Putting feedback into action: 

🧩Last week I wrote about how feedback is only a part of the retention puzzle. 

It’s great if you can get your employees to tell you all the things that are hindering them from staying. 

Even better though???

Actually changing those things AND getting employees to stay! 

Now, I hear ya saying: “Hebba why are you asking so much of me??”

I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t challenging you to change it upppp. 

But implementing feedback can be particularly tricky for a few reasons!

Implementing feedback can feel PAINFUL if you are:

• Balancing big egos (eye roll)
• Facing resistance and your organization is afraid of change or taking risks
• Lacking time or resources 
• Dealing with skill gaps 

And that’s not a fully exhaustive list!

If you’re dealing with all of this and looking at a mountain of feedback that needs to be addressed, I have something for you!

My 7-step plan for implementing feedback. 

Let’s break it down. 

❤️The next time you’re wondering where to get started – reference this. 

Step 1: Analysis

^^ Me looking at some juicy data wondering to myself, where do I want to get started. 

Let me scream this from the rooftops: not all feedback is valid or needs to be addressed.

Sorry not sorry! 

But to actually make the decision on what is valid or needs to be addressed you need to first do your analysis. 

The analysis phase helps you get organized and:

• Uncover patterns
• Discover emotions 
• Assess tone

Pro-tip: make sure you compile all your feedback in one place so you’re able to categorize it. 

Here are some categories you can use:

• Work environment
• Job responsibilities 
• Management 
• Leadership 
• Team dynamics 
• Development 
• Compensation and benefits 
• Work-life balance 
• Culture 
• Process / tools 

📣Something to consider: I love adding a column for positive / negative to tag each feedback item. 

When it comes to feedback most people default to the critical but there is positive feedback that can help reinforce what you’re already doing!

✅Other helpful things to consider during this phase: 

• How this feedback was collected 
• Who is sharing this feedback 
• Actionability 
• Bias 

An estimate: this phase can take me anywhere from 1 hour to 5+ depending on how much feedback I’m analyzing. 

Once you’ve wrapped this step, move on to the next! 

Step 2: Prioritize 

Ahhh priorities. I remember those! Kidding…

🔑The key to prioritizing correctly?

A simple system! 

3 characteristics I think about:

• Impact: how will this impact satisfaction, productivity or performance
• Effort: what resources are need
• Urgency: how quickly does this need to be addressed 

And then I apply the t-shirt size approach: S, M, L. 

Small:

• Low impact
• Low effort
• Not urgent 

Think: routine requests like office temp adjustments, new Slack channels, meeting etiquette (starting on time, muting when its loud, etc) 

Medium: 

• Moderate impact
• Moderate effort 
• Moderate urgency 

Think: Inconsistent comms, skills development opportunities, deadline problems. 

Large:

• High impact
• High effort
• Urgent 

Think: major changes to policies, restructuring teams or departments, outdated performance management practices. 

Step 1 and step 2 can happen almost in tandem. 

I broke them out however because when I jump to prioritizing sometimes I miss crucial analysis. 

Usually during the priority stage you’ve come up with a few potential solutions. 

Those solutions come in handy during the next step. 

Securing alignment. 

Step 3: Alignment

To actually address ANY feedback – you must have alignment. 

To do this:

• Identify who you need buy-in from 
• Link all feedback to what matters to those you need buy-in from! Things like goals, employee productivity and satisfaction, even customer experience!
• Highlight impact. How does this feedback impact what matters? 

🏆To make a super compelling case make sure:

• Share quantitative data 
• Share trends 
• Compare feedback with any benchmarking data you have

And don’t forget to make your case effectively:

• Think about timing
• Tailor your communication to your audience 
• Provide solutions 

Okay, you’ve gotten alignment – everyone is on board and the solution is discussed. 

NOW WHAT??

Step 4: Make the plan 

It’s time to make a game plan. My fave fave fave thing! 

I love a good plan. 

📋 A great plan needs the following:

A goal: what is the outcome you want to achieve? 

Tasks & responsibilities: who is doing what? Consider here: how everything will be communicated! 

TIMELINES: when is everything going to get done?

KPIs: how are you measuring success? What are your key metrics?

After you have the plan, IT’S TIME!!!!!

Step 5: Implement the changes 

Change is scary to anyone, in fact I did a whole podcast episode about how change impacts employees. 

The biggest thing you need to know when implementing change is: YOU HAVE TO COMMUNICATE. 

Sorry for raising my voice but this is ultimately when I see feedback implementation go sideways.

✅ To communicate well, make sure to share updates on:

• Progress
• Success
• Challenges
• Adjustments being made

TBH: Employees need to hear things 5-7 times to fully grasp things. 

BTW: This is also a great time to collect any additional feedback!

Potentially additional information will be shared and you can pivot or change course if needed. 

Step 6: Monitor & Measure 

In this step you’ll learn a bit more about if the changes you made:

• Are effective 
• Need any additional adjustments 
• Had the desired outcome 

Here’s a hard truth: not all changes will have an impact overnight. 

It can take some time to change employee sentiment, so don’t get too discouraged if you don’t wake up the next day to happy and satisfied employees. 

Some feedback implementation might take 6+ months for you to even see a change! 

To monitor your feedback implementation:

• Regularly check-in to review progress and share feedback 
• Make sure to continue to collect quantitative and qualitative data 
• Make adjustments when needed
• Celebrate and communicate successes 

If you’ve survived all 6 steps, it’s time for ONE FINAL STEP. 

Step 7: Pat yourself on the back 

Implementing feedback and driving change is no easy task. 

I mean just look at the 6 steps you had to go through to even get here!!

You’re doing data analysis, balancing stakeholder buy-in, wearing the project manager cap and making HARD changes in real time. 

Are you a superhero? You might as well be! 

❤️ So take a moment, and remember: YOU DID THIS. ❤️

It can be easy to get caught up in the day to day and not stop and pat yourself on the back or to always focus on what didn’t go well. 

Implementing feedback is challenging and it’s ultimately a long con. 

It takes time to make change and not to mention some environments don’t want to change. 

So, let’s channel a lil Snoop Dogg energy and thank ourselves.