How to encourage team feedback in your hospitality business

Open communication is key to company culture, here's 7 steps to encourage feedback.
Michael Radley
 • 
Dec 2023
4 min read

Without feedback, businesses can start to stagnate.

Feedback helps team members and businesses correct mistakes, realise strengths, and continually improve. It also helps team members shape their working environment.

But teams often dread giving and receiving feedback.

For feedback to work, people need to feel comfortable enough to share ideas and voice opinions. Feedback needs to be a positive part of company culture.

Here are 7 steps you can take to build a positive feedback culture in your hospitality business:

1. Lead by example

Managers need to be the champions of feedback.

Regularly ask for feedback from your employees, and show that you can receiving it gracefully (the good, the bad, and the ugly).

2. Create opportunities for feedback

Managerial feedback is a great start, but there is more you can do to create a positive feedback culture. Create opportunities for feedback by having one-on-one meetings, starting focus groups, workshops, or sending out team surveys.

3. Make feedback a habit

Give feedback regularly, and try to incorporate it into team’s daily routines by creating a habit loop.

Alert teams to give feedback, create a routine that makes it easy for them to carry out the process, and then reward teams. And feedback will become a second nature.

4. Give training

Giving and receiving feedback is a skill that needs to be developed and practiced.

Define what good feedback looks like in your organisation, and then train teams—include training in your onboarding and give regular training updates.

5. Hold team members accountable

You could also motivate teams to give feedback by incorporating feedback metrics into company and performance reviews, team 1:1s and catch ups.

6. Act on the feedback

If you want teams to keep giving feedback, show your appreciation. Take action based on their suggestions, and communicate any changes you make.

7. Empower teams with the right tools

The right tools will empower teams to give feedback, and help people communicate more effectively.

Having a tool that documents all your feedback in one place is also super helpful for managers. Comments can be documented and shared, so people don’t make the same mistakes again.

Speaking of which, we have just the tool for you… 😉

Here’s how Trail can help:

Trail is a simple app for all the daily jobs:

  • Make feedback a habit: feedback is integrated into day-to-day operations—tasks remind teams to report any issues, they can attach comments or images to tasks, and managers can reward team members with a good score.
  • Foster open communication: head office can delegate action to sites in seconds. Teams on the ground can respond to tasks with any queries.
  • Complete digital record of feedback: tasks, conversations and records are all stored in one central place and not lost on email threads, in ring binders or on WhatsApp.
  • Share best practices: Have teams faced and overcome a problem? You can use to share successes among internal teams and help others to learn from.
  • Benefit from feedback integrations: (Like FeedItBack or HGEM) If someone leaves a bad review, don’t wait until your next AGM to discuss the findings. Follow up tasks can make teams aware of this right away and give them the autonomy to fix any issues with head office knowing when it's done.


McManus Pubs customer testimonial

What customers are saying

"I f****** love Trail, it's taking my businesses to the next level."
Josh Paterson
Owner
"We rarely provide training to our guys, they just bought into the idea straight away. I love that I have a full visual of everyone's activity in front of me."
Katrin Toots
Compliance Manager
“It’s not a paper diary that’s covered in barbecue sauce. We have clarity over what’s done in our sites and are confident going into our audits.”
Jay Brown
Operations
“The EHO visited almost every site last year and every store was given a five star rating."
Jay Brown
Operations Chef
"We turned our Costa Checks and various compliance forms into regular tasks on Trail, which has contributed to some of the best scores we have had."
Delroy Daniels
Operations Director
"Our teams love it, it gives our managers of all levels absolute clarity on what they need to achieve every day."
James Brown
Operations Director

Rated 5/5 on