Asking For "Feedback"
“Feedback” is one of those words that no manager can do without. We give our direct reports “feedback” on
their performance, we get “feedback” from our boss about our performance, and
Marketing departments and Customer Service live off “feedback” from focus
groups and customers.
We live in a world where it’s getting easier
by the day to gather, store and manipulate information and data. I’ve seen plenty of articles about “Big Data”
and how to gather, store and analyse it.
I’ve been surveyed in the high street for my opinions on everything
ranging from economic policy to TV channels.
When I ask “What are you going to do with this feedback?”, I often get a
blank stare in return… This has happened
on street surveys, HR surveys and other occasions. It doesn't fill me with confidence to see
that my questioner doesn't understand what their objective is…
When asking for “feedback, consider
these questions:
What is the situation?
Why do you need feedback? Is it to improve a product, performance or
just a periodic survey?
What are you trying to measure?
If you’re measuring people’s awareness
of a particular brand, that’s different to gauging customer satisfaction or how
many times/week they go grocery shopping.
Some feedback involves quantitative
information (how many/how often, etc), which is easier to gather as it
focuses on numbers or frequencies. Other
feedback requires qualitative
information, which is more difficult to pin down as it involves respondents
making a judgement or interpreting what you’re asking. Understand what you’re measuring, as this
impacts how you measure it.
Why do you want it (what action will you take)?
Why are you asking for this in the first
place? Is it because you feel that
customers aren't happy with something?
Assuming you can get meaningful feedback, how will you act? What form should the information take to
enable you to act quickly and effectively?
A spreadsheet of numbers may not be the right solution, compared with,
say, a pie chart or bar chart.
What specific information do you need and how will you get it?
Now you can get into detail - what is
the data or information you need and how do you intend to get it? Will it be a mail survey, phone survey,
face-to-face survey on the high street? What
questions do you need to ask (open/closed, multiple choice/essay, score1-5/1-7)?
Are you prepared for unpleasant answers?
There’s a great saying, “Never ask a
question if you don't want to hear the answer.”
Unfortunately, particularly when people are involved, you need to be
prepared for negativity, rudeness, anger or apathy. All of it is useful, if managed correctly.
If people give you feedback, how do you thank them?
If you’re face-to-face or on the phone,
it’s easy to thank them directly. If
you’ve used a mail shot or internet survey, unless you ask for contact details
(which they may be reluctant to give) you can only put a message of thanks at
the beginning or end of the survey. What
will you do if you need to clarify feedback?
How will you make it easy for respondents to provide feedback?
Remember, the wrong question will result
in distorted information. How many
“Yes/No” questions can you ask? Can you
ask people to score something on a scale of (say) 1 - 5? How will you adjust for personal
interpretations of what constitutes a “3” or “4” score? Make it easy for respondents to respond -
don’t do like one rganization did to us and send a 41-page questionnaire!
How will you make sure they understand what you’re asking for?
As I mentioned above, many questions may
require respondents to make a judgment or to interpret what you're asking. How do you make this as effortless as possible? How will you avoid ambiguity and how much
“leeway” for interpretation can you give?
This becomes more important if you're doing a “remote” survey (i.e. one
where you're not face-to-face with respondents).
How can you review effectiveness?
Inevitably, your results will be only as
meaningful as the information gathered. Was
your methodology sound and were the questions asked properly crafted to
minimize misinterpretation? If there was
too much room for ambiguity, misinterpretation, confusion or even outright
lying, the validity of the feedback will be in question. Interestingly, the level of doubt raised over
the validity of information is usually inversely proportional to the degree of
acceptability of the information by its recipients…
Feedback is, as they say, a
“double-edged sword”. When it is
gathered using trusted methods and acceptable questions, it can be
invaluable. When there’s any room for
doubt, be prepared for more work…
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy
posted by William Martin @ 08:34
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