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Feedback loops are the quickest way to solve internal communication problems across your business. Find out how.
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Effective internal communications can be the difference between your business thriving and it barely surviving.
And the quicker you take action on your employees’ feedback, the quicker you’ll turn your internal comms into your organization’s secret weapon.
Which is where feedback loops come in.
Here’s everything you need to know to improve internal communication in your business as fast as possible using feedback loops.
A feedback loop is when you reuse the outcome of a process as a fresh input to quickly help you improve the way you do things. Keep repeating this process and you’ll see continuous improvement across your business.
While the formal feedback loop definition might sound complicated, feedback loops are quite intuitive and easy to bake into your internal communication strategy.
Let’s look at two quick examples…
Both positive and negative employee feedback can be used to improve internal communication in an organization with feedback loops.
Here’s how:
Despite their name, negative feedback loops aren’t a bad thing. In fact, they’re an incredibly effective way to nip employee engagement problems in the bud before they become serious issues.
For example, if multiple people complain that they were micromanaged at your company during their exit interviews, you can use that as the seed of a negative feedback loop.
First, you could make sure to give your managers the training and support they need to delegate more effectively. Then you make sure to specifically ask about micromanagement in future exit interviews to see if it’s a problem that persists and needs further action.
A positive feedback loop is an internal feedback loop built around doubling down on something your people like about the way you do things at your company.
For example, if an employee satisfaction survey reveals your employees love that they’re kept in the loop about what’s going on in the business through your executive updates, that’s a clear sign you should make those a cornerstone of your internal comms strategy.
Want the best chance of using feedback loops to improve internal communication across your organization?
Here are the three different kinds of feedback you should collect from your employees for the best results:
Constructive feedback is concrete and actionable advice on how a specific area can be improved.
So, it pays to know what to ask (and when) in one-to-one meetings, as the right questions will give you constructive feedback that’s the most fertile ground for effective feedback loops.
Informal feedback is spontaneous, unstructured, and can lead to an immediate improvement in behaviors and results. Asking an employee for feedback on how your business runs outside of the formal structure of a one-to-one or annual review can often give you a quick sense of how you’re doing in a certain area a lot faster than a formal survey.
While informal feedback has its time and place, for the best results, most of the feedback you ask your people for should be collected formally. A formal survey will give your people a chance to think through their answers, time to go into depth with their responses, and – most importantly of all – anonymity.
First-class internal comms could be your ticket to a happier, more productive, and more engaged team.
And positive and negative feedback loops are the quickest route to baking internal communications best practices into your business.
Here are a few research-backed reasons to add closed loop communication into your internal communication plan:
Organizations that give their employees a voice – and then act on their feedback – are a massive 12 times more likely to retain them.
Which is why one of the biggest benefits that comes from acting on employee feedback is the impact it can have on your retention rates.
Someone who feels like their colleagues and higher-ups care about what they have to say is likely to be a lot more engaged in their work than someone who feels like their opinion doesn’t matter at work.
So, it’s hardly a surprise that 74% of people are more engaged at work when they feel like they have a voice. And adding feedback loops to your internal communication channels is a surefire way of making sure your peoples’ voice is heard.
Top-down management – when employees on each rung of the corporate ladder are expected to carry out the instructions that’ve been passed down from the C-suite – definitely has its benefits.
But when the message from the bosses is “do what you’re told”, you’re shutting down any creative solutions or suggestions your frontline staff might bring to the table.
Feedback loops can bring collaboration back on the table and give your people a say in how things are done in your business. And since companies that empower their people with a strong voice are 3.6X more likely to innovate effectively, they could lead to the next game-changing idea in your business.
Use feedback loops to consistently ask for your employees’ opinion – and then act on their feedback – and you’re 8.4 times more likely to inspire a sense of belonging. And when people feel like they belong, employee engagement goes through the roof.
Sold on the impact feedback loops could have on your business?
Let’s dive in to how to implement employee feedback loops in your organization:
The first step to implementing effective feedback loops starts long before you start thinking about the internal communication tools you’re going to use.
Because here’s the thing: your teammates will only give you the kind of feedback you can use to start an effective feedback loop if you’ve cultivated a company culture that makes them feel like they can speak openly and honestly about the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your business without worrying about whether that’s going to affect their job security.
Unfortunately, there’s no overnight fix if you feel like your employees hold back during surveys and one-to-ones. Your only option is to put in the work building a stronger company culture.
Once you’ve made your employees feel comfortable opening up about how they feel about your organization it’s time to capture their thoughts and turn them into feedback loops that solve the issues that get flagged as fast as possible.
And that starts with using the right internal communication software, such as:
Collect the feedback you capture through these internal comms tools in a section in your knowledge base and you’ll have the list of feedback loops you can arrange in priority order and then start executing as part of your internal communications strategy.
Ask your team members to open up about their honest thoughts about what you could do better as a business and then fail to act on their feedback and you could seriously damage the trust they have in you.
On the other hand, if you fix an issue an employee flags, they’re a lot more likely to open up about more problems – and encourage their teammates to do the same. This will create more feedback loops you can use to quickly improve employee engagement and retention rates.
Get them right and feedback loops are the quickest way to solve the internal communication problems across your business.
Follow the steps we’ve outlined here to start using them to improve your organization today.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore Guide
Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.
There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.
Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.
The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.
We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.
Yes. We offer a completely free plan for up to 50 team members. This plan is intended for teams or organizations that are looking to get started with an employee engagement tool. Keep in mind, this plan is limited in features.
All customers can open an Assembly account for free and get started without a credit card. Then you can change plans as necessary.
At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.
The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.
We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.
Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!
While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.
Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.
Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.
That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.
They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.
No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.
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