Let's cultivate the art of feedback!

91% of employees say they want to develop feedback in their company. Yet two-thirds of them have never been trained to give it or receive it. And when the moment for corrective feedback arrives? 61% rate how it is handled as mixed.*

And with good reason: feedback is still too often confined to emergencies, to “dressing-downs” or to the annual review — when it could be a simple, regular and useful appointment. Used well, it clarifies expectations, avoids misunderstandings, drives faster progress, and strengthens trust within teams.

How do you give clear, factual, actionable feedback without wounding or beating about the bush? How do you create a setting where you can also receive feedback without feeling judged — and where everyone dares to ask “what can I improve?”. And above all: how do you embed concrete habits (formats, rituals, a shared vocabulary) that hold up in the day-to-day life of managers and teams alike?

Anne Le Bruchec (Chief People Officer at Swan) and Estelle Zakarian (trainer for Polen, co-founder of the coaching firm Les Infaillibles) explored these questions at the Bureau des Talents, on 24 March 2026. Here is a look back at the key takeaways from the discussion.

* Studyrama survey, based on a panel of 3,600 people polled on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Feedback: what exactly are we talking about?

Before we get to practical advice, let us draw the outlines of what feedback is, and by the same token what it is not. Translated literally, “feed-back” means “return flow”, in other words: a flow of information generated by one's own actions, coming back to the individual through their interactions. 

Feedback is a piece of data. Information that either reinforces a behaviour (positive feedback) or corrects a behaviour (corrective feedback). No more, no less.

What feedback is not: 

=> a dressing-down: it carries no notion of fault and does not assume a rule has been broken.

=> a value judgement: feedback must be purely factual. 

=> a universal truth: it is a point of view, a perception.

One last point, perhaps the most important: feedback is a genuine skill, not just an element of your culture. Like any skill, it is learned, practised and perfected. Without training, framework or practice, feedback is often done badly. And when it is done badly, it never reaches its objective: helping the other person progress.

Estelle Zakarian, on the purpose of feedback.

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What holds back the introduction of feedback?

Getting into the habit of regular feedback is not necessarily obvious for everyone, straight away. Whether on the individual or collective side, certain barriers can hold back employees or the organisation.

On the employee side: 

=> The fear of wounding. Giving corrective feedback means running the risk of upsetting the other person, even of breaking a relationship. So the simplest option is sometimes to say nothing. Or to beat about the bush.

=> The fear of the consequences. What if my manager held it against me? What if it closed doors for me? What if it dented my image? These are questions many people ask themselves before daring to say what they think.

=> The lack of technique. Even with good intentions, without a command of feedback, the message can be diluted and end up unclear.

=> The lack of time. As long as feedback remains an afterthought, it comes after everything else. So it is never the right moment.

=> The natural defensiveness. In France, the culture of marks, verdicts and appraisals shaped most people. The result: on receiving feedback, there can be a feeling of being judged on one's worth.

On the organisation side: 

=> The absence of a mandate. If leadership does not champion the subject, it is hard to roll out. Without impetus from the top, feedback remains wishful thinking.

=> A culture of the unsaid. In some companies, the norm is to avoid making waves, to soften feedback. In that context, it is hard to develop a genuine feedback culture.

=> The lack of data. How do you make the case for investing time and money in the subject if you measure nothing? No figures, no arguments.

=> Indirect feedback. Otherwise known as "dirty feedback", the kind that goes through third parties, via Slack, by email, or worse, behind the person's back. It destroys trust faster than it solves problems.

=> The misunderstanding. Most organisations confuse feedback with the annual review. Feedback must be continuous, not exceptional.

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What is feedback for?

Beyond its primary aim of helping the other person progress, feedback can prove to be a real business lever for your organisation.

=> A measurable lever for collective performance

Regular feedback makes it possible to identify training needs precisely and to optimise the skills development plan. The logic is simple: the more each employee progresses individually, the more the overall quality of projects rises. By raising everyone's bar, we pull collective intelligence upwards. 

=> More horizontal governance
Feedback is the best tool for flattening pyramids that are a little too rigid. At executive committee level, structured feedback improves the quality of strategic decisions and strengthens the cohesion of the leadership team.

But this fluidity must, without fail, flow down to the scale of teams and projects. By establishing constructive sharing rituals, we create an environment where every member can voice their observations, challenge an operational direction, and contribute actively to shared success.

