Feedback is vital: How can leaders activate a healthy practice?

Feedback is vital. But it’s often missed - and sometimes misused.

As the old adage goes: it’s lonely at the top. And younger executives are feeling isolated too. As global instability increases, taking the right decisions has never been more difficult.

But it doesn’t need to be this way – thanks to the power of feedback. The counsel of supportive, objective advisors dissolves walls. It nourishes and reinforces strategy design and implementation. Yet this precious resource asks nothing of us – except an open mind, writes Paolo Clemente, a Partner at Amrop Italy.

My work with C-level executives and CEOs spans companies and sectors: industrial, pharmaceutical, consumer goods, professional services. It’s clear that even today, feedback practices remain uneven.

It all depends on leadership style and culture.

Some stifle feedback. They imprison it with tacit rules: watch what you say. And despite the spread of democratic leadership, heavyweight, feedback-averse commanders still exist. They see feedback as a box‑ticking exercise, not a value-add. Not seeking it, but simply tolerating it – at best. Ticking boxes to comply with ‘HR policy’.

A culture of living feedback is very different. Here, collaborative and consensus‑oriented leaders set the tone, naturally cascading the practice throughout the ecosystem. Feedback is embedded in people development and growth. Periodic 360‑degree processes hotwire bottom‑up and top‑down perspectives into key business topics. In one industrial company, the CEO demanded to be included alongside their team.

Feeling the heartbeat

Today, "we’re operating in a VUCA world" (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous), has become a truism. Less obvious is the extent to which clinging to fixed ideas blocks and endangers an organization in the torrent of change. Context is just as important as a powerful vision. Future‑oriented leaders understand that the world will be different six months from now. That it is critical to seek out to the unimaginable. To flex to issues that weren’t even on the radar yesterday.

In this unpredictable environment, complexity swoops in from multiple directions - economics, politics, markets. It’s vital to harvest the observations and insights of people with different backgrounds and specializations: collaborators, insiders, external advisors. These are the sensors that help the leader to think ahead.

We organize feedback processes for executive teams, evaluating scores and comments. We tailor the content to observations of corresponding behaviors and their frequency in daily life - top‑down, bottom‑up, among peers.

Every company has a strategy; the real question is how you lead it.

But feedback shouldn’t merely be a process; it’s a systemic attitude. And there’s a problem: even in mature organizations, it is not easy to maintain open, transparent, fact‑based and constructive feedback habits. Despite declarations about openness, feedback remains infrequent and formal, limited to the annual performance review.

Why is feedback not as commonly – or skillfully - practiced as it could be? One answer: feedback is an art. People need help to give and receive it - training, learning by doing, coaching. The combination of theoretical and experiential learning can ignite real organizational change, especially with the support of specialized advisors. Regular checkpoints help verify progress.

But giving feedback – especially in a development conversation – requires care. You’ll need a constructive attitude, highlighting expectations. Not only areas for improvement, but strengths. Basing observations in real situations and behavior, and co-creating ways to improve.

Things are changing

Younger generations - Y, Z, and soon Alpha – are driving demand for frequent, fact‑based feedback. Engagement scores show that a failure to manage feedback erodes their commitment and trust. This is reshaping HR strategies across all levels.

Senior leaders, too, are increasingly seeing the sense of feedback. The best practitioners know that old behaviors and experience are not enough to meet new challenges. They understand the value of authentic, reliable input from people without vested interests. There are multiple paths to a target. Choosing the right one makes flexibility and openness non-negotiable.

The missing link

Despite digital platforms, direct and authentic face‑to‑face communication remains the most effective way to connect. Maintaining true links with people is a major organizational challenge. Overcommunication can become no communication. Sometimes, less is more. Feedback lands better when it is precise. Clear, fact‑based, timely, and one‑to‑one.

Always keeping the goal in mind: not judgment, but development.

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