Feedback is not an autopsy of failure, it is the heartbeat of growth

Judging by what I see happening in many Sri Lankan organisations, I conclude that they are not fully utilising ‘Feedback’ as an employee developmental, motivational, and empowerment tool. Irrespective of the context of its application, ‘Feedback’ is the heartbeat of growth. By weaving proactive, honest reflection into our daily rhythm, we can transform simple words into a catalyst for a more connected, extraordinary life. This is very cleverly posited by Mother Theresa who observed that failure is merely feedback that something is blocking the path of the emergence and expansion of the greatest version of oneself.

In the modern workplace, feedback serves as the vital connective tissue between individual ambition and organisational success. When delivered effectively, it transforms from a mundane administrative action into a strategic facilitator of growth, clarity, and engagement. The true strength of feedback lies in its ability to bridge the perception gap. Without it, employees, employers, managers, and leaders navigate in a vacuum, often unaware of how their efforts align with the broader vision, mission, purpose, goals, and objectives of the organisation.

A living ecosystem 

Performance management is no longer a static, once-a-year post-mortem. It is a living ecosystem fueled by the immense power of feedback. High-impact feedback provides a real-time compass, offering the “course corrections” necessary to turn potential into peak performance. It is not just about identifying what went wrong; it is also about reinforcing what went right and illuminating the path toward mastery. Moreover, a culture of robust feedback fosters an environment of psychological safety. When praise is specific, and critique is constructive, trust becomes the default setting. Such an environment encourages risk-taking and innovation, as team members feel supported rather than scrutinised. In an era where talent is mobile and expectations are high, the organisations that thrive are those that treat feedback as a continuous dialogue rather than a monologue. It is the ultimate tool for unlocking human capital, ensuring that every contributor feels seen, heard, and empowered to evolve.

Netflix renowned for its radical candour and “sunshining” (openly sharing failures), Google with its emphasis on peer-to-peer feedback, collaboration and data-driven performance management, Microsoft with its focus on a growth mindset where feedback is central to employee development and high performance and IBM which uses holistic feedback in enhancing employee capability and capacity, are just a few examples of high-performing global organisations that foster a culture of excellence by encouraging employees to take ownership of their performance and share insights openly through feedback.

Affirmation and feedback create a powerful synergy where instruction meets inspiration. While feedback provides the necessary roadmap for improvement, affirmation supplies the fuel to travel the distance. Together, they transform a critique into a catalyst, ensuring that a person feels both competently guided and deeply valued in his/her pursuit of excellence. When a boss, mentor, or peer offers genuine feedback, they are not just reviewing your past performance; they are investing in your future potential. This recognition acts as a psychological “green light,” signaling that your actions are sound and your contributions matter. In the vulnerable early stages of a career, such validation transforms doubt into drive. It provides the emotional stamina required to tackle challenges, turning the workplace into a space where growth is not just a possibility but is an inevitability. In this light, enlightened leaders and managers are increasingly using feedback as a powerful tool of motivation, empowerment, and guidance.

Power of feedback 

I still remember the power of feedback, both positive and negative, and the joy I felt in receiving it, during my first formal job as a cost clerk at Lever Brothers (Ceylon) Limited. I was twenty-one years old, and there existed in me a streak of brashness in feeling ‘high and mighty’ that I had secured a job at one of Sri Lanka’s top organisations. I was studying to be an accountant, and I was ambitious and eager to climb the corporate ladder. Influenced by the values instilled in me by my father, I was not just after a paycheck. Even though I had little money in my pocket, my goal was exposure, experience, deep knowledge, and personal advancement. I constantly sought signs that I was on the right path and contributing to the organisation. My boss’s feedback was one of those signs, and I looked forward to receiving it regularly. It was a steady compass amid a sea of new responsibilities. Every “well done,” “keep at it,” “you could have done better,” and so forth, felt less like a critique and more like a badge of achievement pinned to my lapel. In those evenings of my early corporate days, I would rush home to share with my wife, mother, siblings, and extended family my boss’s praise or admonishment. It was a thrill to share every detail. Sitting at the dinner table, recounting those small victories arising out of my efforts and summarising the lessons learned from my mistakes became my way of saying, “I am getting there.” Sharing those moments with family became a sacred ritual. Their acknowledgment, recognition, smiles, concern, relief, and pride mirrored my own feelings. A simple act like receiving feedback from my boss turned into a shared family triumph and discussion. That feedback became my fuel. It turned routine tasks into a purpose-driven mission. I learned early that while a salary sustains life, heartfelt feedback, whether affirming or correcting, builds a career. It gave me quiet, unwavering confidence that I was on the right track, proving that even the smallest word of feedback can ignite lifelong ambitions. It is this personal experience that drives me to give regular feedback to my peers, subordinates, and colleagues. Therefore, I am surprised by the inadequate attention given by Sri Lankan companies to formal and informal feedback.

