Renee Bellis, Feedback Labs | March 17, 2022
Feedback Labs’ Peer Learning Sessions bring together organizations in a similar context to learn from each other about feedback triumphs and challenges. These sessions are designed to encourage discussion between feedback practitioners. The session includes examples from other organizations attending the session, tips and lessons learned from peers, and collaborative problem solving to tackle shared feedback challenges.
Examples from Peers
In our first Peer Learning Session on February 2, members of the T. Rowe Price Foundation’s capacity strengthening community gathered to share how they collect and respond to feedback at their organization.
Sharon Asonganyi, Director of Research & Impact at Thread, Inc, shared the following feedback practice:
- “We use SurveyMonkey to collect Net Promoter Score (NPS) data after a training instance and have developed qualitative questions that provide insightful and actionable next steps based on segmenting populations by type of NPS response. We connected this to a Trello dashboard that centralizes decision-making and coordinated response to findings.”
Shared Tips and Good Practices
Participants also shared tips and lessons learned that had helped them build a stronger feedback loop at their organization. Here are a few:
- It’s important to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly – without becoming defensive.
- It is important to articulate the “why” and “what”. Why are you collecting feedback and what do you plan to do with it?
- Pay attention to common themes in your feedback. It can be really helpful for reimagining programming and the use of resources.
- You have to send the request at a time when people do not feel overwhelmed.
Brainstorming Solutions to Challenges
We wrapped up the session by discussing two common feedback challenges identified by session participants and working together to brainstorm possible solutions and ideas to take back to participants’ organizations.
- Challenge: Securing buy-in from staff and decision-makers for feedback processes
Possible Solutions:
- Make your work and process visible and inclusive
- Remove the sense of urgency for quick fixes
- Build trust with staff by including them as co-creators and be direct by asking questions like: What would it take for us to move forward together? What do they need and care about? What can we do/can be done to change your mind about feedback?
- Challenge: Increasing participation rates on feedback surveys
Possible Solutions:
- Make surveys accessible by reducing language barriers, using QR codes to link to the survey, or providing computers at events
- Work with staff and volunteers to build surveys into other touchpoints (i.e. client calls, in-person meetings, event registration, etc)
- Make surveys fun, quick, and simple with gamification, single question surveys, and incentives like raffles
