I read a NY Times story (2012) about a a Boston University professor who asks for student feedback every class.  Most professors might be satisfied with a student evaluation once a semester, but not this professor. Dr. Muhammad Zaman gets feedback daily from his biomedical engineering students. He publishes the results, emails the students to tell them about “any fine-tuning he plans in response to their comments”.  This is teaching rigor.

real-time customer feedback

Although this is definitely more “work”, this creates enormous operational transparency that the students must love:

• Focuses on the customer and what the customer views as critical-to-quality (CTQ)
• Emphasizes the customer benefit (learning), not the feature (lesson plan)
• Drives accountability for the results by publishing the scores, not keeping it hidden
• Collects data from a large sample size (all students), not just a few select students
• Measures performance over time, not just a few data points here and there

Should consultants do this?

Clearly impressive, but isn’t it exhausting? A consultant might ask, “Do you really need this level of client feedback?” Won’t it get in the way?  Isn’t it better to keep the client focused on the project goals, not how we are doing the project?”

Yes and no.

Yes, consultants (and professors) understand the scope of the project and presumably have climbed the learning curve faster than the client. “We’ve seen this kind of problem before, and though you might not completely see it now, you will.” Also, the client hires us to provide reasonable solutions to complex problems, not win a popularity contest.

No, consultants (and professors) are in the change business. We want clients (and students) to not just understand what we are saying, but fully engage their head, heart, and hands. No one wants to create solutions that simply go on the shelf.

Listen for feedback

Client feedback takes many different forms. We should be open to it, be able to pick up the clues:

• What edits did the client have on the draft document you gave her?
• What industry terminology is your client using that you have not picked up on?
• Is your client making the same request (even though you feel you took care of it)?

Consider it free mentoring from your client on how to be a more credible, presentable, and persuasive. Even if you don’t actively seek out the feedback like Dr. Zaman does, chances are that the client is subtly voicing their opinion every day.

How to ask for Feedback?

• Create a safe environment; where the client (students) know that feedback is welcome
• Coach and guide them on what feedback is most useful (yes, I’ve gotten irrelevant feedback before too)
• Make it easy to give feedback (a short note, text, email, comment is fine)
• Act on the feedback; the worst thing you can do is ask for advice, then consistently ignore it
• Create a dialogue so you are giving them feedback too

Any tips on how you give / get feedback from clients? 

Related posts:

• Self-feedback: “How do you feel about your work?”
• Consulting tip: How to make a good survey
• Links