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Fostering a Feedback Culture at GO
20 December 2021
A foundation of our newly launched GO Purpose and Values is an open feedback culture. This means that we communicate openly and honestly, we confront issues with the intention to learn not to blame, and we prize fairness and transparency.
Why is feedback a priority for us?
Feedback flows every day in every way and is fundamental to our collective success, which is why we strive to make it an integral part of our day-to-day practices. We have seen that feedback increases our sense of purpose and helps us understand how we can be better, develop in our role and leverage our strengths towards achieving team goals. At times it can be challenging to get it right, especially when you are unsure of when to bring it up, how to phrase it in a way that it’s well-received.
How we developed GO’s feedback culture
Our initial approach to Feedback was to introduce a 360 Feedback program to our GO leaders. This program was launched in 2019 as an integral element of the Performance Driven Culture Initiative, ran to ensure that GO has an open feedback culture. Through this program our team can select a number of feedback givers, colleagues from any department and level they wish to receive feedback from.
The feedback received is essential in helping us all develop, individually and collectively. Feedback givers are reminded of the feedback promise and the importance to give feedback with clarity, kindness and thoughtfulness with the goal of helping a colleague learn, grow and be their best self.
We trust and support the receiver to receive feedback with an open mind and heart, seeing it as a gift given with the purpose of helping them grow.
The program is continually being developed and improved. In 2021 we are running the 360 Feedback program for the fourth round. 220 individuals are actively participating by giving feedback to a colleague, leading to 545 feedback forms shared between colleagues. All feedback questions are connected to GO’s values, and aim to provide examples where our colleague is championing a value and where they can improve.
In order to further deliver our purpose, we have created priority learning programmes, to build skills focused on our three GO Academy pillars, which are Purposeful Leadership, Customer Centricity and Digital Excellence.
To further develop our Purposeful Leadership Pillar, we organised training to support our Leaders’ Feedback Learning Journey under the GO Academy, by hosting ‘Courageous Feedback’ sessions and training. This program started with our leaders, through which they widened their knowledge of feedback models and further supported this with practice opportunities. Following this, the program was rolled out to the rest of our team, so that everyone at GO appreciates the value of feedback as an everyday opportunity to learn and grow, feels comfortable and safe giving and receiving feedback and is familiar and confident in the art of feedback.
After this training, some of our colleagues shared their own feedback about the experience: “This training session helped me share feedback in a structured way, without fearing that the receiver will feel judged.”
“I designed and published a report for a colleague who initially provided no feedback on the finished work. When I asked for it, a few things were mentioned which were not requested because my colleague didn’t want to add extra work. For me it was a simple matter to modify the report and provide the additional details, which helped my colleague in his work, and he later phoned me to thank me.”
Tips to remember when sharing feedback
To embrace feedback in our ways of thinking and working, we’ve asked out team to keep these 3 pointers in mind;
- Share feedback consistently – Do not hesitate to give as well as ask for feedback.
- Receive feedback with a growth mindset – Listen and ask questions when receiving feedback to identify ways you can better yourself.
- Be clear when giving feedback – When sharing feedback be clear and give specific examples that the receiver can put in place.
Final thoughts
Feedback is evolving really fast; our promise to our people is to keep monitoring the best practices and ensure that our teams are equipped with the skills needed to be effective feedback givers and receivers, in order to continue making it a part of everyday life at GO.
We are excited and looking forward to 2022 to further support our teams’ growth into driving our purpose, and as our learning mantra goes, we are #LearningEveryDay.
Have a look at our careers page and get in touch with us if you want to take your career to the next step by joining our One GO Team!
For GO products and services, visit our official website or get in touch with our experts online or by visiting any of our GO outlets.
About the Author and the Team
Anthea is our HR & People Development Specialist, and she focuses on inspiring and supporting the One GO Team to thrive through learning.
Forming part of the GO Academy Team, together with Emma who heads the Academy, and along with the rest of the HR team, they strive to create a space where GO’s people are equipped with the skills needed to drive the Company forward, whilst also creating a culture where people drive their own learning and continually share their knowledge with colleagues.