Feedback as part of your corporate culture: an essential ally

Are you facing a loss of commitment, a drop in performance and/or talent retention challenges? Integrating the regular practice of feedback into your corporate culture can be a valuable ally in meeting these challenges.

Studies show that constructive feedback plays an essential role in developing motivation, boosting self-confidence and psychological satisfaction among employees.

Here are a few tips:

Responding to the need for support

Every day in our work, we see managers and employees struggling to cope with this exercise. It is often associated with stress and discomfort. That's why it's so important to be informed about the power of this tool and to be trained to ask for it, give it and receive it, so that you can change your perception and see it as a tool for enhancement and development.

Finally moving away from hierarchical feedback only

No, feedback is not just a managerial tool. It can even become an essential exchange between colleagues and teams. Peer-to-peer feedback and reverse feedback, where employees share feedback with their managers, are just as valuable. Being enlightened by the colleagues with whom you work on a daily basis offers a new and beneficial perspective for personal development and for the overall performance of teams.

Finding the right balance between constructive and positive feedback

Too often feedback is reduced to criticism, perceived as a subjective judgement. But when it is properly formulated, it opens the way to a constructive discussion: ‘How can I help you to develop?  Too much positive feedback can lead to inertia, while too much negative feedback can block the relationship. The idea is therefore to offer constructive, balanced and continuous feedback to maintain a climate of trust. Feedback enables employees and managers to identify not only their areas for improvement, but also their strengths, which should be encouraged and valued.

Inplementing regular feedback

Balanced feedback, whether formal or informal, helps to adjust behaviour, prevent misunderstandings and provide opportunities for continuous learning, whatever our role in the organisation. So it's not just a question of having one annual appraisal, but of seizing every opportunity for feedback.

Becoming a Feedback Actor

Asking for feedback is an act of personal development, whatever the stage of your career. It's a way for every employee to get to know themselves better and to grow. So don't hesitate to take the first step!

Dealing with emotions

Because feedback is emotionally charged, it can sometimes be difficult to receive. That's why it's important to master emotional management, both for the person giving the feedback and the person receiving it. A method such as the ‘sandwich’ (framing negative feedback between two positive pieces of feedback) can help to convey a difficult message while remaining constructive.

Knowing how to adapt to individual needs

Regardless of their neuro-atypical or neuro-typical profile, their generation or their level of responsibility in the organisation, you need to be able to adapt to each employee because offering personalised feedback maximises its impact.

In conclusion, feedback allows you to feed back. It's a question of knowing how to give it and how to receive it, with a personalised approach to stimulate motivation, productivity and team cohesion. Feedback requires practice and regularity.

And when are you starting?

Audrey Carrafa & Moira Wrathall

Hypersens, Neurodiversity for success

HYPERSENS is a consultancy specialising in raising awareness of and supporting companies in neurodiversity and collective intelligence. Their mission is to integrate neuro-inclusion at the heart of innovative, high-performance corporate strategies, by enhancing the value of singularities within teams.