Critical component 

Feedback, both structured and unstructured, is a critical component of the Performance Management System at John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH). At JKH, feedback is not a seasonal event. It is the omnipresent, continuous, living pulse of the organisation. JKH realised, very early on, that when feedback is relegated to an annual, or half-year, review, it becomes an autopsy of past failures rather than a roadmap for future wins. Climate surveys reveal that when feedback is regular, transparent, candid, and real, employee motivation and effectiveness are enhanced as a matter of course. Ambiguity was identified as the silent killer of productivity. It was noted that in the absence of regular check-ins and dialogue, employees tended to operate in a vacuum, wasting energy on “shadow work” that does not align with strategic goals. Honest feedback provided the guardrails that kept employees focused and talent guided on the fast track. Honesty and transparency, facilitated by vehicles such as career committee-driven performance reviews, skip-level meetings, 360-degree surveys, grievance mechanisms, and the ‘socialisation of feedback’, were seen by staff as signs of respect, involvement, and belonging. Sugar-coating a performance gap was not considered an act of kindness but as a ‘fast train’ to career sabotage. The JKH thinking was that when the truth is withheld, the affected employee is denied the opportunity to pivot. Candour, being the act of direct challenge while caring personally, was acknowledged as an efficient route to the establishment of psychological safety, a feature so critical for teams to take risks and own their contributions, successes, and failures. JKH believed that employee upliftment happens at the intersection of support and challenge, and that consistency of feedback builds trust, reduces the “threat response” in the brain, and that honesty provides the data points needed for skill acquisition. JKH’s operating mantra was - “When employees know exactly where they stand, they stop working out of fear and start working out of purpose.” All in all, consistent, value-adding feedback was found to transform a manager from a judge into a leader cum coach and subordinates from mere followers to passionate exponents.

Buzzword 

I sense that “feedback” has become a hollow buzzword in most Sri Lankan corporates. It has become a checkbox on an annual performance review rather than the lifeblood of growth that it is designed for and meant to be. While our global counterparts have pivoted toward radical transparency, many local boardrooms remain stifled by a culture of silence or, conversely, a bluntness that borders on the destructive. The tragedy lies in the missed potential. In many organisations, feedback is either withheld out of a misplaced sense of “politeness” or delivered as a top-down mandate, devoid of empathy. We suffer from a “criticism-as-correction” mindset. When a leader finally speaks, it is often far too late, landing not as a guiding hand but as a heavy gavel. The sensitivity required to nurture a subordinate’s talent is frequently sacrificed at the altar of hierarchy. We mistake seniority for the right to be tactless, and we mistake silence as a necessity for harmony. The lack of constructive two-way feedback creates a stagnant equilibrium. Employees navigate a fog of uncertainty, never quite sure where they stand until the ground shifts beneath them. True feedback requires a delicate alchemy of candour and care, a “tough love” that respects the individual’s dignity while demanding excellence. Until we bridge the gap between “saying something” and “saying something meaningful,” the Sri Lankan corporate spirit will continue to be dampened by the weight of things left unsaid.

In my twenty-five years with Anglo American Corporation (Central Africa) Ltd., “Anglo;” it, with its westernised and aggressive approach to performance, used the SARA (shock, anger, resistance, and acceptance) Framework of Feedback. This framework, often applied in 360-degree feedback or performance coaching, is a model that helps to understand the emotional stages an individual goes through when receiving constructive but unexpected feedback. It is used to help employees process tough feedback and enables them to move from defensive to productive action. The components of SARA are, > Shock/Surprise (S): The initial reaction, especially if the feedback is unexpected or conflicts with the individual’s self-perception. The person may feel stunned or deny the feedback and say, “I don’t understand this report”, > Anger/Anxiety (A): The person feels defensive, frustrated, or anxious. He/She may feel the feedback is unfair or personal, blaming the system or the person giving the feedback, > Resistance (R): The individual may try to justify his/her behaviour or reject the feedback outright. He/She might think, “I’ll just keep doing it my way,” > Acceptance (A): The person begins to accept the validity of the feedback and starts to think about how to use it for improvement. 

