Healthy Organisation

Lack Of Regular And Timely Feedback – COMMUNICATION – 49

When feedback is rare, delayed, or inconsistent, people are left guessing whether they are doing the right thing, problems persist longer than necessary, and learning slows because insights arrive too late to be useful.

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Where you’ll notice this in everyday work

A lack of regular feedback often creates a calm surface, but underneath it produces uncertainty and quiet frustration.

• People don’t know where they stand unless something goes wrong.
• Feedback only appears during annual reviews or after mistakes.
• Good work goes unnoticed, while issues accumulate silently.
• Surprises in evaluations damage trust and motivation.
• Repeated mistakes occur because nobody corrected them earlier.
• Learning is slow because feedback comes too late to apply.

Over time, people stop asking for feedback and focus on avoiding visible errors instead.

Why it happens

Feedback gaps are usually not caused by lack of care, but by discomfort, habits, or missing structures.

• Avoidance of discomfort: feedback conversations feel awkward.
• Time pressure: feedback is postponed indefinitely.
• Fear of demotivating others: especially with critical feedback.
• Unclear responsibility: no one “owns” giving feedback.
• Overreliance on formal reviews: day-to-day feedback is neglected.

When feedback is not built into routines, it becomes optional—and eventually rare.

How it affects results

Without regular feedback, performance and engagement suffer quietly.

• slower improvement and learning,
• repeated errors and inefficiencies,
• lower motivation and confidence,
• weaker alignment with expectations,
• reduced trust in leadership and communication.

How to reduce and overcome it

Effective feedback is not about formality, but about frequency, timing, and clarity.

1. Make feedback routine: integrate it into regular meetings.
2. Focus on behaviour and impact: keep it concrete and actionable.
3. Balance positive and corrective feedback: both matter.
4. Give feedback close to the moment: while it’s still relevant.
5. Invite upward feedback: make it two-way, not top-down.

Practical feedback tools

1) SBIC Feedback Model

Structure feedback around Situation, Behaviour, Impact, and Change to keep it clear and non-personal.

2) Monthly Feedback Moments

Short, dedicated moments in team meetings for mutual feedback and reflection.

3) Start–Stop–Continue

A simple format to discuss what should start, stop, or continue in current work practices.

4) Real-Time Micro-Feedback

Encourage brief, immediate feedback instead of saving everything for later.

Recommended links

• Harvard Business Review – feedback culture
• Google re:Work – giving effective feedback
• MindTools – feedback skills
• Atlassian Team Playbook – 1:1 feedback
• Poslovna Znanja – feedback & communication programs