Accuracy & Frequency Supercharge Your Feedback

In the hotel business, if your feedback comes only from guests who receive a free night in the presidential suite with its grand piano, marble floors, and a full view of the city, it does not represent your customer base and is therefore unlikely to guide you toward the most promising changes. Likewise, if your manager deprives you of accurate information about your current actions and its results, you both will be deprived of better results in the future.

More feedback is better If you’re scouring eBay for that exact out-of-print copy of an illustrated version of Three Little Pigs that your grandmother read to you as a child, you may see that both Roger and Amy happen to have it in stock. Roger has a five-star rating, based on ten reviews. Amy has a 4.8-star rating, but it’s based on twelve thousand reviews. Who are you going to buy the book from? Amy, of course, because you have way more feedback information about her performance; you are fairly sure that the book will reach you in good shape, while with Roger there’s a feeling that you are taking a risk. New online customer-feedback systems capture data from a larger and larger percentage of the total number of customers so that the changes being requested are a safer bet for decision makers responding to the feedback. If you only receive feedback on one slice of data about your work, you will not know which adjustments will make the biggest difference.

The more frequent the feedback loops, the more improvement possible If you are learning how dance the West Coast swing, two-step, tango, or any other dance, there are multiple ways to seek feedback: by taking lessons from a dance teacher, by dancing with an experienced partner, or just by comparing your steps to a DVD.

You would never try a new step only once. You want to practice it, get feedback on whether you are doing it well, and incorporate your feedback as you practice more. The more frequently you can cycle through your feedback loops of information, adjustment, and results, the faster you will master the dance. The same holds true for learning on the job. The more frequently you provide feedback, the easier it is for your team members to learn and improve.

Learn More

Read The Feedback Imperative for more information on how to give great feedback!