Enhancing Employee Feedback Systems

When I started working in law firms, it was hard to get feedback on my work. Senior lawyers were often busy and giving feedback wasn't always top-of-mind unless something was really wrong with what I was doing. In case it helps, here are a few things I learned to do to drive feedback discussions: 1️⃣ Generate compares Using document comparisons will show the differences between your draft and the final version that goes out to the client. It's the easiest way to show the changes your supervisor has made in both style and substance. It's also good for generating specific questions for your supervisor to answer instead of a general "is there anything I could improve?" 2️⃣ Set up post-project catch ups It's usually easiest for supervisors to give feedback after a matter (or phase in that matter) has finished, instead of when everything is still ongoing. "Hi Jane, I'm trying to get a bit more feedback on my work. Would it be okay if I set up a [15 minute] meeting for me to ask you a few questions after we send this out to the client?" 3️⃣ Ask specific questions One of the most difficult things for supervisors to do is give 'general' feedback. It's much easier (and more constructive) if you can identify a few specific areas to improve. "I felt like I had trouble juggling the different tasks on this matter. Could you walk me through your process?" "This is how I approached the task. Is there a better way you'd do it next time?" "I've looked through the compare and I wanted to ask why these changes were made." 4️⃣ Implement feedback and follow up Just as you'd like to receive constructive feedback, supervisors like to know if it's had an effect. Taking a bit of time to follow up and share how a piece of advice has worked out can motivate them to keep providing feedback in future. "Hey I just wanted to let you know that I tried out your process and it's been working a lot better now. Thanks!" Anything else you'd add? ------ Btw, if you're a junior lawyer looking for practical career advice - check out the free how-to guides on my website. You can also stay updated by sending a connection / follow. #lawyers #legalprofession #lawfirms #lawstudents

"In teamwork, silence isn't golden, it's deadly." 🔹 Throughout my leadership journey in the #CivilServices, I have come to appreciate the critical role that #communication plays in building successful teams. 🔹 It's not just about issuing directives—it's about ensuring that every team member feels: ➡️ Heard ➡️ Valued ➡️ Connected to the organization’s broader mission and vision. 🔹 In the often rigid structure of the bureaucratic system, I’ve always felt the need for more horizontal and bottom-up communication. ➡️ Implementing these channels has had a significant impact: ✨ It allows me to voice my insights and concerns upwards. ✨ It encourages my staff to share their feedback and ideas openly, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose. 🔹 By prioritizing regular updates, open discussions, and feedback loops, we: ➡️ Celebrate our achievements. ➡️ Address any challenges collaboratively. ➡️ Keep everyone informed, engaged, and motivated to move forward together. 🔹 Working in dynamic settings means setbacks are inevitable. ➡️ But the real strength of a team lies in its ability to openly address challenges and brainstorm solutions together. ➡️ By fostering a culture of open communication, we anticipate potential roadblocks and develop strategies to overcome them collectively. 🔍 How do you encourage communication within your teams? I’d love to hear about the unique ways you promote a culture of open dialogue and shared purpose in your organization!

When I inherit a team, I ask everyone the same 3 questions. It doesn't matter if the team is 50 people or 800. The process is the same. I start with my leadership team. Then their direct reports. Then the middle managers. Then the practitioners. I will literally spend four to five months doing one-on-ones with as many people as possible. And I ask everyone the same thing: - What should we start doing that we haven't done? - What should we stop doing that we continue to do? - What should we continue doing that's working and building credibility? Then I just listen. And take notes. And listen some more. By month four or five, I have a complete map of the organization. Not what leadership thinks is happening. Not what the org chart says should be happening. What's actually happening. The patterns reveal everything. If I hear the same issue from 15 different people across different levels, that's a real problem - not just one person's opinion. If everyone agrees we should stop doing something but leadership keeps pushing it, that tells me about the culture. If practitioners have ideas that never make it up the chain, that tells me about communication. I also ask: Who should we be partnering with? Who have been our allies and advocates? Who hasn't been supportive and why? This isn't just about gathering information. It's about building trust. People feel valued when you ask for their input. They feel heard when you actually listen. And when you eventually make changes, they understand you did your homework first. Try this with your own team. The answers will surprise you. What questions do you ask when assessing a team? 👇 #Leadership #TeamManagement #Management #DataLeadership #Culture #Organizations

