Small Is the New Big: How to Turn Feedback Into Action
- Huibert Evekink
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
Why people stop giving feedback (and how to fix it today)
Organizations invest heavily in feedback skills and psychological safety, ensuring employees know how to give feedback and feel safe doing so. Yet even when people start speaking up, something still goes wrong.
The problem isn’t fear; it’s 🚨 lack of follow-through. 🚨
When feedback doesn’t lead to real change, people don’t stop because they fear speaking up. They stop because they believe nothing will change. When feedback consistently leads to no action, acknowledgment, or visible improvement, people disengage. It’s not fear; it’s fatigue. They think:
"Feedback is useless. Why bother?"
This futility factor is a form of learned helplessness that sets in when employees see their feedback ignored. And it’s measurable*:
📉 Failure to close the loop after receiving feedback increases employees' belief that speaking up is futile by 30%.
📈 Conversely, when managers do close the loop, employees are 19% more likely to speak up.
Ignoring feedback isn’t just an oversight—it actively discourages employees from contributing in the future.
Why feedback skills and psychological safety aren’t enough
As trainers and coaches specializing in feedback, we’ve encountered a frustrating reality time and time again:
Even in organizations where people are highly skilled at giving and receiving feedback and work in a psychologically safe environment, change still doesn’t happen.
This is where most organizations get stuck. This is how feedback fatigue erodes trust in the process itself.
Employees stop bothering because they’ve seen this pattern before:
🚨 Workshops, coaching sessions, and offsites generate great feedback discussions and action points—but then everyone gets busy, and nothing gets implemented.
📊 Employee engagement surveys collect valuable insights, but employees never hear what happens next—or at least not soon enough.
📅 Performance reviews end with career development goals, but a year later, employees have the same conversations as if nothing was ever discussed.
The missing link?
Changeability: the key to making feedback work
The missing piece isn’t more feedback training or safer environments. It’s changeability—turning feedback into timely, visible, and meaningful action.
Without changeability, even the best feedback loses its impact.
The formula for effective feedback
🚀 Feedback = Skills + Safety + Changeability
Skills → Employees know how to give and receive feedback constructively.
Safety → A culture of psychological safety ensures people feel comfortable speaking up.
Changeability → Feedback turns into small, timely, and meaningful actions.
Many organizations focus on skills and safety but neglect changeability, falling into the futility trap—where feedback feels pointless.
Closing the futility gap by strengthening changeability
To rebuild trust in feedback, organizations must focus on follow-through that is timely, visible, meaningful, and manageable.
1. Set achievable feedback goals
Define clear, realistic feedback goals with specific timeframes.
Don’t try to fix everything at once—start with one high-impact area.
2. Turn feedback into small, trackable actions
Focus on a few easy and specific actions or behaviors.
Ensure each action is measurable—you either do it or you don’t.
3. Communicate progress & celebrate small wins
Share updates on feedback-driven actions, even if results aren’t immediately visible.
Recognize and celebrate small successes to reinforce a culture of action.
The future of feedback: small wins over grand plans
Big, complex change strategies sound exciting, but they are often too overwhelming to execute. Instead, the future of feedback belongs to individuals, teams, and organizations that embrace small, rapid, and visible improvements.
Keep it small. Make it easy. Keep it going.
🚀 Let’s make feedback work—not just talk about it.
What Do You Think?
Have you experienced the futility trap? What small wins have worked for your team? Comment below!
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