Feedback, says Bill, is absolutely crucial and without it, business owners can delude themselves into thinking everything is working perfectly, or make assumptions about what’s happening within their operations.

In last month’s blog about business owners driving improvement and unlocking their full potential, Bill talked about personal growth and self-reflection. Giving and receiving feedback is essential for business growth and success and it can be feedback for the business, for the team and for the business owner.

Without feedback, we don’t know what we don’t know.

 

Feedback for the business

Feedback about the business, it’s products and services can be sought in several different ways. Someone within the business should first and foremost ask for feedback. Not every company does this. Some will ask for a Google review – usually when they feel confident the feedback will be good – so ultimately it doesn’t have huge value other than for marketing purposes.

When asking for feedback, the person seeking it shouldn’t necessarily be the business owner or the person who’s the closest contact of the client. Bringing in someone else to ask for feedback introduces more independence and means it’s more likely to be genuine when the business/personal relationship is not in the mix.

The most effective businesses seek feedback by going to speak to their clients and asking them specific questions about their products or services. And they do this so they can learn how to do things better.

 

Feedback for the team

Giving feed back to the team should be a continuous process, not just something that happens once a year. First, it’s important that team members have got clear job roles, responsibilities and KPIs to measure against.

It’s then about making sure your giving regular positive feedback – because everybody likes to get it – but if there’s anything that’s not going right, to use feedback to nip it in the bud. The issue should be talked about quickly and can be put right.

Too many employees, says Bill, start roles and are just left to get on with it. They need to be guided, encouraged and given feedback. When new people are brought into the business they need to be supported and carefully managed.

 

Feedback for the business owner

Everything that a business owner has done to date is reinforced by where they’ve already got to, and it’s likely that they’ll be reluctant to change. ‘I’ve always done it like this,’ has got them to where they are now, but that might not be the best course of action to grow their business in the future. This being the case, it’s important for business owners to give feedback, but also be the recipient of it.

Feedback for the business owner can come in 360° feedback, but it’s important to set some ground rules for this to be really effective within a business that wants to grow.

The big challenge is that everybody involved in the 360° feedback process should look forward. There are two people involved in each review – the person who’s looking for feedback and the person giving it – and the people who are giving feedback must commit to letting go of the past and think about what the individual can do to improve, rather than be critical of what’s gone on before. This applies not just to 360° feedback, but to all feedback given and received.

Everyone involved in the 360° feedback process should have an improving mindset.

 

Feedback versus feedforward

I think the problem with feedback is we tend to look back and criticise what went wrong…and it never goes down well. But giving people positive thoughts about what they can do better in the future is much more effective and is what I call feedforward.

So, looking forward with a positive mindset and positive recommendations for improvement is very effective, and whilst it’s important not to forget what’s happened in the past, it’s important not to apportion blame as part of the feedback process or hold grudges.

In summary, feedback is an extremely important tool for business – for the business itself; for the team and also for the business owner. The whole thinking is about what’s going well, which is interesting, but what’s really important is what we could do better. And the way to find out? Ask.

If you’re looking to grow your business, please book a complimentary 30-minute chat with Bill. In the call you can explore how you can effectively implement giving and receiving feedback in your business and how that will keep you competitive and help you adapt to changes in the market.