In the many different roles I have played in my career, one of the great frustrations I have encountered is the corporate top-down mentality and their reliance on “broadcasting” in a singular direction: top-down, one way. You ever get the feeling that most big companies really don’t give a darn what consumers think?

In consulting positions I have held, I notice that the corporate clients tend to design their systems quite deliberately to block incoming feedback from employees, customers and stakeholders. The rationale is that they don’t want to spend a lot of time or money on frivolous complaints. Yet those same companies often spend millions of dollars holding “focus groups” to get feedback so they can better understand their client’s needs. The feedback through the focus group process is invariably skewed, especially where it comes to employee feedback. Employees simply do not feel comfortable giving honest feedback, especially when they know it won’t be what management wants to hear. Customers who are paid for feedback suffer from a kind of “Stockholm Syndrome” where they tend to identify with their momentary captors, can can sometimes provide the feedback the company wants to hear.

At one web company I once consulted for, they actually set up a reporting system that was set up to block access to the very people they were soliciting input from. The reporting system had been designed by the designer of the system with little outside direction. Nobody had thought to check the system to ensure it was accessible to the target audience. On the sales floor, everyone was complaining about the system, yet management was convinced everyone found it highly useful. After all, there weren’t many complaints! Talking to the staff, I realized that there was a strong corp-culture message: “Don’t criticize the system to management.” Management seemed shocked when I reported how universally reviled the system had become, but management was so invested in that system that they continued status-quo despite its obvious and easily-repaired shortcomings.

Our fear of negative feedback is one of the single-largest roadblocks to success in our culture. I have seen tremendous efforts made at every level to avoid the dreaded “critique”. Yet blunt, honest criticism can be incredibly valuable. How can you know where you can improve your services or products if you go out of your way to avoid any critical input?

My advice to large or small companies … shave a few grand out of your focus group budget and hire a manager to oversee and analyze incoming emails from your key audiences. Set up an anonymous relay for your employees so they can provide honest feedback without fear of retribution from management (in their own department or others). Ideally, find an independent  consultant who doesn’t have a stake in your decision-making process. I provide screening and analysis to small and medium-sized companies and training services to larger companies to integrate feedback management as part of an over-all usability and marketing strategy. Contact me for an initial consultation.