Excerpted from Harvard Business Review, The Management Tip of the Day, on December 13, 2016
Combine Your Customer and Employee Feedback Systems
Most companies ask customers for feedback about their products and services. But only a handful ask their employees the same questions. This is a missed opportunity. A lot of insight can be gained from connecting your customer feedback to your employee feedback systems, especially if you flag interactions where your customers’ and employees’ perceptions diverge. So in addition to asking your customers questions like “Was your problem solved” and “Are we easy to work with?” ask your employees “Did you solve the problem?” and “Was it easy to access the tools and resources you needed to do it?” The combined answers will give you more insight into your customers. And managers can use the information to coach employees, assess whether they had the right tools and resources, and identify people with innovative ideas and leadership potential. Connecting these systems can create powerful feedback loops that both engage employees and help your company respond to fast-changing customer expectations.
Adapted from “Listen to Your Employees, Not Just Your Customers,” by Beth Benjamin