards are there to encourage and recognise each other in a positive way. They're a way to break down hierarchical barriers and encourage everyone to give positive feedback right on the spot.
How do the feedback cards work?
- Choose your card and write a personal message for the recipient
- Thumbs up!
- Good job!
- Take a break!
- Let's workout!
- ...
- Hang the card next to a nutritious snack
- The recipient's favourite snack?
- An energy ball to power through the next meeting?
- A protein-rich snack for after the workout?
- …
- Deliver it to the recipient
With these cards, we want to give our customers a little nudge towards building a positive feedback culture and creating an even better workplace.
Get started today! Good luck!