Creating Feedback Loops: How to Make Employees Feel Heard in Hybrid Teams

It is no secret that the transition to hybrid work has altered several aspects of collaboration, communication, and growth within teams. Thus, having good feedback practices even when employees are working from home or in the office can help alleviate the concern of whether the employees are appreciated or not. But what are feedback loops, and how do you implement them in a hybrid environment? In this article, we will discuss how to effectively design feedback loops for hybrid teams and ensure that the employees feel that their voice is heard.

What Are Feedback Loops?

As the name suggests, feedback loops focus on the employees’ performance and allow managers to enhance and reinforce desirable behaviors. The employees provide feedback, management responds and change occurs based on that feedback provided by the employees. The feedback is not only a suggestion box, the feedback ‘loops’ provide sustained conversations between employees and leaders within a company, enhancing conversations within a company. Employees’ feedback becomes actionable steps that improve the company culture. They become important in cases of hybrid teams or remote teams because of communication gaps as teams are located in different geographical areas.

Why Feedback Loops Matter More in Hybrid Teams?

For hybrid teams, certain challenges can cause workers to either be cut off or neglected. Developing feedback loops that suit both office-based and remote workers could improve engagement, performance, and contentment levels. Changes brought in an organization after giving feedback instill a positive feeling in the workers and make them want to commit and work hard.

As reported in the 2023 Gallup poll, organizations with effective feedback culture see a 20% increase in employee engagement which in turn, improves team performance as well as retention rates.

How to Create Feedback Loops?

How do you formulate a feedback loop that resonates with hybrid teams? Let’s elaborate further:

Step 1: Create a Multi-Channel Feedback System

The hybrid style of work implies more freedom which is why not all employees would like to use the same channels for verbal communication in the workplace and provide the same feedback. Therefore, it is paramount to provide more than a few avenues for feedback. In this regard, let’s talk about several ways an employee can provide feedback, especially for those who are not comfortable with voicing their concerns.

• Surveys: Regular surveys are a straightforward way to gather structured insights. Regular surveys such as monthly or quarterly would help you track particular team sentiment and even head off recurring themes.
• Pulse Surveys: These are shorter questionnaires that can either be weekly or bi-weekly to know the team mood at that time regarding a particular aspect of the theme. They can contain either one or two questions to get real-time feedback from the employees on a recent change in the organization’s processes or policies.
• One-on-One Sessions: These are sessions that are aimed at meeting individual team members or managers and are aimed at conducting feedback in a personal way. They are particularly useful in the case of hybrid teams where employees may lack face-to-face settings in a traditional approach.
• Anonymous Feedback Tools: For employees who feel apprehensive about expressing themselves, these are great tools. Platforms like Auzmor let employees share their thoughts without fear of getting into trouble. 
• Virtual Forums: Try establishing a virtual forum (for example, a Slack channel, or MS Teams group) that lets teams conduct open feedback discussions. Through these platforms, employees can speak up on products, issues, and suggestions instantaneously.
• Instant Feedback Tools: Platforms like Auzmor promote instant feedback from the employees. This system enables and ensures that issues are solved right when they occur and are most relevant for quicker teams.

Step 2: Foster a Feedback-Friendly Culture

Establishing a culture that welcomes feedback is much more than simply asking for contributions – it has to do with creating an atmosphere where employees are not afraid to speak up. Here’s how to foster a feedback culture:

• Encourage Openness: Managers should actively welcome feedback and opinions and be willing to provide their input as well. Leaders need to be vulnerable to set the tone for their subordinates to follow. This will reinforce the performance improvement habit across the organization.  
• Train Managers on Active Listening: Feedback culture starts with listening. Teach managers how to listen and respond collaboratively, especially in difficult or critical feedback situations.
• Celebrate Feedback Contributions: Some employees risk speaking their minds only to experiment with how the company would react, such employees should receive an adequate response i.e. thank you or appreciation in team meetings. Such appreciation enables people to understand that feedback is valued and not just tolerated.
• Incorporate Feedback into Regular Conversations: Do not look at feedback just as a one-off activity or an occasional one, instead, make it a part of the daily conversations, the weekly ones, or the other routine conversations. Such circumstantial integration can help break most employee inhibitions by providing constructive feedback.  

Fun Idea:  

How about adopting the “Feedback Friday” culture? Each team member explains one highlight of the week for them and also an area that they believe could have been improved. It’s a great practice as it makes feedback a highlight of your work culture.

