Check the headlines. We’re constantly scrolling through stories about high profile executives and big brands being saddled with lawsuits about allegations of misconduct and harassment, ethical violations…you name it. See McDonalds, Vice, WeWork, and countless others. Same stuff, different day. So what gives? Doesn’t anyone learn from someone else’s mistakes any more? Don’t these people read the news?
It seems we have a problem. And while this is dramatically oversimplified, the problem appears to be – plainly – people can’t seem to follow the rules. And in many cases, they were the very rules they helped create in the first place. In other cases, just the law. But this is why we have HR, right? To create rules, and to make sure people follow them? Eh, not so fast.
Because here’s the thing. In so many of these newsworthy cases, HR is nowhere to be found. Or worse, they’re complicit. Which I’d argue leads to an even bigger problem.
My biggest fear is in its attempt to have a seat at the table, HR isn’t holding up its end of the deal.
Perhaps HR’s longing desire to be a business partner has clouded their judgment about what’s right versus what keeps them on the inside.
HR must keep at top of mind that their role is to protect and serve as partner to both the business and employees. It’s not one or the other, and it’s not one sometimes, the other most of the time. It’s a delicate balance that requires integrity, ethical standards, and a commitment to bringing humanity to the workplace.
The Solution
The solution to these rampant problems? Culture. Wait, the problem is culture. I mean, it’s the bad culture that led to the problems, but the good culture is what gets rid of the problems. See, what I’m trying to say is culture is good, but it can be bad, and when it’s bad, it leads to problems, and people do bad things that fit the bad culture and…
No, no it’s not culture. That’s a cop out. A buzzy catchall for organizational isms and “how things are done around here”. At least, it’s not only culture. There’s more to it. What’s missing in the “how things are done around here” is “how we talk about the things that are done around here.” How, with whom, when, where…
The Real Solution
What’s the real solution? I’d argue it’s feedback. Actually, a culture of feedback. Good, old fashioned, conversational, confrontational, critical, uncomfortable, sometimes hurtful, usually-misses-the-mark-but-hey-you-tried, yet mostly appreciated feedback.
Fortunately, the feedback of today looks and feels a little better than it used to, and we have technology to thank for that. Engagement surveys, 360 degree feedback systems, performance evaluation software, electronic communication, apps, and the like, all modernized for how work gets done today. One might argue these things have made managers’ and HR’s jobs a little easier. I’d argue they’ve just made our jobs different.
It has become incumbent upon HR and leadership to be intentional about leveraging that technology for good within an organization before it falls victim to the technology available on the outside. (See: Social Media. Definition: That thing that’s equally as useful for marketing a new, hip product as it is at fueling a movement that catches traction and brings down a brand overnight.)
Free-Flowing Feedback
It’s time to create a new future, to imagine the possibilities. What can a feedback culture do for you? What are you currently doing, and what could you be doing better? That is, what systems do you have in place (i.e. feedback loops, focus groups, technologies) that are helping and hurting? Are you creating an environment in which people can talk about how things are done around here internally? Or are they turning to social media and Glassdoor for that?
To be clear, a feedback culture is more than having a sufficient reporting system in place to capture complaints, ethical violations, or anonymous comments. It’s about having a culture that, at its best, promotes individual and personalized feedback in the moment and without repercussion, and in the least, provides avenues for anonymous feedback gathering, open door policies, and accessible leadership.
Without even getting into various types of feedback, or a qualitative analysis of which is better for which organization, a better place to start is to understand the directions in which feedback flows. This way we can begin to put the systems in place that are supportive of multidirectional feedback.
When we think of feedback, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a manager’s top-down feedback to their direct report. But a culture of feedback includes so much more. In addition to the culture promoting the direct report’s openness to hearing feedback from their manager and trusting that it’s genuine and helpful in nature, it also promotes an employee’s comfort in delivering feedback upward to their boss, or in some cases, their boss’s boss. Similarly, members of well-performing teams in a feedback culture feel comfortable sharing feedback with one another, resulting in either praise for a job well done, or quick course corrections and the agility that promotes high performance.
The point being that feedback is open. It’s honest. It’s raw. It feels good and it feels bad, and even when it hurts, it feels good, just maybe not in that moment. I once heard a wise man say, “Who are you helping by holding back? You’re helping yourself, not the other person.” If you aren’t putting the systems in place that encourage a feedback culture, you’re holding back. You’re afraid of what might be said, but you should be more afraid of what’s being said when you’re not around.