Sri Lanka can shift the ‘feedback’ needle by modifying the SARA model as described above to one that accommodates the hierarchical nuances of its society and culture without compromising modern transparency. We can use a Sri Lanka-suitable SARA Framework which balances the directness required for growth with the cultural quirks and emotional needs of South Asians. The modified SARA can stand for, > Specificity (S); - Ditch vague praise or blame and focus on documented actions and not personality traits. This prevents the feedback from feeling like a personal “attack” on one’s character, > Affirmation (A); - Start by acknowledging the individual’s value to the collective “family” or team. This softens the ego-blow and reaffirms job security before diving into critiques, > Reciprocity; - Feedback must be a two-way street. Ask: “How can I help you achieve this?”. This flattens the hierarchy and makes the leader (feedback giver) a partner in the solution, > Actionable; - End with a clear, collaborative roadmap for the next 90 days. This removes the “fog of uncertainty” and replaces it with a tangible goal.

Three pillars of application 

In my experience, effective ‘Feedback’ must be founded on three pillars of application if it is to be effective in Sri Lanka. These being, > The ‘Private First’ Rule. In a culture where “saving face” is paramount, I opine that public correction is a bridge-burner. I suggest that all corrective feedback happens behind closed doors, preserving the employee’s dignity among his/her peers, > Show Radical Empathy as opposed to Radical Candour. As a leader and as a coach, I preach that sensitivity is not a “weakness.” It is the strategic use of language to ensure the message is heard rather than blocked by a defensive emotional wall, > Encourage Frequency over Formality. The “Annual Review” is where feedback is destined to die. I propose the “10-minute Check-in”, where informal, frequent, and low-stakes conversations take place as a part of MBWA (management by wandering about). These would prevent minor issues from becoming terminal grievances.

In Sri Lanka leadership is a “parent-child” dynamic. The goal must be to move toward an “adult-adult” dialogue that respects the individual while driving high performance. We can address this by using more effective language in critiquing. For example, when there is a missed deadline; without saying- “You are always late with these reports. It is becoming a real problem for the department.”, say- “I value your contributions to the team, but the delay on this report stalled the workflow. What roadblocks are you hitting, and how can we hit the next target together?” If you are addressing poor quality; without saying- “This work is not up to standard. Go back and do it properly,” say- “I noticed the data analysis in this draft lacks the depth we need for the board. Let’s look at the specific sections that need more detail so you can refine it by Tuesday.” If you are giving feedback on attitude and behaviour; without saying, “Your attitude in meetings is very negative lately. You need to change it.”- say “I’ve noticed you’ve been quieter in meetings recently. Your insights are usually vital; is there something on your mind we should discuss privately?”

Personally, I am a very direct person. That is the result of the influence of ‘tough,’ loving parents, competitive but caring siblings and the results-oriented, aggressive work ethic of Anglo. Therefore, I am opposed, in principle, to overly sugarcoating communications. As you know, - In life if you overdo something, it loses its efficacy and lustre. In leadership, too, achieving balance between the “push” and “pull” of feedback is an absolute must. 

In a culture as nuanced as Sri Lanka’s, feedback must be more than a management tool. It must be an act of respect and concern. If we balance directness with empathy, we will transform critiques into catalysts for growth. We must honour the dignity of the individual while pursuing excellence. We must create a workplace defined by trust. Let us speak with clarity and listen with heart, ensuring our words build bridges rather than walls. In conclusion, follow three golden rules, these being * Frame feedback as a collective step which astutely balances high performance with transparent, honest discussion, guidance and mentoring”, * Praise in public but offer corrective guidance in private, and * Modulate the delivery of feedback to maintain ‘truth”, face’ and dignity.

(The author is, currently, a Leadership Coach, Mentor and Consultant and boasts over 50 years of experience in very senior positions in the Corporate World – local and overseas. www.ronniepeiris.com)