Being Open to Feedback in Customer Service

Dear Friends,

Here is my article (A collection of thoughts) on Being Open to Feedback in Customer Service, as shared with my Corporate Admin, Travel & Hospitality team. Please share your feedback

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Team,

Personally, I am a passionate believer in the value of interpersonal feedback. To become more effective and fulfilled at work, I think we need a keen understanding of the impact of our work on others and the extent to which they are achieving their goals. Direct feedback is the simplest and most efficient way for us to gather this information and learn from it.

The tricky thing about feedback is that instead of objectively focusing on just the service (product in some cases), it takes the flavor from the culture of the environment on which the conversation is set in. When we have a culture which encourages feedback, even those users who aren’t usually interested or skilled in giving the feedback also chip in. The contra is equally true.  

So as leaders, how do we build a feedback-rich culture? What does it take to cultivate an ongoing commitment to interpersonal feedback? Here are four essential elements:

1. Safety and Trust

To give and receive truly candid feedback, people must feel a sense of safety and trust. Neurologist and educator Judy Willis emphasizes the relationship between positive emotion and performance, and as leaders we need to foster it to ensure that our team members and colleagues learn from feedback. Note that this does not mean avoiding confrontation or offering only support and comfort. It does mean being highly attuned to people’s readiness for a challenge and their emotional state in a given interaction. We have numerous examples amongst our team when we have refused certain services to employees but at the same time have come out of the conversation as sustained Service Champions. Our cabs team, International Ticketing Team, Leadership Academy Resource booking team have time and again confronted users and still have been in the forefront of service. What does this mean to me? This means that it is not necessary to always be yielding. If the policy, situation demand that we can’t provide a service, it is just fine. We can deny the same to our users, but we should make it clear by being polite and assertive. Saying NO doesn’t mean we have to fight with our users. We can keep our cool and still show our point of view. In such cases, taking the feedback after denying the service becomes very delicate. It requires patience and little bit of practice, but I am sure we all can quickly master this and keep seeking feedback wherever we provide service.

To create a sense of Safety and Trust is a simple 3- step approach:

1.        Get to know each other. Make an effort to understand colleagues as individuals. This doesn’t require a great deal of time or deep, personal disclosures — just taking a moment to ask about someone’s weekend and occasionally sharing stories of your own. A casual off-line dialogue, a general question about the holiday, a check on kids etc. These queries help us connect on personal front with the users

2.        Talk about emotions. The ability to discuss emotions is a critical feature in any group that aspires to share effective feedback, not only because feelings are at the heart of most difficult feedback, but also because feedback inevitably generates difficult feelings. When we can talk about our embarrassment, disappointment, frustration, and even anger, the culture is sufficiently safe — and robust — to handle real feedback

3.        Make it OK to say no. A risk in feedback-rich cultures is that people feel obligated to say “Of course,” when asked, “Can I give you some feedback?” The freedom to postpone such conversations when we’re not ready to have them ensures that when they do take place all participants are willing parties.

2. Balance

We usually receive a stinker email when our service is not up to the mark. In other instances, when we don’t deliver as per user’s expectations there is sure going to be a slew of escalations. So much of criticism that we associate feedback to only faults and repair. But, that’s just half the story. The other half is truly meaningful positive feedback, which is all too often absent in some people. You can’t have one without the other, but so many obstacles prevent us from offering and accepting positive feedback. We worry it will sound insincere. We worry it is insincere. We worry it will make us look like soft bosses. We worry it will make us seem weak. And since we don’t do it very often, we’re not very good at it. We should endeavor to pat a back whenever there is a good delivery, so that we can give harsh feedback when needed too. Likewise, we should be ready to face negative feedback when we know that our users are giving us URJAs, Appreciation mails etc. A recent research at Ghent University in Belgium indicates that positive feedback promotes self-development. Further, as University of Washington psychologist John Gottman has noted in his study of long-term relationships, in the most successful ones the ratio of positive to negative interactions is 5:1 even in the midst of a conflict. Strong relationships depend on heartfelt positive feedback — so we need to practice.

To establish balance in the feedback we offer:

1.        Offer some positive feedback…and stop there. Too often we use positive feedback to cushion the blow before delivering criticism, but that practice inevitably degrades the value of our praise and renders it hollow

2.        Start small. We miss opportunities to provide positive feedback every day because we have this idea that only big wins merit discussion. When we see any behavior we want to encourage, we should acknowledge it and express some appreciation. So, no matter how big or small the good work is, we should make an effort to appreciate it

3.        Praise effort, not ability. Research suggests that praising persistent efforts, even in failed attempts, helps build resilience and determination, while praising talent and ability results in risk-aversion and heightened sensitivity to setbacks

3. Normalcy

Off-sites, team building activities and picnics can create space for people to be open to new ideas and experiment with new ways of communicating, but the next day everyone goes back to the real world, if there is no follow-up. Unless the element of feedback seeking and giving becomes a part of routine and normal, the same isn’t practiced vigorously. You have to integrate the behaviors you want into your team’s daily routines in order to normalize those behaviors within the organization’s culture. If feedback is something that happens only at unusual times (such as a performance review or when something’s gone wrong), it’ll never really be an organic part of the team’s culture. It has to show up in everyday life — on a walk down to the cafeteria, at the end of a meeting, over a cup of coffee.

To make feedback normal:

1.        Don’t wait for a special occasion. There is a famous quote that goes-“Don’t build a castle; just put up a thousand tents,” and that certainly applies to feedback too. Don’t turn it into a complex, cumbersome process; just take a few minutes (or even a moment) and make it happen

2.        Work in public. Certain conversations are best held one-on-one, but too often we treat all feedback as a potentially embarrassing or even shameful process to be conducted under cover of darkness. When sufficient safety and balance exist, even critical feedback can be provided in larger groups. This not only allows everyone present to learn from the issues under discussion but also allows people to see how to give and receive feedback more effectively

4. Personal Accountability

As leaders who want to promote a feedback-rich culture, we have to walk the talk every day. Research by Harvard Business School’s Lynn Paine and colleagues makes clear that employees are more sensitive than leaders to gaps between our proposed values and our practical ones. Our teams will take their cues from us as to what’s acceptable, and if we don’t take some risks in this area, they won’t either. Why should they? This doesn’t mean we’re going to get it right all the time. If we’re taking some meaningful risks, then of course we’ll make some mistakes. The key is to fail forward and view those mistakes as essential learning opportunities. Let those around us know that we’re trying to get better at giving and receiving feedback, too, and ask for their input on how we’re doing.

To walk the talk:

1.        Be transparent. Everyone around us – colleagues, superiors, direct reports – should know that improving at giving and receiving feedback is an ongoing goal of ours

2.        Ask. We can’t just sit back and wait for feedback to be offered, particularly when we’re in a leadership role. If we want feedback to take root in the culture, we need to explicitly ask for it

Let’s together seek feedback and work on it, so that we are constantly in line with our user requirements,