Underrated leadership lesson: Be radically transparent. Feedback shouldn't happen just once a year. It should be a daily, continuous loop. During my 10 years at Bridgewater, I received 12,385 pieces of feedback. And, it wasn't just reserved for formal reviews. Feedback was given LIVE throughout the day. In the middle of a presentation? Feedback. Right after answering a question? Feedback. Truthfully, as an employee, I didn't always love it. But I valued it. After all, they're called blind spots for a reason. This was all the result of one key principle: Radical transparency. A system that integrates candid feedback into daily work life, Allowing employees to constantly assess and be assessed. Here's why it works: ✅ Good thinking and behavior increase ↳ Processes improve when logic is analyzed in real time. ✅ High standards are maintained  ↳ Problems get fixed faster when everything is visible. ✅ No more workplace hierarchies ↳ Continuous improvement happens when everyone is accountable. It's a principle that didn't just change my resilience to feedback. It completely transformed my leadership as a whole. So managers, Consider implementing radical transparency for these 7 reasons: 1. Faster problem-solving ↳ Small issues are easier to fix than big ones. 2. Openness saves time ↳ Less time wasted on gossip and tracking information. 3. Accelerated learning  ↳ Teams grow faster when they understand each other’s thinking. 4. Long-term success ↳ Ongoing feedback improves leadership and the organization. 5. Building an idea of meritocracy ↳ Transparency builds trust and rewards good ideas. 6. Reduced workplace inefficiencies ↳ Open communication cuts wasted time and confusion. 7. Proactive issue resolution ↳ Fixing small problems early prevents bigger ones. While getting scores live in the mid-presentation may not be for everyone: Becoming more transparent has real, tangible benefits, And can put you on a streamlined path to success. Leaders - are you brave enough to try it? ♻️ Repost to help other leaders become radically transparent. 🔔 And follow Dave Kline for more. 

Many teams overlook critical data issues and, in turn, waste precious time tweaking hyper-parameters and adjusting model architectures that don't address the root cause. Hidden problems within datasets are often the silent saboteurs, undermining model performance. To counter these inefficiencies, a systematic data-centric approach is needed. By systematically identifying quality issues, you can shift from guessing what's wrong with your data to taking informed, strategic actions. Creating a continuous feedback loop between your dataset and your model performance allows you to spend more time analyzing your data. This proactive approach helps detect and correct problems before they escalate into significant model failures. Here's a comprehensive four-step data quality feedback loop that you can adopt: Step One: Understand Your Model's Struggles Start by identifying where your model encounters challenges. Focus on hard samples in your dataset that consistently lead to errors. Step Two: Interpret Evaluation Results Analyze your evaluation results to discover patterns in errors and weaknesses in model performance. This step is vital for understanding where model improvement is most needed. Step Three: Identify Data Quality Issues Examine your data closely for quality issues such as labeling errors, class imbalances, and other biases influencing model performance. Step Four: Enhance Your Dataset Based on the insights gained from your exploration, begin cleaning, correcting, and enhancing your dataset. This improvement process is crucial for refining your model's accuracy and reliability. Further Learning: Dive Deeper into Data-Centric AI For those eager to delve deeper into this systematic approach, my Coursera course offers an opportunity to get hands-on with data-centric visual AI. You can audit the course for free and learn my process for building and curating better datasets. There's a link in the comments below—check it out and start transforming your data evaluation and improvement processes today. By adopting these steps and focusing on data quality, you can unlock your models' full potential and ensure they perform at their best. Remember, your model's power rests not just in its architecture but also in the quality of the data it learns from. #data #deeplearning #computervision #artificialintelligence

An open door means nothing if people don't feel safe walking through it. Most leaders struggle with team communication. Not because they're bad leaders— But because they mistake silence for everything being fine. Silence hides your biggest risks. If you see even one of these signals, pay attention: 1. The sudden drop in questions → When "any questions?" gets zero response That's fear, not clarity 2. The quick "yes" to every proposal → When pushback disappears overnight You've lost the real conversations 3. The "everything's fine" updates → When status reports are too perfect Problems are hiding in plain sight 4. The private back-channels → When feedback comes through others Direct trust is broken 5. The missing disagreements → When was the last time someone challenged you? Harmony isn't always healthy Here's what actually works: 1. Ask Better Questions → Not: "How's everything going?" → But: "What obstacle should I know about?" → And: "What would you do differently?" 2. Create Multiple Channels → Schedule skip-level meetings → Set up anonymous feedback loops → Use async channels for timely inputs 3. Go Where They Are → Walk the floor (or virtual rooms) → Join project channels → Show up in their space, not yours → Engage with those whom you haven't heard from Most importantly: Act on what you hear—even if you disagree. Nothing kills trust faster than ignored input. When people see their input matters, they'll give you more of it. Leadership is active, not passive. Stop waiting. Start seeking. 💬 Leaders: What other listening mechanisms work for you? ---- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts

"Start by asking for criticism, not by giving it. Don’t dish it out before you show you can take it." One of the biggest mistakes leaders make when trying to create a culture of feedback is skipping the most important step: soliciting feedback first. It’s easy to assume that because you’re open to giving feedback, others will be open to receiving it. But if you haven’t proven that you can take it yourself, you’re not setting the right example. People are naturally hesitant to challenge their boss directly. The risk feels high. That’s why it’s on you to make it safe - to show that you truly want to hear what they think, that you won’t get defensive, and that their candor will be met with appreciation, not punishment. Try this: In your next 1:1, ask, “What’s one thing I could do better?” Then, embrace the discomfort. Stay silent, let them respond, and listen with the intent to understand - not to reply. Feedback is a two-way street. When you lead by example, you create an environment where honesty and growth thrive. What’s one small way you’ve worked to make it easier for people to give you feedback? Let’s learn from each other.

