Candid feedback is a great asset to owners, managers and decisions makers in any size organization from the beauty salons I work with directly right on up to the large corporations that I support. Gaining this essential information can prove difficult unless you create an open environment that your team will feel safe in and provide the structure for the feedback to be heard and if warranted, put into action.
Encourage open dialogue
As managers or coaches, if we aren’t actively and regularly seeking input and feedback from our team, we’re not going to get it. List feedback as an agenda item in your next staff or team meeting – focus the discussion on a specific topic with a set time limit to keep it productive. Take out a team member for a quick lunch or cup of coffee and ask their opinion to gain one on one feedback. It pays to get out on the street! Remove yourself from the corporate ivory tower and find out what they are saying in the field – this is where the real information lives.
Don’t shoot the messenger
In order to have access to this information, we need to create a safe environment for our team to deliver it. Show that you value different opinions by thanking individuals who speak up. One of the best ways to acknowledge how much you value the team’s input is to show them how you’re acting on it. If someone suggests a change and you put it in place, call it out, let people know.
Cash is king
A successful technique one of my clients uses to encourage their team to speak up is to offer them cold hard cash! They hold an annual contest for the best tip on how to improve the company and employees enter by not only pointing out inefficiencies but by suggesting fresh ideas and solutions to the problem as well. This can be modified to an organization of any size, set the contest to run quarterly for faster resutls and adjust the size of the prize as necessary. What I like about the process is you don’t just end up with a lot of complaints; you end up with real solutions to improve your business.
Encourage open dialogue
As managers or coaches, if we aren’t actively and regularly seeking input and feedback from our team, we’re not going to get it. List feedback as an agenda item in your next staff or team meeting – focus the discussion on a specific topic with a set time limit to keep it productive. Take out a team member for a quick lunch or cup of coffee and ask their opinion to gain one on one feedback. It pays to get out on the street! Remove yourself from the corporate ivory tower and find out what they are saying in the field – this is where the real information lives.
Don’t shoot the messenger
In order to have access to this information, we need to create a safe environment for our team to deliver it. Show that you value different opinions by thanking individuals who speak up. One of the best ways to acknowledge how much you value the team’s input is to show them how you’re acting on it. If someone suggests a change and you put it in place, call it out, let people know.
Cash is king
A successful technique one of my clients uses to encourage their team to speak up is to offer them cold hard cash! They hold an annual contest for the best tip on how to improve the company and employees enter by not only pointing out inefficiencies but by suggesting fresh ideas and solutions to the problem as well. This can be modified to an organization of any size, set the contest to run quarterly for faster resutls and adjust the size of the prize as necessary. What I like about the process is you don’t just end up with a lot of complaints; you end up with real solutions to improve your business.
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