You know that feedback is going to improve workplace culture and employee satisfaction. Convincing your leadership team that this is the case may take a few extra steps. We’re going to bust a few of the feedback myths that you might be faced with so that you can continue to support your people.

1. It will create more work

One of the great features of a feedback process is that it saves work in the long run. If you implement a cycle that caters for professional feedback, this will improve the ability of your team to work more cohesively in the long run. 

If your team member’s are receiving feedback about how to improve their work, and consistently integrating this feedback into their work practice, efficiency within your team will improve. We spoke to our Iteration Managers in the intelli development teams to ask them about their feedback processes. Not only do our development teams provide project feedback, but they also have a 360 feedback cycle that looks at the team member’s ability to live the 6 values and 6 principles of the team. What this means is the alignment of values within the team, so that all members are contributing to the same goals with a similar approach. 

This may seem like a lot of extra work, but once the process has been established it runs smoothly and team members want to give advice because they know how valuable it is to the team effort. Setting up a feedback system may take some time and consultation from your team, but the results you will see from your people are well worth the investment.

2. Time consuming

This is the biggest myth of all! Similarly to the point above, you shouldn’t be worried about the time it takes to have a good feedback cycle, you should be worried about the time that will be lost in the absence of one! 

A continuous feedback cycle saves time in the long run by aligning your employees to your company’s strategic mission. Johnny Chong, an Iteration Manager had this to say “Taking time to provide feedback is instrumental in growing your employees on their career path.” When your team members recognise that you’re investing time and money into their career path and developing them professionally, they’re likely to invest effort into projects knowing that they’ll be receiving beneficial feedback.

Johnny went on to say that “through implementing 360 feedback in our engineering teams, we are able to discuss what they’re doing well by incorporating peer reviews and work with them to identify areas that they can improve upon. This helps them become better engineers and improves team culture through building trust.” 

Culture is the real winner when looking at feedback. When team members know how their progress is being tracked and what they’re doing well on, it has a positive impact on their outlook on projects. 

3. Internal managers don’t want to participate

Internal management buy-in is an important factor in implementing a feedback system and can help ensure that the process is successful. The best way to encourage internal managers to jump on board is to emphasise the cultural outcomes of feedback. 

If there are some managers that are exceedingly hesitant about introducing a feedback system, it may be worthwhile to trial it in other teams. Once other team members see the improvement of culture and output in those teams, the demand will be there to carry the process across to the business.

It’s important that your business leaders are leading by example. If some of your top managers are encouraging feedback, it’s important that they themselves are getting involved in the feedback process, this, in turn, will give your other managers the example and proof that it’s something worthwhile and not a passing trend.

4. It won’t be adopted

The best way to cater for fears that a process won’t be adopted is to set up a system that takes care of the administrative aspects of feedback. At intelliHR, we automatically pulse out  performance processes to all relevant stakeholders, so that they can complete their feedback and not need to worry about sending it back. 

This information is stored on the employee profile and relevant data is pulled across to the performance report, which centralises all the relevant feedback so that managers can view it with ease. Take care of the admin, so that adoption of a feedback system means only a few clicks for those who are completing the relevant forms.

5. It needs to be a formal regimented process

A common misconception about feedback is that the formalisation of it will lead to comments being made for the sake of it, rather than proper and constructive feedback. However this is simply not the case, a feedback process ensures that regular comments are being provided on performance that tracks current projects and goals. This means that feedback is relevant, and not outdated as it would be if done on a yearly basis. 

We spoke to Kaitlyn Pickard, an Iteration Manager in the development department about the overformalisation of performance processes. She told us that “formal feedback processes can be used as a framework to help instill in your employees the importance of giving feedback to their peers.” Instil an open dialogue with your team members to best allow for feedback to be contributed regularly and constructively. This has a positive impact on team culture and the quality of work produced by these teams.

Kaitlyn went on to say that “this should help them form the habit so that when something that bothers them comes up in their day to day work, they won’t be afraid to bring it up and tackle the problem before it becomes a bigger issue.” This proves that a feedback process is instrumental in growing the professional ability of your team to tackle larger problems when they arise. 

6. Feedback is only for managers 

Feedback certainly isn’t just for managers to keep track of their employees, it’s just as much for teams to improve their performance and hone their skills. A good feedback process will give just as much value to the team as it does for the managers. It provides critique and instruction for employees so they’re able to have a greater understanding of their contribution. 

This allows them to see where they can contribute more for the betterment of the team but also their professional development. When team members know they’re improving and have options for expansion, they’re more likely to commit more effort to their work resulting in a higher quality of performance.

There is no doubt about it, a feedback process is integral if you want your team to succeed. Improve your culture today by introducing a feedback system. It’s time to set your people free to succeed by putting them on the right track and giving them the tools they need to thrive.