If your feedback isn't changing behavior, you're not giving feedback—you're just complaining. After 25 years of coaching leaders through difficult conversations, I've learned that most feedback fails because it focuses on making the giver feel better rather than making the receiver better. Why most feedback doesn't work: ↳ It's delivered months after the fact ↳ It attacks personality instead of addressing behavior ↳ It assumes the person knows what to do differently ↳ It's given when emotions are high ↳ It lacks specific examples or clear direction The feedback framework that actually changes behavior: TIMING: Soon, not eventually. Give feedback within 48 hours when possible Don't save it all for annual reviews. Address issues while they're still relevant. INTENT: Lead with purpose and use statements like - "I'm sharing this because I want to see you succeed" or "This feedback comes from a place of support." Make your positive intent explicit. STRUCTURE: Use the SBI Model. ↳Situation: When and where it happened ↳Behavior: What you observed (facts, not interpretations) ↳Impact: The effect on results, relationships, or culture COLLABORATION: Solve together by using statements such as - ↳"What's your perspective on this?" ↳"What would help you succeed in this area?" ↳"How can I better support you moving forward?" Great feedback is a gift that keeps giving. When people trust your feedback, they seek it out. When they implement it successfully, they become advocates for your leadership. Your feedback skills significantly impact your leadership effectiveness. Coaching can help; let's chat. | Joshua Miller What's the best feedback tip/advice, and what made it effective? #executivecoaching #communication #leadership #performance

Leaders who avoid hard feedback aren’t protecting their people, they are setting them up to fail. Feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have in leadership but it’s also one of the most misused. Because leaders confuse compassion with avoidance, softening the truth until it loses all usefulness, or withholding it altogether under the guise of kindness. Compassionate feedback is about caring enough to be honest, in a way that allows other people to hear it. At APS Intelligence, we use a framework for compassionate feedback, designed to ensure that even difficult messages are delivered with clarity and respect: 1. Frame the feedback - Start by recognising effort and value to create psychological safety and remind people their work is seen and appreciated. 2. Ask permission - Feedback lands better when people feel like they have agency. Asking “Can I talk to you about something I’ve noticed?” is, as Dr. Shelby Hill says, a gentle knock on the door of someone’s psyche instead of barging in. 3. Be precise and objective - Describe what you’ve observed, not your interpretation of it. Feedback should focus on behaviour, not character. 4. Explain the impact - Share how the behaviour affects others or the work. Clarity about consequences builds accountability without blame. 5. Stay curious and open - Avoid assumptions. Ask questions that invite dialogue and understanding, not defence. 6. Collaborate on next steps - Offer support, not ultimatums. Feedback should be a shared problem to solve instead of a burden to bear. 7. End with perspective - Reaffirm their strengths and remind them that one issue does not define their value. Compassionate feedback allows honesty and humanity to coexist. It ensures that when people walk away, they feel respected, even if the message was hard to hear. This is a framework we use often at APS Intelligence. You can book a tailored workshop for your people managers or leadership cohorts to explore this further.

Even before joining Microsoft, I knew Dawn Klinghoffer was a trailblazer in the field of people analytics. Now, it’s a joy to collaborate with her as she adds so much insight to workforce strategy.   As leaders, we have access to a lot of people data. What makes this data valuable is understanding what the data is really saying and how to act on it. Dawn's recent article in the Harvard Business Review offers a mini course on just that.   Here are my top takeaways:   Prioritize Listening: Make sure your listening strategy is comprehensive. Use both direct and indirect signals to get a full picture of employee sentiments. Leverage Technology: Use AI and other technologies to quickly and accurately analyze data, turning insights into actions. Empower Managers: Equip managers with the tools and training they need to create their own feedback loops, ensuring feedback leads to tangible improvements within their teams. Transparency and Accountability: Be transparent about how feedback will be used and set clear next steps. This builds trust and encourages continuous participation from employees.   I hope you find this article both inspirational and actionable. By adopting these strategies, organizations can fully leverage their employees' voices to foster positive transformation, boost engagement, and secure long-term success.