How to Turn Employee Feedback into Action ""To manage the employee experience, leaders must deeply understand employees’ perceptions, feelings, and desires and respond thoughtfully. This is particularly crucial when immense resources are invested in gathering employee feedback through pulse surveys, town halls, and data scraping from internal communications. But leaders are often overwhelmed by the data and struggle to translate it into actionable insights." In their Harvard Business Review article, Ethan Burris, Benjamin Thomas, Ph. D, SHRM-CP, Ketaki Sodhi, PhD, and Dawn Klinghoffer, share insights from interviews with more than two dozen companies to outline seven challenges in moving from insight to action with employee feedback. For each challenge, they demonstrate how leading places to work have built an integrated process for assembling and understanding employee input and translating it into action. The seven challenges are: 1️⃣ Making sense of all that data. 2️⃣ Making sure employees feel heard. 3️⃣ Identifying the actual underlying problems. 4️⃣ Protecting employee privacy. 5️⃣ Navigating conflicting views. 6️⃣ Not burying bad news. 7️⃣ Providing meaningful follow-up. "Ultimately, success (in employee listening) lies in empowering leaders to translate insights into concrete actions, effectively communicating progress, and fostering a continual feedback loop that values and respects the diverse voices within the organization." I'm looking forward to interviewing one of the authors, Dawn Klinghoffer, at the Insight222 Peer Meeting being hosted by Merck in Darmstadt, Germany, this morning, where Dawn will be speaking about the study and other aspects of how work leading people analytics at Microsoft with European member companies of the Insight222 People Analytics Program® ▶️ The study is featured in the October edition of Data Driven HR Monthly, where I select and curate the best HR, future of work and people analytics resources of the month. See full edition here: https://lnkd.in/et8SYAF4 ◀️ #humanresources #employeelistening #peopleanalytics #learning #culture #leadership #employeeexperience #psychologicalsafety #culture
Thank you!
I love your comprehensive review of the article David Green 🇺🇦. Feedback loops and empowering actions are the most crucial factors in employee experience. It is no point for surveys without actions.
Interesting insights David Green 🇺🇦. What companies do is seek feedback from employees through full blown or pulse surveys on an annual or semiannual basis and not periodically as should be the case. Moreover action planning is a crapshoot as it inconsistent or non-existent. For this to work effectively companies must implement a continuous feedback loop and empower the managers to proactively take action and be held accountable for them. At one of my former companies I had worked very hard to create an inclusive environment and implemented a bottoms up action planning process where the employees came up with a plan to address their challenges - so they owned the plan. I then made my direct reports manage the outcomes. This resulted in my team registering the highest engagement score in the next reporting cycle.
GREAT research and post! This has to cause the leadership to reflect - some root causes will be very close to home, and there has to be the humility in place to recognise this and change personally.
Dani Bruzzi, dá uma ohlada aqui
Thank you for sharing this, David Green 🇺🇦 Leaders often face challenges in turning employee feedback into meaningful action, but at Qualee, we’ve developed tools to help overcome these barriers: Making sense of data: Our AI-driven analysis groups feedback by themes and trends, simplifying complex data for quick insights. Ensuring employees feel heard: Anonymous feedback options and real-time acknowledgment build trust and engagement. Identifying root causes: Our tools go beyond surface issues to uncover underlying problems. Protecting privacy: Data security and anonymity are prioritized to encourage honest sharing. Navigating conflicting views: Segment data by teams, roles, or demographics to address differing perspectives. Addressing tough issues: Actionable insights are highlighted to ensure no critical feedback gets overlooked. Providing meaningful follow-up: Automated suggestions and pulse surveys create an ongoing feedback loop that tracks progress and communicates updates. Looking forward to seeing more insights in your interview with Dawn Klinghoffer on this important topic!
Gathering feedback is actually just the start! What truly matters is how we respond and act on it. And I think, oftentimes, the gap between hearing and acting often comes from trying to overcomplicate the process... Prioritising transparency and consistent communication can already make a huge difference!!
Thank you for sharing this David. It's a sentiment that our leadership has held for many years and have committed to creating a platform that meets all seven challenges. For anyone interested in learning how, please visit Qualee or get in touch with our team.
Turning employee insights into action is indeed a critical leadership skill. Excited to hear more from the upcoming discussion with Dawn Klinghoffer!
HR & Internal Communications Specialist | Employee Onboarding and Relations
1dTurning feedback into action is where the real challenge begins. I often notice (and am guilty of it myself) that feedback is gathered, but the follow-up can be slow or unclear. If we don’t act—and communicate those actions—people may lose trust in the process and stop seeing the value in sharing their insights. This article highlights crucial steps to bridge the gap between listening and action.