How is feedback the major driver for organizational efficiency? How to incorporate it into your system?

Nowadays, the process of providing and taking feedback from both employees and employers is seen as a vital component responsible for organizational efficiency. Teachers, coaches, team managers as well as project managers develop this skill with experience. The process works both ways. So, not just giving feedback but also taking it is imperative for efficient information sharing within different teams. Let’s look at the importance of feedback and how it should be incorporated into the current system.

While providing feedback, you should focus more on constructive feedback since it can become the key driver in enhancing operational efficiency. It is an effective tool in providing a healthy environment and encourages both productivity and engagement to achieve better results. It has a positive impact on communication and interaction as well as teamwork in a variety of fields.

The impact of feedback is difficult to estimate. By sharing key information on how things can be improved can enable better outcomes. Matters can be resolved more efficiently.

Feedback is of immense importance to enable leadership and effective communication. It offers an accurate picture and also enhances transparency levels. Feedback is also seen as an education enabler since it inculcates learning and helps you and your team take on new learnings and avoid common and repetitive mistakes. It also enhances skill levels to ensure better results.

Frequent feedback is also seen to help establish a feeling of trust between the employee and the manager. According to a Harvard Business Review, about 58% of people were seen to trust strangers, and only 42% trusted their bosses. This is why the regular practice of feedback inspires praise and enables a constructive environment. Employees feel comfortable and are more open to receiving and providing feedback.

Importance of Feedback and How Does It Drive Operational Efficiency

Let us learn what is so wonderful about feedback and how it can be best used to influence communication among teams and peers.

a) Keeping everyone on track

This is beneficial for everyone since it allows teams to keep a tap of timelines, prepare for events, and take corrective actions as and when required.

b) Avoiding blunders and major mistakes

Transparent and honest channels of communication allow you to save precious time in correcting someone’s work. It also helps reduce errors that are caused by miscommunication and also prevents any regrets of failure.

c) Creating better and healthier relationships

Regular feedback inculcates a feeling of trust and honesty. At times, it may involve criticism, which employees are not comfortable with, but if put constructively, team members can evolve.

d) Enabling motivation

A friendly approach works great for everyone. Regular feedback allows you to see what wrong others may be doing and will enable you to offer a piece of advice. Make team members believe that you believe in them and want to provide help where required. This way, you would motivate them to do a satisfactory job.

e) Promoting both personal and professional growth

Another way to see feedback is that it is all about active listening, taking out time to investigate, and thinking about the best possible way forward to perform a better job. It also allows you to offer positive criticism so that there is a better focus on outcomes. At the same time, teams get to learn and improve their career, both personally and professionally.

f) Creating a better work environment

With openness to criticism and a desire for constant feedback, you are enabling a positive environment. Some of the best ideas can also come from team members. This way, you are fostering a better work environment.

g) Benefiting from business-related ideas

Constant feedback should be a two-way process. While your employees listen to you, allow them a chance to offer feedback about managers, leaders, and the business. They may come up with bright ideas on business growth, innovative means of saving money, enhancing client-customer relationships, and how you can improve company market growth.

How to incorporate feedback into your system?

Now that you understand the importance of feedback and the kind of positive impact it can make on your business, let us understand how it can be incorporated into your current system.

Request Others for Feedback

Once you have completed a task given to you or if you have just ended a meeting or a business presentation, ask the audience or your manager for their feedback. Your line manager is sure to offer suggestions about corrective actions that you may want to take. If it’s your first time asking for feedback, why not practice on how and why you should ask for feedback.

Express Your Gratitude

Once someone offers you feedback, be it positive or negative, it’s a good practice to always thank the person who offered you the feedback. Find something that you feel is a compliment even if it’s just the very fact that the person had offered you feedback. You may want to ask the person to further elaborate on his or her idea and then express your intention on how you would further improvise. You may want to further modify the suggestion and offer or express your intention to make it work. But always thank them anyway.

Attach Actions You May Want to Take Based on Feedback

It is always a good practice to take action or plan the next steps based on the feedback offered to you. You may want to use this as an opportunity to plug in gaps and show better results next time. After the meeting, you may want to share actionable items with your manager just to ensure that you are on the same page and nothing is missed.

Link Feedback and Performance with Rewards and Recognitions

More and more companies today understand that additional compensation can motivate employees. So, you should work on feedback as provided and excel in your career. Constructive feedback plays an imperative role as it offers you proper guidance when you need it the most.

Such activities ensure that people on the team are more engaged in day-to-day operations. Further, you may notice that they show more involvement and offer a sense of loyalty once giving feedback becomes a regular practice in the organization.