In my blog, “Four ways that organizations have dehumanized IT – and how to fix it”, I suggested that organizations should “ditch those satisfaction surveys”. Instead of satisfaction surveys, I recommended that organizations should conduct face-to-face focus group meetings. Focus group meetings drive a human-to-human discussion which typically uncovers insights into improvement opportunities.
When I later posted the blog on LinkedIn, Sami Kallio, my friend and CEO of Happy Signals commented, “…don’t you feel that that you should do both [distribute and collect satisfaction surveys and conduct focus group meetings]?”
Well, yes. Sami is correct. Organizations should do both – distribute and collect satisfaction surveys and conduct focus group meetings.
But in my experience, many organizations just don’t do a good job with their customer satisfaction surveys. One of the challenges with these surveys is that the return rate is usually anemic at best.
But Sami’s comments made me think. Why aren’t customer satisfaction surveys effective? Is it more than just the poor quality of questions that are being asked?
Maybe it’s that organizations can’t handle the truth (sorry, couldn’t resist the movie reference), so they don’t seek it out.
Or maybe – and much more likely – organizations are not prepared for continuous feedback.
Three reasons why organizations fail with continuous feedback
Getting continuous feedback regarding an organization’s products, services, and processes is a good thing. Continuous feedback provides timely insights and uncovers opportunities for development and improvement. Continuous feedback also enhances employee engagement[i], improves communication[ii], and can lead to better decision making[iii].
So why do organizations fail with continuous feedback?
- No formally defined approach to continual improvement. Without a formally defined approach to continual improvement, continuous feedback goes nowhere. In many organizations, continual improvement activities are ad-hoc. Even when these ad-hoc activities are performed, they are rarely tracked – and even more rarely reviewed for effectiveness.
- No management support. Do you see the phrase “continual improvement” as an objective within a company’s mission/vision/goals (MVG) statement? If not, resources for continual improvement will be difficult to obtain. Organizations will invest in the objectives identified within MVG, which are typically focused on innovation and growth. Senior managers are incentivized to achieve the goals and objectives found within the MVG. Continual improvement, on the other hand, is usually not perceived as being innovative, and as a result, isn’t adequately funded. Paradoxically, some innovations within organizations result in an increase in technical debt, which only exacerbates the need for continual improvement.
- Having a culture that does not value continuous feedback[iv]. In today’s rapid paced, “always on” business environment, it’s easy to overlook or put off opportunities to reinforce the value of continuous feedback. When was the last time that your department celebrated a big win? Are one-on-one meetings frequently delayed, or even worse, cancelled? Are people’s calendars double (and triple) booked? Do employees understand how their work contributes to business success? Without feedback, there can be no improvement. Leaders must instill a culture of continuous feedback – an environment that values and contributes to feedback at the personal, departmental, and organizational level.
The idea is good. The execution…not so much.
The concept of continual improvement driven by continuous feedback is a good idea. Continual improvement is simply good common sense. I believe that organizations that do not continually improve aren’t just sitting still – they are moving backwards. Why? Organizations exist in a constant state of change – business environments change, marketplaces change, regulations change, consumer needs change, technology changes, skill sets change. A formal approach to continual improvement isn’t a “nice to have”; it’s a fundamental competency for every organization to master to successfully navigate the constancy of change.
Continuous feedback provides a great way to monitor the resulting impact of these ever-evolving changes on the people and processes. Some of that impact may be readily visible to an organization, through measures like increased contact volumes at the service desk or an increased number of incidents. But it’s more that IT measures. Quantifiable measures such as reduced profitability and revenues are also ways to gauge the business impact of the ever-evolving change.
But what about the impacts that may not be as visible? Issues like longer lead times, loss of reputation or credibility, having the wrong mix of products and service offerings, or people that haven’t received adequate training to do their jobs? Continuous feedback provides a means for capturing these issues as well.
Are you dropping the ball between feedback and improvement?
If continuous feedback is not delivering the benefits your organization needs, here are three suggestions to try.
- Define goals for continuous feedback. When it comes to continuous feedback, are you just “checking off the box”? Or are your surveys asking meaningful questions regarding the impact of change or any friction being encountered in the respondents’ daily work? To get the answers that you need starts with defining goals for continuous feedback.
- Ask the right questions. While rating a product, service, or support action on a numerical scale makes for some easy math, it really doesn’t render useful or insightful feedback. Think about it – when you see a restaurant review that contains written comments from the reviewer, you are better enabled to make an evaluation of that restaurant. The same idea goes for continual feedback. Asking specific open-ended questions encourages specific and more detailed feedback – feedback that can better evaluated to identify improvement opportunities.
- Start keeping score. Review the feedback that is currently being collected to identify potential improvement opportunities. Then, for any identified improvement, define what success looks like before taking any further action. What will the impact of the improvement action be to the organization, to the consumer, and to the employee? What will be different? How should improvement be measured – in terms that makes sense to each stakeholder of the improvement. Make the improvement even more meaningful by capturing financial, efficiency, and effectiveness measures. Providing meaningful measures and reporting for improvements help justify the next improvement – and reinforce the value of continuous feedback.
Done well, continuous feedback makes for better interactions, better processes, better products, better communications and collaboration, and better services. Defining clear objectives for continuous feedback, asking the right questions, and tracking achievements will help overcome barriers to success with continuous feedback.
[i] https://www.talentquest.com/blog/how-continuous-feedback-improves-employee-engagement , Retrieved March 2025.
[ii] https://prezentium.com/effective-communication-in-the-workplace , Retrieved March 2025.
[iii] https://www.linkedin.com/advice/3/heres-how-you-can-harness-benefits-team-input-before-ty13f , Retrieved March 2025.
[iv] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-reasons-why-your-continuous-feedback-program-failing-rnm1e , Retrieved March 2025.
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