=> A way to improve your client relationships

Feedback is not limited to internal exchanges. B2B companies must know how to master feedback in order to engage with their clients. In these cases, feedback done well can generate revenue.

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8 actionable tips for putting feedback in place in your company, with Anne Le Bruchec and Estelle Zakarian

1. Diagnose your situation before you start

It is impossible to know where to go if you do not know where you are starting from. Before rolling anything out, take the time to measure what already exists.

On the leadership side: is the CEO naturally supportive on the subject? Are they aware of what is at stake? On the employee side: what does your internal data say? Satisfaction surveys, performance reviews and eNPS are often under-exploited gold mines. Anne Le Bruchec recounts: when she arrived at Swan, the three lowest dimensions in the employee assessments all concerned feedback — quality, quantity, recognition. An objective starting point, hard to ignore even for a sceptical leader.

If you do not yet have structured data, start with the ground: what comes up day to day? Which subjects land on the HR desk that could have been settled directly, with good feedback between colleagues?

2. Bring leadership and the executive committee on board first

A feedback culture trickles down. If it does not come from the top, it never really takes hold, or stays confined to a few isolated teams.

Leaders setting the example is the first signal sent to the whole organisation: do our leaders know how to give feedback? Do they know how to receive it? When they are given some, do they listen without becoming defensive?

If need be, do not hesitate to organise a collective feedback session within the executive committee itself, before rolling anything out elsewhere. Anne did it at Swan, at the end of the year, after several months of working together: « It was by trusting the group that we dared to say things to each other in public. And honestly, it was a great group experience. » This kind of session — well framed, in a safe setting — makes it possible to surface unspoken issues and set off again for several months with a stronger leadership collective.

And if your leadership is not yet convinced? Come at it from the angle of performance. Show what the absence of feedback costs: subjects that get bogged down, tensions that grow, an HR workload that explodes. Then show what it brings in: teams that progress faster, improved commercial performance, a more aligned executive committee.

Estelle Zakarian, on collective feedback within the executive committee.

‍3. Choose your model, and stick to it

There are many frameworks for structuring feedback. The point is not to choose the best one on paper, but to adopt one and apply it everywhere, consistently.

Anne uses the SBIS model: Situation, Behaviour, Impact, Solution. She has built it into all her HR processes — performance reviews, probation assessments, internal mobility. The advantage: everyone speaks the same language, and the practice reinforces itself with each use.

Estelle works with the FISO model: Fact, Impact, Solution.

• Fact: irrefutable, observable, not open to interpretation. « You interrupted me three times » — not « you interrupt me all the time. »
• Impact: on yourself, on the relationship, on the business, on the person's image. This is the space to express how you feel by speaking about yourself, not about the other person.
• Solution: open, negotiable, specific. It should be suggested, not imposed. And it requires staying open to the other person's proposal.

Whatever model you choose, one rule applies: feedback is prepared. Turning up in the heat of the moment, without having structured your observations, means running the risk that the message will be muddled — or badly received. In training, Estelle has people write the feedback before acting it out in a role-play, then the group gives feedback on the feedback. Thoroughly hands-on.

4. Don't forget 3 key points: reception, positive feedback, follow-up

Many employees are trained to give feedback. They are far less trained to receive it, and even less so on what happens afterwards.

=> Work on reception

The defensive reaction is normal, especially in France where feedback is often experienced as a verdict. It is essential to find your own way of receiving it so as not to miss a piece of feedback. A useful reminder to share in training: the fact and the person are two separate things. What you did well or badly says nothing about your worth as a person.

Anne Le Bruchec, on receiving feedback.

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=> Take care over positive feedback

Corrective feedback gets all the attention. Positive feedback is often rushed. Yet « your presentation was great » is useless if you do not explain why — and above all what to repeat. Good positive feedback is just as factual, just as specific, just as actionable as corrective feedback. That is what allows the person to anchor the behaviour and replicate it.

=> Ensure follow-up

Feedback without follow-up is an intention with no effect. Too many managers observe « I gave them the feedback, but nothing changes » without realising they never checked what the person had done with it. Follow-up simply means returning to the subject a few weeks later: « Do you remember what we discussed? Where do you stand? » And on the receiving side: closing the loop by telling the other person what you have decided to do — or not do — and why. It avoids unspoken issues, sustains trust, and gives the other person the energy to keep giving feedback.

