By Jesi Tassava, Executive Assistant

Feedback provided by your employees can be extremely helpful in maintaining a positive workplace culture for your employees. However, there are steps that should be taken to ensure your staff feels comfortable and confident in expressing their opinions. Too often employees feel frightened, feel a lack of empowerment, or feel unheard, creating a more negative workplace for all. When employee’s voices are heard and they feel secure providing feedback, you will be able to make the changes necessary to create a healthy workplace and your employees will feel like an important piece of the puzzle. All employees, whether they are veterinarians or kennel staff, must work together in order for everything to run smoothly.

Getting Feedback

The first step in creating a culture where staff provide open and honest feedback, is finding ways to get that feedback in an effective manner. You should have a formal process in which employees can provide feedback on anything they would like. This could be with monthly anonymous surveys, or having a “Question of the Month,” in which you encourage staff to think about an issue and provide suggestions on one topic each month. You can encourage employees to provide feedback using the formal methods you choose, by offering incentives. This could be in the form of a rewards system within your hospital.

You also want to make sure to show a genuine interest in your employees. Make sure they know that you care about their well-being and the projects they are working on. When you show an interest in your employees, they will trust you more. They will also feel more comfortable coming to you if they want to provide a suggestion. You can also help gain feedback by asking your employees questions that you may have. Are you thinking about implementing a new policy within the hospital? Ask your employees and see what they think. If you are a manager within the hospital, instead of expecting employees to come to you directly, you can assign feedback coaches. There are some individuals who may never feel completely comfortable going to a manager and expressing concerns. A multimedia financial-services company, The Motley Fool has encouraged their employees to discuss their opinions and feedback with feedback coaches. These individuals are designated employees to listen to and handle employee feedback.

Once You Have Feedback

Now that your employees have provided you with suggestions, you need to make sure you use this feedback constructively. If you don’t, your employees will feel as though you didn’t listen and will likely stop expressing their opinions. You want to have a consistent way of recognizing employees who provided feedback that ended up being beneficial to your practice. Employees will truly feel as though their voice will be heard, and everyone will likely feel comfortable expressing themselves. However, it is understandable that you will not be able to implement every single suggestion that you receive. In this case, you still want to acknowledge the feedback provided by the employee. You should explain why you are choosing not to move forward with their suggestion. If you never follow-up with employees, and their ideas were not put into motion, they will likely feel unheard. However, providing them with an explanation, allows you to acknowledge the fact that you took the time to consider their ideas.

Continuing to get Feedback

The most important part of this process is to make sure all of your employees continue to feel secure in expressing any concerns or ideas they have. A culture of sharing ideas and feedback should last a long time. In order to make sure this happens, it is vital that you remain accountable for your actions. You also don’t want to get defensive. If employees express concerns regarding something you or other management has done, remember to take a step back and realize that mistakes happen. Lead by example, and show your employees that everyone should be held accountable for their actions. This can go a long way in the eyes of your employees, gaining their respect and trust.

Your employees can provide you with valuable information. They can help you to create a happy and healthy workplace for everyone. By providing avenues in which your staff feels comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns, acknowledging their feedback and remaining grounded, you can shift your culture for years to come.