Surveys, Slack, and Silence: Fixing Broken Feedback Loops
“We’re big on listening,” someone told me at a networking thing. Their proof? A monthly "Ask Me Anything" session with the CEO—hosted on Slack. Which sounded cool until I realized the top-voted questions were always some version of "What's our strategy again?" or "Why is compensation such a black box?" And every time, the answers were either vague, defensive, or drowned in corporate jargon. No follow-up. No action. Just the illusion of listening, updated monthly. Employee voice, brought to you by the emoji reaction button. 🙃
Welcome to the corporate illusion of voice, where the checkbox gets ticked, but the conversation never really starts. 🧠
In the world of high-growth tech, we love to say employees have a seat at the table. But too often, that seat is actually a folding chair, in the hallway, outside the room where the real decisions are made.
Let’s talk about what actually works when it comes to giving people a meaningful say at work—and why most companies are getting it half-right, half the time.
🧩 Voice Is Not Volume. It’s Design.
Employee voice isn’t just people talking. It’s about how the system listens.
"Good work means people get to shape their work lives. Not just file a ticket into the HR abyss."
Types of Voice Channels:
📊 Formal:
Surveys
Focus groups
All-hands Q&As
💬 Informal:
1:1s
PS: let me clarify something about 1:1s. I know 1:1s can technically fall under either formal or informal channels. And in a perfect world, they’d be structured, agenda-driven, and looped into org-wide feedback systems.
But in most orgs, the only checkbox we consistently tick is that they’re scheduled. There’s rarely a clear agenda. No defined expectations for what should be covered. And no built-in mechanism to escalate or share what comes out of them.
So for the sake of honesty and utility, I’ve categorized them as informal here.
Slack chats
Coffee break conversations
In theory, these create pathways for input. In practice? Many are clogged with distrust, ambiguity, or just sheer fatigue. 😵💫
🛠️ What We're Doing (That Mostly Works)
At my current company, we’ve made a decent attempt at building both kinds of channels. Here’s what we do:
✅ Formal Channels
🧠 Monthly All-Hands: Questions live or anonymously.
📝 Bi-Annual Surveys + 1:1s with HR: Feedback every quarter.
📅 Quarterly Performance Check-ins: A structured review of goals, impact, and blockers—focused on learning and alignment, not just ratings.
🔁 Change Feedback Loop: Focus group pre-launch, survey post-launch, public discussion.
💡 Informal Channels
👥 Monthly 1:1s: Development + feedback.
🥂 Bi-Weekly Socials: Informal space to chat.
🧭 Monthly People Reviews: Managers escalate patterns + unblock issues.
Do we have enough feedback? Probably. Do people feel heard? That’s the real question. 🤔
📚 A Case Study in Trying
Here’s a real example from a previous company I worked with—one that really wanted to do feedback right, at least on paper.
They rolled out a new engagement survey platform and launched it with much fanfare. The survey itself was fine. Solid questions, decent participation.
The problem? The process after.
It took three months to analyze the data. Then another two to compile the insights and polish the manager decks. By the time feedback finally trickled down to the teams, five months had passed. Priorities had shifted. People had left. Whatever was on fire back then had either burned out—or burned everyone out.
And because no one circled back to say, "Hey, here’s what we heard and here’s what we’re doing about it," the next survey saw lower participation. And even more cynicism.
Lesson learned: without timely follow-through and visible ownership, feedback becomes background noise. And worse—it trains people not to bother speaking up at all. It’s not enough to collect input—you have to own the follow-through.
🤐 Why Feedback Often Dies on the Vine
Let’s be real—most feedback doesn’t get ignored out of malice. It gets ignored because acting on it is hard.
Here’s why it often falls through the cracks:
🚧 It's inconvenient. Acting on feedback can mean changing a beloved process, admitting a leadership misstep, or saying no to someone senior. Easier to just... nod politely and move on.
⏳ There’s no time. When teams are underwater with delivery deadlines, reviewing and implementing suggestions can feel like a luxury.
🎯 It’s too vague. "Fix the culture" isn’t exactly an actionable Jira ticket. Lack of specificity makes it hard to prioritize.
🗂️ No one owns it. Feedback floats around until it becomes no one’s job—and then no one’s problem.
Sound familiar? This is why building systems for voice—not just open channels—is key.
🎯 Four Ways to Make Voice Channels Actually Work
1. 🔐 Trust Isn’t a Checkbox. It’s a Currency.
Employees won’t speak up if they think it’s performative.
Build it with:
Consistency
Public accountability
Safe spaces to be honest
2. 🔁 Close the Loop or Close the Channel
Giving feedback with no outcome = yelling into the void. 🕳️
Always:
Respond to feedback themes
Share what will/won’t change (and why)
…and do it within a reasonable timeframe to still be relevant
3. 🧠 Managers Are the Multipliers (or the Bottlenecks)
Voice flows best through real relationships.
Train managers to:
Listen actively
Spot patterns
Escalate or resolve issues with care
4. 🛠️ Voice Channels Need Maintenance
Just because it exists doesn’t mean it works.
Continuously ask:
Are people using this?
Do they trust it?
Does it result in action?
Treat your voice ecosystem like a product: test, iterate, and be transparent.
🧠 Voice System Self-Check: Are You Actually Listening?
Here’s a simple diagnostic to evaluate your organization’s employee voice system. Think of it like a health check—not just for your feedback tools, but for your culture of listening.
If you have more ❌ than ✅, your voice system might be more illusion than function.
Because employee voice isn’t a vibe. It’s a system. And it works a hell of a lot better than a dusty suggestion box. 🗃️
📌 TL;DR Checklist: Making Voice Channels Work
✅ Use both formal & informal channels
✅ Build trust before you expect honesty
✅ Always close the feedback loop
✅ Train managers to listen & act
✅ Regularly assess + improve the system
Like this post? Share it with someone who thinks a survey is a strategy.
Subscribe to People Nerd for more spicy takes on org design, people strategy, and surviving startup life with your dignity intact.