Feedback Management
- Amit Starikovsky
- Mar 1, 2006
- 5 min read
An important component in any management process in general, and knowledge management in particular, is the feedback process, or in its other name, "back-feeding":
Feedback is not exclusive to knowledge management. It is an efficient and effective tool that allows users to directly convey, in any situation and in real-time, knowledge needs that have not been addressed or responded to, regardless of the feedback recipient's physical presence.
Therefore, almost every website today allows users to provide feedback (talkback or "contact us") and express personal opinions, requests, and specific questions to their managers.
In the field of knowledge management, which by nature performs proactive activities to identify user needs (focus groups, knowledge needs surveys, interviews) and tailors solutions to their requirements, feedback is a tool for receiving a clear and direct indication of needs in any knowledge management tool (portal, information management, insights repository, knowledge items).
Since many knowledge management tools do not offer individual guidance but only marketing activities, feedback is the only way to understand what users need. Hence, the primary importance of using feedback in the world of knowledge management is
Several principles that will help manage feedback effectively: Openness to criticism: Accept that the tailored solution is not perfect and that feedback is a means for continuous improvement.
Freedom of expression: Users should be allowed to express their opinions without restrictions while maintaining codes of conduct.
Confidentiality: Users who think feedback could be used against them will avoid submitting it. It is possible to allow anonymous feedback, although it is less recommended.
Substantive response: Always respond to feedback with a substantive reply, no matter how trivial it may be, to encourage continued feedback submission.
Quick response time: Users who submitted feedback and did not receive a response within a reasonable time will use other channels in the future to meet their needs. The accepted response time is up to 72 hours. It is recommended to use an automatic message: "Thank you for your feedback; it will be addressed within 72 hours."
What to do with feedback?
Feedback is knowledge. And like any other knowledge in an organization, it must be managed. It is recommended to start by dividing feedback into three types:
Technical feedback: Requires attention to proofreading corrections or computer problems. This feedback requires fixing a local error.
Content feedback: Requires attention to issues related to the content of the knowledge item:
Missing content – The information presented is incomplete.
Inaccuracies within the information item.
Lack of clarity – The content is not unambiguous.
Lack of updating – The content is not up to date.
Difficulty finding content – The content is not accessible enough or not organized as required.
In these cases, giving the feedback sender public credit is important besides the required correction. This credit creates motivation to point out additional problems in the future and visibility towards other users, strengthening trust in the entire feedback process.
Process feedback: Requires attention to processes, such as improvement/efficiency suggestions, policies, work processes, etc. Handling this feedback requires the involvement of management in prioritizing issues and process engineers and information systems staff in implementing the suggestions. Regarding how to handle this feedback, we proposed the process of cross-organizational learning cycles. We will only remind you that the main emphases in this process are appointing a lead representative and involving management to promote handling these issues.
Several supporting tools are required to maintain effective feedback management. First is management support, without which feedback management cannot be led, as it involves time allocation that must be agreed upon. Second, a technological tool that contains the ability to manage feedback from two aspects:
The quantitative aspect: Counting the feedback provided by one user or another, user groups (by organizational affiliation, professional content world), specific content world, etc.
The qualitative aspect: Performing analysis based on metadata - requires planting mandatory fields of topic and subtopic in the feedback windows to know which area the feedback is directed to. Given the possibility, it is recommended that the system plant the fields automatically when sending feedback by reflecting the path where the user is in the navigation tree.
Feedback management derives several benefits in the immediate and long term for the organization:
Short-term benefits:
Problem identification: Analyzing the picture formed from feedback and identifying typical difficulties, such as content experts struggling with writing or cross-cutting difficulties in communicating specific messages.
Identifying knowledge gaps: Quantitative and qualitative analysis of common topics helps point to knowledge gaps among users, which should be translated into a training program to give them a proper response.
Quality control: Feedback is an additional source for quality control of content, especially regarding its suitability for the user.
Receiving improvement and efficiency advice: Maintaining a direct channel for users to provide improvement and efficiency advice. Initially, most suggestions directly relate to existing items in the portal/site/management/repository, for which there is no better source than the users themselves. At a later stage, with the "maturation" of the target audience, it can also be generalized to work processes and any direction the organization desires. Feedback management at this stage will focus on "separating the wheat from the chaff," identifying good and feasible recommendations, and transferring them to the field of "cross-organizational learning cycles."
Long-term benefits:
User partnership and creating commitment to use and improve: Feedback is a dialogue tool; therefore, it is recommended to see it as an additional communication channel for receiving employee messages. It can serve as a platform for creating user partnerships that will create a commitment to use and improve knowledge management tools. An organization that knows how to properly translate this partnership into creating commitment can leverage it to other areas related to its business activities. The result is not only good performance but also creating employee loyalty.
Identifying active users: Feedback management allows active users to be identified using knowledge management tools. While this data can be identified through usage reports in the system, in this case, we are not interested in quantitative data but qualitative. Identifying active users in feedback aspects will allow them to be used as opinion leaders regarding the marketing of knowledge management tools. Additionally, identifying the factors for high usage among this population can serve as a basis for "replication" in other organizational populations.
Process improvement: A large amount of feedback on a particular topic can indicate difficulties at the process level and the de facto gap between process planning and employee execution. Adapting the process may save the organization money and improve its performance.
In conclusion, feedback is not synonymous with complaint. Feedback is knowledge. Efficient management of feedback can serve the organization both in the short and long term. In the short term, it aims to improve performance, and in the long term, it relates to cultural aspects that strengthen loyalty and partnership between the employee and the organization.
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