Establishing an even more positive feedback culture – Aperto goes Feedforward
"Giving and receiving feedback is a key task for everyone in a fair and well-functioning organisation. That's why we are continuously working on our feedback culture and it is extremely important to us that the entire organisation is motivated and on board – from trainee to executive."
The challenge
Aperto was founded in 1995 and is now one of the largest digital agencies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with over 400 employees. Aperto has been part of IBM’s global agency family IBM iX since 2016.
With a broad spectrum of expertise, innovative ideas and agile methods, Aperto works at the interface of strategy, creativity and technology.
In 2020, yuii was commissioned by Aperto to conduct virtual feedback training sessions with employees and managers.
"Both before and during the challenging time of the pandemic, yuii has developed and run trainings for us. It has always been a superb learning experience for everyone involved. The combination of concentrated theory and the space to try it out and apply what we had learned was exactly what we were looking for."
The result
As implementation was still taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic, the trainings were designed and conducted as virtual sessions. It was particularly important to impart knowledge in a compressed, but also very practical way. This ensured that participants’ attention remained at a high level even in the virtual setting.
In terms of content, the basics and techniques of truly constructive feedback were taught first. The training also focused on the attitudes of those involved in the feedback process. Throughout the training, we discussed and tested out the Feedforward approach. In order to truly motivate people to change through feedback, the person giving the feedback must create plenty of space for solutions. In addition, the person providing the feedback must clarify and promote the benefits that arise from alternative behaviour. In this respect, the Feedforward approach is particularly exciting and relevant for managers.
The condensed theory section was followed by practical feedback training in small groups. All Aperto employees used a personal, critical and constructive case from their own professional lives. This was important so that the participants could really identify with the exercise.
The small groups consisted of both a feedback sender and receiver, as well as a yuii trainer in the role of observer. This allowed the participants to train intensively, to pay attention to the building blocks of constructive feedback and understand why they make a difference to the quality of the feedback. The trainers gave individual feedback on the feedback style used and were able to directly point out opportunities for optimisation.
At the end of each learning unit, all participants had the opportunity to reflect together on what they had learned and experienced.
