By Rejoice Esi Asante (PhD)
A Ghanaian proverb says that the one who charts a path does not see when there is a deviation, but those observing can see and call their attention to it. Quotes by some personalities for instance: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions” by Ken Blanchard; The best feedback is what we don’t want to hear by George Raveling; and “Life is feedback. by Lewis J., show the important of feedback.
A persistent headache, requires medical checks to avoid serious ailment. Similarly, regular servicing cars ensure that they are in good form, while checking bank balance, helps to defer expenses when short on money. These are forms of feedback that guides behaviour and forms part of life’s control, and important in every aspect.
Although often overlooked, feedback has evolved from being used to resolve complaints, into a strategic resource for revealing new opportunities, refining offerings, and staying ahead of market trends. Lack of appropriate feedback, negative feedback or ignoring feedback are common cause of operational failure. This article examines how organisations and individuals can embrace feedback to drive growth and success as a function of control.
Feedback
Feedback is where facts about performance or behavior are relayed back from family, peers, colleagues, supervisors, or customers. The goal is to improve performance by creating awareness for improvement (awork.com, 2024). In organisations feedback is precautionary control which attempts to identify and prevent deviations from set standards.
It can be seen in three dimensions: feed-forward control (focusing on human, material and financial resources), concurrent control (monitoring ongoing activities to ensure consistency with quality standards) and feed-back control (reviewing information to determine whether performance meets established standards).
It is importance because it provides a fresh perspective on performance and exposes areas that require improvement. It promotes innovation by growing a culture of open communication and collaboration, instilling a sense of accountability and ownership, thereby empowering individuals to embrace responsibility for their actions and to strive for higher standards (Singh, 2023). Additionally, constructive feedback is crucial in driving organizational growth and employee development, it fostering a culture of transparency, continuous improvement, and engagement (Psico-smart Editorial Team, 2024).
Feedback Loop
A feedback loop is a cyclical process wherein a system’s output is routed back as input, influencing subsequent operations. They are critical mechanisms that facilitate organizational communication, adaptation, and improvement, enable businesses to innovate and grow effectively by systematically gathering input and making necessary adjustments (eleapsoftware.com). Customer feedback loops for instance enable businesses to engage a virtuous cycle of improvement based on feedback from customers. (Romano and Conti, 2024).
At its core, a feedback loop consists of the following components: input, process, and production, followed by feedback that informs future repetitions. This recurrent nature makes feedback loops essential for continuous improvement and adjustment.
Understanding the components of the feedback loop is crucial for effective implementation. In business contexts, feedback loops can take various forms, such as customer feedback on products, employee assessments in performance reviews, or analytics derived from operational processes.
The primary goal is to create a responsive system that evolves based on real-time information, facilitating growth, product refinement and better customer satisfaction (Romano and Conti, 2024),
Types of Feedback Loops
Feedback loops can be categorized into several types, each serving distinct purposes and yielding different outcomes in business contexts. There is positive, negative, closed, open, direct, indirect, inferred and continuous feedback loops.
Positive feedback loop is when a system’s output enhances input, amplifying effects, i.e. a company that receives positive feedback might invest more in the features that customers love, promoting satisfaction and encouraging additional acquisitions.
A negative feedback loop counteracts deviations from a desired state, promoting stability and correction. Many customer service operations involve a negative feedback loop. When customer’s express dissatisfaction, organisations investigate the root cause and make necessary adjustments.
Closed feedback loop operate within defined structures, where input and output are contained within the system, giving priority to control and predictability. For example, manufacturing processes often employ closed feedback loops to maintain quality control and ensure consistent outputs. An open feedback loop interacts with external factors to incorporate a broader range of inputs.
This flexibility allows organizations to adapt more swiftly to market or customer preference changes. The inferred feedback loop is used to understand implicit user preferences and drives data driven design improvements, while the continuous feedback loop is sourced from customer relationship management, chatbots and monitoring. It ensures real-time feedback assimilation and enables dynamic quality and innovation tuning (Romano and Conti, 2024).
Contemporary feedback processes in organisations face several challenges including shifting to continuous feedback systems (that is moving away from traditional annual reviews and feedbacks which require a cultural change), overcoming resistance to feedback (due to fear of judgment, lack of trust, or discomfort with the process), integrating technology (adopting new technologies), ensuring effective training, aligning feedback with organizational goals, and measuring its impact. Additionally, communication barriers, inadequate follow-up, and cultural differences can hinder the effectiveness of feedback processes.
Leveraging Employee Feedback
Asking, examining, and acting on feedback from employees to improve various aspects of the workplace, from individual performance to overall organizational culture is about harnessing feedback for organizational success. This can be achieved by creating environments that promote feedback and translating those feedbacks into actionable steps for improvement. Creating a feedback-rich culture within an organization encourages open communication and collaboration. Employees should feel comfortable sharing their insights, both positive and constructive. Leaders can promote this culture by modeling transparency and actively seeking input from team members.
Incorporating feedback into personal development plans is essential for employee growth. By regularly assessing employee performance and soliciting feedback, organizations can create bespoke development plans that support individual strengths and areas for improvement. Effectively harnessing employee feedback requires a culture of open communication (encouraging open dialogue, establishing trust, leading by example, and adapting to change among others.
Leveraging Customer Feedback
Customer feedback refers to information customers share about their experiences with a business, product, or service. This feedback can take various forms, including direct input through surveys and reviews or indirect insights from customer behaviour and social media interactions (Romano and Conti, 2024). The ultimate goal of gathering this feedback is to extract actionable insights to guide business decisions and foster continuous improvement Modern business success demands immediate knowledge and reaction to customer needs for maintaining continuous growth (profiletree.com).
The true value of customer feedback lies in its ability to give businesses a clear picture of customer expectations, frustrations, and desires. Companies can gain competitive advantage by always gathering and analysing feedback to stay in tune with customer needs and market trends.
Therefore, leveraging customer feedback for business innovation is essential. When businesses harness the full potential of customer insights, they shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive innovation, driving growth and fostering deeper connections with their audience (profiletree.com).
The wealth of information from feedback helps identify trends and opportunities for improvement. Companies that successfully integrate feedback into their innovation strategies can enhance existing products and services or create new solutions that redefine their industries, thereby exceeding customer expectations.
In conclusion, to make feedback successful, it should be given promptly to establish a direct connection to a situation. It is important to stick to the matter and refer to specific observations, Criticism should always be constructive and solution-driven, while appreciation and respect are vital for a positive feedback culture, Feedback should take place regularly to enable continuous improvement (awork.com). Naturally, people react differently to information about their behavior and performance, it may be helpful to consider changing the way feedback is delivered to maximize understanding and acceptance (Centre for Creative Leadership, 2025). “The key to learning is feedback. It is nearly impossible to learn anything without it.” – Steven D Levitt.
Scriptures such as Proverbs 1:5 (NKJV), “A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel” and Proverbs 15:31=32, “The ear that hears the rebukes of life Will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding”, stresses the need for feedback. It contends that fools do not delight in understanding but wise men listen to counsel and it helps them chart better paths towards growth and development.
