How do you manage feedback loops internally? 🔁

[tranguyen]

Hey everyone ✨

Having a robust feedback loop is important to any organization — it helps them to continously improve their product or service.

With this in mind, @MudFire_Dex wants to ask:

How do you manage feedback loops internally?

Looking forward to reading all your suggestions and tips!

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[MudFire_Dex]

I'd love some tips 🙂 - we are growing as an organization and now have what I feel like is an ineffective hierarchical issue of people who have been with us longer - struggling to give feedback to newer people - and newer people in a panic about confronting that at all or reversing the flow of feedback and information. Information seems to be dead ending. The first step I took was to have a meeting with each person to assess where they were and what the issues are - and am trying to resource changes that are helpful. We have solid feedback loops on processes - like POS/Square related things but issues that are more amorphous are causing lots of growing pains.

[TCSlaguna]

It's definitely a work in progress. As Operations Manager I try to foster an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, advice and opinions, I also try to be the connection between the owner and the employees when the employees are hesitant to ask questions (which they shouldn't because the owner is super nice and awesome). We also try to engage with our customers before and after each sale to gauge their experience, and discuss it in meetings to continually improve our processes. 

[JUYBoutique20]

Since I don't have employees yet, my family and I always have a pow wow and discuss what we feel is working and/or what's not.  For my customers I have a notebook for any suggestions they would like to see added to our current line up and/or I also encourage them to leave a review through square so I can see where we can improve.

[DinaLRosenberg]

For me.. it's critically important to give our team members the ear to pass on any ideas they have. Often times they're the ones interacting with customers and so have the day-to-day feedback necessary to keep our products fresh and relevant. When internal feedback rubs up against our processes, we sit down and look at objectively. It's hard as an owner not to treat every part of your business like a part of you- but we've done a lot of work on ourselves to get our ego out of the way so we can keep an open mind.

[rtfulk]

There’s just 2 of us, I watch the technology end and my wife handles product ordering and designs. They way our feedback works is, if she has a question about Square or the website. We talk about it and then I try to figure out a way to accommodate what she wants. For her side she is constantly talking with customers asking for feedback so she can make the appropriate designs.

[MudFire_Dex]

@TCSlaguna we have good feedback loops back to me and are solid there. This in part happened because my partner and I have been gone from the office a lot and in the absence of my presence in the building organic shares and feedback was lost and we are suffering with a lack of trust from the newest to the most senior staff - not in the loop back to us or with customers if that makes sense. We have started a bridging channel in slack but each member of the team only works 8 hours a week and most don't directly overlap with each other to make mediated conversations easy. Can you think of any tips on communication / feedback since your organization is larger that employees use between each other?

[TCSlaguna]

It's a work in progress for us. Some of the simplest things we have difficulty with. I will see on then Amazon app that we received a delivery, I will go into the store, ask the employees where the package is, and no one knows. Finally I'll find it a week later behind something or under another. 

We use Whatsapp, but I've noticed if someone is not working that day, they don't read it. 

[CactusQuilter]

We are a small quilt shop and have 7 employees plus me (owner) and we have a group message chat that we can communicate for immediate needs.  We have a small spiral bound notebook that they write in to share where they are on projects in the shop and I also put announcements in the book.  When they have read it they sign their initials to the page.  They can go back and refresh memories on procedures, etc.  It is old-school but it works well for us. 

[lawnbrook]

As a Hospo business we have a transient staff whom are generally quite young. For many this is their first 'real job' we make sure we maintain a friendly nurturing environment and that way the feedback comes very naturally win normal converation without fear of judgement or retaliation.

Needless to say, hospo being the business it is, it can take some more seasoned workers time to adjust when they come to use from less like minded businesses... I don't think there's anything to be gained by ruling with an iron fist when dealing with young impressionable souls.

[Bronze_Palms]

Once a year, we send a survey out on Google forms to request feedback in different areas of our business

• salon cleanliness
• staff attitudes
• service quality

I get a lot of great advise from clients directly that I would never have thought of.

When I match the feedback up to my numbers, I review it with staff internally and see what ideas we have to improve the business. That is where we really take action and update the business.

For example, the survey told us that clients want to come in more, its just not cost effective. We are the most expensive in our area and, while we run packages, that still means they have to pay upfront to take advantage of savings. We started running rebooking promos and our numbers are ridiculously high now - we used to do 50/50 new/returning clients; now we are at 20/80. Reviews are excellent and staff have full books.

[Bronze_Palms]

We manage feedback by adding it to a large internal document for review at the beginning of shifts. I encourage consistent communication across the business and am open to change. I also communicate feedback without opinions and keep everything factual.

[Bronze_Palms]

Externally with clients, we check in on them a couple days after their service concludes to see if they have any feedback for us. We take that internally to improve.

Internally with staff, we have a running Salon Updates doc where I add everything that is new to and have everyone sign off they read it when complete. This way, we are all on the same page.

[Hurry061]

However, I can provide insight into best practices for managing feedback loops in a general context:

1. Establish Clear Objectives: Define the purpose and goals of the feedback loop. Understand what specific information or improvements you aim to gather through feedback.

2. Select Appropriate Channels: Utilize various channels (surveys, suggestion boxes, direct conversations, software tools) to collect feedback. Choose channels that align with your audience and objectives.

3. Encourage Open Communication: Create a culture that encourages open and honest feedback. Ensure that team members feel comfortable providing feedback without fear of repercussions.

4. Regular Feedback Cycles: Establish regular intervals for feedback collection and analysis. This ensures consistent monitoring of progress and allows for timely adjustments.

5. Analyze and Act on Feedback: Evaluate collected feedback and take actionable steps based on it. Communicate any changes or improvements made as a result of the feedback loop to the team.

6. Continuous Improvement: Use feedback to drive continuous improvement. Implement changes and reassess to ensure ongoing development and adaptation to evolving needs.

7. Monitor and Measure Impact: Track the impact of changes made as a result of the feedback loop. Evaluate whether adjustments have positively affected the intended areas.

Implementing these practices can help in managing effective feedback loops within an organization, fostering an environment of continuous improvement and responsiveness to internal and external inputs.