Step 3: Take Action and Close the Loop

In cases where feedback remains unutilized, it can degrade the morale of the employees. Employees have to feel that their feedback is worthwhile or they will lose trust in the process itself. Adhere to the following practices to ensure that you close the feedback loop properly: 

• Acknowledge All Feedback: Make sure to thank the employee for feedback as soon as it comes in. Even if you can’t change or implement anything immediately, simply saying thanks makes employees feel appreciated.
• Prioritize Based on Themes: Even in the best situations, not every piece of feedback will be actionable immediately. However, you can look for particular specific themes that keep cropping up and deal with these issues first. For instance, if several employees appear to be having problems with one particular tool, it will be wise to give the feedback more attention than one-off comments.
• Communicate Actions and Progress: During regular updates, be open about anything you intend to do which could be based on your employee’s feedback. The more your employees see their feedback contributing to forward motion, the more pertinent they realize their feedback is. 
• Follow-Up for Further Insight: Once changes are made, follow up to see if they had the desired effect. This ongoing dialogue keeps employees involved and helps you refine processes over time.

Step 4: Embrace Technology for Seamless Feedback Collection

In environments with hybrid work structures, technology comes in handy to ensure that feedback cycles are efficient and easy to access. Here’s how to use technology to optimize the feedback collection process: 

• Feedback and Survey Tools: Platforms like Auzmor come with fully customizable surveys and real-time feedback mechanisms. These can be adjusted to cater to different feedback requirements, from the previously discussed pulse surveys to long-form feedback forms.
• Data Visualization and Reporting: Employ the use of visualization tools to be able to interpret feedback data to create impact. Tools such as Power BI or even Auzmor’s reporting dashboard will enable you to spot patterns, and areas of concern, and check how effective your feedback efforts have been.
• Integration with Communication Platforms: Connect feedback tools with communication platforms such as Slack, Teams, or Zoom. This decreases the need for employees to switch their tasks to provide feedback, which is beneficial.
• Automated Reminders and Follow-Ups: Recurring reminders make certain that requests for feedback do not get lost. Set up reminders for pulse surveys, follow-up messages, so that the process is hassle-free and seamless.

Step 5: Tailor Feedback Collection to Remote and In-Office Employees

One of the most difficult parts of the hybrid team model is making sure that both the remote employees and the employees at the office feel that the feedback mechanisms in place are equally available to them. Here’s how to tweak your method so that both groups can be easily reached:

• Remote-First Feedback Channels: Because team members who work from home are not close to their managers, make more use of electronic feedback techniques such as online questionnaires, videos, or surveys that are completely anonymous.
• In-Office Drop-In Sessions: For employees who work at the office, you can have an informal “drop-in” session where the employees can speak to the managers on a one-on-one basis. Perhaps this will bring more feedback from those who prefer to give their opinions in person.
• Hybrid Team Meetings: Arrange regular review meetings with team leaders who are physically present in the office with the others who are not. Encourage everyone, irrespective of their place, to speak out and provide virtual options to those who cannot attend the meeting in person.

Step 6: Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Feedback Loop

Like any business process, work dynamics feedback loops are also supposed to be checked to make sure they work. The following are the key parameters to assess and enhance the feedback loop over the period:

• Participation Rates: Keep an eye on what proportion of employees are participating in your feedback duties. Low participation could mean that the process feels difficult or too complex.
• Response Times: Note the amount of time spent on receiving an acknowledgment and a response to feedback. Low response scores could mean that your loop requires course correction.
• Theme Frequency: Review the feedback frequency on certain categories to analyze the factors that have been a cause of concern more readily.
• Action Completion Rates: Evaluate the number of times feedback resulted in change that could be acted on. This will reveal the extent of how well you are closing the feedback loop.

Step 7: Iterate and Improve Your Feedback Processes

Initially, your feedback loop doesn’t have to be ideal. The best feedback loops are the ones that keep evolving and getting better with time. After each feedback loop, investigate what worked, what was successful, how everything would have been done differently, and what could have been refined. Continuous improvement and adjusting your processes can be achieved with the following recommendations:

• Experiment with New Channels: Experiment with new kinds of feedback tools and channels that suit the employees’ preferences and the level of their engagement.
• Solicit Meta-Feedback: As with any process, the feedback process relies on feelings and opinions. In this case, this is the feedback about the feedback. Employees have to be able to express their opinions.
• Adjust Frequency Based on Needs: The feedback will be aggregated by the needs of the team. Some teams may decide to have weekly check-ins, whereas other teams might prefer monthly or quarterly feedback.

Conclusion:

When managing a feedback loop on hybrid teams, the case is not just about listening or filling in the gaps of input received – it is about establishing a core value of interdependence, commitment, and development. Designing a responsive feedback system conveys to the employees that their input is significant and that the company is dedicated to improvement. It is worth noting that the focus is on the improvement of the business function, not on achieving the ideal business model. Listening, changing, and improving is an excellent approach to providing feedback that will benefit the hybrid team to be more effective, integrated, and active.

Following these guidelines and always keeping feedback loops alive; you will create an environment where employees are genuinely involved and effective, regardless of their location.