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In today's fast-paced work environments, feedback plays a pivotal role in the growth, performance and improvement of our teams. But while internal feedback and coaching will always be valuable in helping our team members succeed, external feedback also plays a pivotal role. In this article, we will explore the different types of feedback, the reasons external perspectives are so important, as well as practical tips for implementing effective external feedback processes.
Internal feedback comes from individuals within the organization—such as managers, peers, or direct reports—and reflects internal experiences, relationships, and company culture. While valuable, it can sometimes be influenced by biases, workplace dynamics, or a limited perspective.
On the other hand, external feedback is provided by people outside the organization, such as clients, partners, consultants, or customers. This type of feedback:
- Offers an outsider's perspective, often more objective and free from internal biases.
- Reflects real-world outcomes, client satisfaction, and external expectations.
- Brings fresh ideas and insights that may not emerge from within the organization.
At Workstars, we value both types of feedback – internal and external. But without the full picture, you’ll find you have a very narrow scope for learning and improvement.
Just like with internal feedback, external feedback can come in many different forms, with each serving a distinct purpose in an individual’s or an organization's development journey.
Positive feedback: Reinforces good behaviours and achievements, boosting morale and motivation. In the same way that a manager might praise an employee during a team meeting as a form of internal positive feedback, external positive feedback might include a good review from a customer raving about the excellent customer service they received.
Negative feedback: Highlights areas for improvement. When delivered constructively, it encourages growth. Negative external feedback might be a customer submitting a complaint form. Some people have a hard time receiving negative feedback, especially from external sources – in this case, they should focus on the way this can help them to improve, as opposed to focusing on the criticisms or complaints directly.
Continuous feedback: Regular, ongoing input aimed at fostering improvement over time. Continuous external feedback may come from forums such as regular focus groups or feedback sessions run with customers, clients or partners.
Terminal feedback: Feedback delivered at the end of a project or process, often as a final evaluation. When looking for external terminal feedback, you may as a new customer to review their implementation experience, for example.
Feedback can also be formal or informal. Formal feedback might be documented, and follow a particular structure or format – whereas informal external feedback may just involve picking up on comments during regular interactions with members outside your organization, e.g. a conversation at the checkout in a retail store.
Each of these types of feedback contributes to a comprehensive feedback journey, where external perspectives can complement internal ones to create a more holistic understanding of strengths and areas for development.
Incorporating external feedback into workplace processes can provide immense value, for many reasons.
For example, external voices bring a new lens and a fresh perspective to your current challenges. You may find that they reveal blind spots or opportunities that were being overlooked internally.
But one of the biggest reasons you may find for bringing external feedback into the mix, is the way in which it reduces bias. After all, external feedback is far less likely to be influenced by personal relationships or office politics, making it far more objective… or, at least, in many cases, anyway. But have caution, because external feedback can also be biased in other ways – such as a customer who takes out their frustrations with the brand’s shipping policy, by poorly rating an individual agent’s customer service skills.
Other benefits of external feedback include added real-world relevance, and increased credibility - and the science supports these benefits, too; a study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, it was found that external feedback significantly improved employee performance and problem-solving abilities when combined with internal feedback.
While external feedback is valuable, there are potential challenges to navigate. Organizations should watch out for these common pitfalls:
Over-reliance on external feedback: Balancing external and internal feedback ensures that employees feel supported internally while still benefiting from outside insights.
Lack of context: External partners or clients may not fully understand internal processes, leading to feedback that lacks practical relevance.
Poor communication: Failure to communicate feedback effectively can result in confusion or demotivation among teams.
Ignoring constructive criticism: Organizations must remain open to external input, even when it highlights uncomfortable truths.
Plenty of peer-reviewed evidence warns that falling into the above traps can be harmful – such as this interesting piece of research on the over-reliance on external feedback. To mitigate these risks, feedback processes should be well-structured, transparent, and balanced with ongoing internal feedback mechanisms.
If you’d like to leverage the benefits of external feedback to improve staff performance in your own organization, then we have a few suggestions to help you implement this in a way that brings structure and balance to the process.
Some of the best-proven approaches include:
Client surveys: Gathering input from clients or partners through well-designed surveys. If this sounds up your street, then make sure to design surveys that are specific, concise, and focused on actionable insights. Use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions to capture both qualitative and quantitative feedback, such as “How satisfied are you with XYZ on a scale of 1-5”, plus an open-ended follow-up question asking for areas of improvement.
Performance reviews with external stakeholders: Inviting external voices to provide insights during team or individual performance evaluations. This may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar for some, but in certain workplaces, it can be very effective.
Third-party assessments: Engaging consultants or external evaluators to offer objective feedback on organizational processes or projects. This may be particularly helpful if you are implementing new technology, or undergoing some other form of digital transformation, where an expert’s professional opinion on your goals can bring much-needed experience to shape your decisions.
Focus groups and interviews: Host a range of direct conversations with customers or industry experts for qualitative feedback. These could be one-off events to solve particular problems or regular events that you engage in annually, quarterly or even monthly to review ongoing progress.
Employee recognition software: Many employee recognition platforms link unique URLs to employee accounts, allowing external partners to submit feedback seamlessly. This method integrates external feedback into internal recognition programs, capturing diverse perspectives efficiently.
By leveraging these channels, you can create a structured and inclusive feedback process that benefits individuals and teams alike.
At Workstars, we believe that feedback - both internal and external - is essential to continuous growth and success. External feedback provides unique perspectives, reduces bias, and brings real-world relevance to internal efforts.
Read more: Expand the power of recognition with Partner Appreciation
By implementing effective processes for capturing this, you can unlock the full value of external feedback to create a culture that thrives on continuous improvement.
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