5. Set a clear framework

A model is not enough. You also need explicit rules of the game, known to all, and applied without exception.

A few fundamental rules to set:

• Within 48 hours: feedback is given within 48 hours of the triggering event. Not six months later at the annual review. Waiting means leaving someone in their blind spot, and that is neither generous nor effective. That said, before you begin, always ask this simple question: « Are you ready and available to receive some feedback now? ». If the person does not feel in the right emotional state to hear it, set a dedicated time together in the near future. That is the guarantee that the message will genuinely be received, and not merely endured.
  
  
• Direct and not anonymous: feedback is given to the person concerned, not via a third party.
  
  
• A channel suited to the context: there is no perfect channel. Speaking has obvious advantages: nuance, contact, the ability to readjust in real time. Writing has its own too: the record, the emotional distance, the accessibility for remote teams or teams across several countries. What does not work is trying to get a message across in a roundabout way.

6. Train 100% of employees

If feedback is a skill, it is learned. And if it is a priority, it applies to everyone, not just to managers.

Anne made this choice in every organisation she has passed through: 100% of employees trained, in-house, in groups of 12, in a two-hour format with a third given over to practice. Ideally led by a pair from the executive committee: a strong signal that the subject is taken seriously at the highest level.

For Estelle, in-house training has a decisive advantage: it creates a common language. She favours real cases over fictional scenarios: on leaving the training, each participant walks away with a piece of feedback already written, aimed at a real person, for a real situation. Ready to use.

Two key moments not to be missed:

=> Onboarding: building feedback in from the very first days sends the right signal straight away.

=> Refresh sessions: once everyone is trained, it is not over. Old habits resurface, situations grow more complex, teams change. Practice sessions — with no theory, only exercises — make it possible to maintain the level.

Estelle Zakarian, on practice during feedback training.

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7. Build feedback into every HR process

Feedback is not a standalone module. It is a logic that should run through all your HR systems.

• Skills frameworks: add feedback as an assessed skill in performance reviews. If you decide it is a key skill, put it in the framework and assess it systematically.
• Non-anonymous 360°: the performance review is the opportunity to introduce cross feedback between peers, between managers and their reports, and even with external stakeholders (clients, suppliers, partners).
• Mobility and promotions: the ability to give and receive feedback can be part of the criteria expected for access to a management role. It is a way of signalling that it is not an option, but an expectation.
• Onboarding: beyond initial training, onboarding is also the moment to acquaint new recruits with the organisation's feedback culture: its rules, its codes, its practices.

A simple benchmark: before closing the annual performance review, ask each employee whether the feedback they have just written in the tool had already been said to the person concerned. If not, why wait for the tool? It is a useful signal for identifying the areas where the practice is still only theoretical.

8. Measure and sustain over time

A feedback culture is built over the long term and actively maintained.

• Re-read the performance reviews. This is groundwork that too few HR teams do, for lack of time. And yet it is there that the drifts reveal themselves. 

Anne Le Bruchec, on re-reading performance reviews.
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• ‍Watch for signs of regression. When trust begins to erode in a group, feedback becomes indirect again, unspoken issues pile up, tensions rise without being voiced. That is the moment to take an hour together again to reset the foundations.
  

• Hold the course through turbulent periods. It is precisely when things are difficult (restructuring, a period of strong growth, internal tensions) that the feedback culture is put to the test. And that is when it needs protecting the most.

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Towards a feedback culture that lasts

Feedback is a fundamental skill, on a par with communication or decision-making, that runs through every function, every level of the hierarchy, every moment in an organisation's life.

The good news is that the path is accessible. It does not call for considerable investment: two hours of training are enough to lay solid foundations. Nor does it call for complex systems: a few clear rules, a shared model, and the will to genuinely apply them.

What makes the difference is consistency. When all is well, giving feedback is easy. You have to see it hold up in the environments where it is more complicated. That is where a true culture reveals itself; not in the moments when everything is fine, but in those where things grate.

And perhaps that is the best definition of an organisation that has managed to cultivate the art of feedback: an organisation in which you barely notice any more that you are doing it. Where feedback becomes as natural as conversation. Where you can easily approach a colleague after a meeting to casually offer a little tip for next time.

Anne Le Bruchec, on the natural integration of feedback in the workplace.

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