building feedback into company culturetramtranx.com/.../2019/03/intefacedesign_research.pdf ·...

Building FeedbackInto Company CultureResearch Report & Design Proposal

Minh Tram Tran ThiMaster of Interaction Design and Electronic [email protected]

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash!

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In offices around the world, companies are shifting from

the traditional HR practice of annual appraisal to a model

of on-going feedback. This approach opens up a path for

continuous improvement which helps employees to play

on their strengths and identify growth opportunities. The

SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey 2015

reported that frequent recognition generally increases

happiness at work and is closely tied to business results.

In order to build feedback into the company’s culture,

the client plans to develop an application that can be

integrated into daily work environment to effectively

faciliate the process of giving and receiving feedback.

Design Brief

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Background Research / Trends

According to Cappelli and Tavis (2018), agile methodologies are no longer just for tech and startups, they are sparking innovation across a broad range of industries and functions. In Human Resources, the growing trend of continuous development is shaping the future of performance management system. In 2015, PwC’s Performance Management Research reported that the majority of companies in the UK were in the process of dropping their annual appraisals.

The rationale behind the idea of abandoning the traditional appraisal process is that it enables companies to invest more in people development, foster teamwork and drive rapid innovation (Cappelli & Tavis, 2018).

HR Is Becoming Agile

Bersin (2018) studied the trends in HR technology and reported an “explosion of tools” that supports the reinvention of talent management into people management. He also noted that with the arrival of continuous improvement, the sheer demand for systems enabling multi-directional feedbacks and employee engagement prompts the big vendors in software market (Oracle, Cornerstone OnDemand…) to evolve and at the same time attracts new players (CultureAmp, TinyPulse, 7Geese, Impraise…).

Regardless of scale, all these players share many important commonalities in the designing of their products such as ease of use, agility, gamification, smart analytics, anonymity and strong integration into existing tools in market.

It is important to point out that the capability of these applications to fit into the big picture of HR strategy and to create a seamless experience from digital to physical touchpoints, is as important as their functionalities.

Trends in HR Technology

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The Bright And Dark Side of Feedback

Whether it’s annual appraisal, quarterly review or on-going feedback, they are built on the basis that effective feedback is a key driver of performance and skill development.

However, in practice “feedback could actually hurt performance” (Itzchakov & Kluger, 2018) and in case of negative feedback, recipients will “reshape their network to attenuate the negative psychological effects of the threat” (Green, Gino & Staats, 2017, p.4)

These research findings prompt designers to pay more attention to both sides of the story: the way feedback is given and the way feedback is received, before deriving any design concept.

For the feedback to be effective, there are several factors that need to be carefully considered, including when to give feedback, how to give feedback that people can actually use and how to convey the message in way people can receive (rather than getting defensive). More importantly, people who give feedback need to overcome the uneasiness of hurting other people’s feelings or the fear of straining the relationship.

When it comes to recognition, the key is to understand the power of positive feedback such as “high-performing teams share nearly six times more positive feedback than average teams” (Porath, 2016, para. 3) and that small acts of appreciation matter.

On Giving Feedback

Detert and Burris (2016) argue that people tend to perceive feedback as danger because of the human’s brain defense mechanism.

Employees, therefore, need to embrace their negative emotions and exercise growth mindset (Dweck, 2007) before they can make good use of received feedback.

In many situations, ones “can’t act on feedback until they truly understand it” (Eurich, 2018, para. 10). This calls for a two-way communication in which people circle back to the giver to share their thinking or to show their appreciation.

On Receiving Feedback

Background Research / Feedback

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Strategic Positioning

Talent Management

Peer-to-peerfeedback

Personal Review

Performance Management Reimagined“We make continuous feedback and performance management meaningful for employees, actionable for managers, and painless for HR” (Impraise, 2018)

Send constructive feedback and

recognition anonymously or openly

Ask for feedback from peers or

managers

Respond directly to a feedback for

clarification or appreciation




managers

Can feedback in the form of ratings on

specific badges and/or written text




managers




managers

Can anchor their feedback with data

from previous review cycles

The Simplest Tool for Employee Recognition and 360º Feedback“Tap my Back is the #1 tool to implement an instant recognition and feedback culture” (TapMyBack, 2018)

Know The Pulse Of Your Company“15Five is a continuous performance management suite that allows you to coach your employees as fast as you sprint” (15Five,

2018)

The people management platform“We help people get the feedback they need to grow, know where they stand, and have a clear idea of how their work moves their organization forward” (Lattice, 2018)

Receive personalised report, with

feedback related to key strengths

and potential development areas

Has control over the review cycle

Get detailed report about strengths

and possible coaching needs

Analyze team's performance and

motivation constantly


See the data over time on the Trends

Dashboard.


Track top performers, highlight people

who need help

Self-review with support from

researched-backed question

templates

Self-review

Cross-platformand Integration

Web-based, iOS and Android app Web-based, iOS and Android app

Slack Integration

Web-based, iOS and Android app

Slack Integration

Web-based only

Slack, Gmail and Outlook Integration

Self-review

Public Recognition

N/A Can celebrate wins and track progress

of key objectives and recognition

Celebrate wins in publicTap and re-tap on the wall of

recognition (publicly)

Competitor Analysis / Matrix

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Strategic Positioning

Talent Management

Peer-to-peerfeedback

Personal Review

Learn faster through feedback“Culture Amp makes it easy to collect, understand and act on employee feedback.” (CultureAmp, 2018)




managers

Respond directly to a feedback for

clarification or appreciation




managers

Structures feedback in a way that’s

actionable for the recipient

Create a high-performance culture“Zugata is the only system designed to improve employee and organizational performance” (Zugata, 2018)

Self-review

Intuitive reporting highlights

strengths and areas for improvement

Diagnose problems and extract

insights from powerful analytics

Get a clear understanding of skills at

the team and organizational level to

help with strategic talent planning

and L&D programs.

Cross-platformand Integration

Web-based application

Slack & HRIS Integratiom

Web-based, iOS app

Gmail & Outlook Integration, API

Self-review

Access performance dashboards and

progress charts

Public Recognition

N/A Recognize and reinforce employee

actions with Public Praise

In this competitor analysis, chosen companies are all new players in talent management software market. The rationale behind this decision is that they can iterate faster because of relatively small scale and must innovate more frequenlty because of the sheer pressure to penetrate into market.

With little variation, these products offer almost the same functions of 360° feedback such as public recognition, anonymity, self review, peer review and performance dashboard. However some companies really stand out with the ability to employ psychology into the process, for example CultureAmp’s “library of research-backed engagement, pulse and deep dive surveys” (CultureAmp, 2018) and 15Five’s question templates. Others are competing on API or plugins that are compatible with different communication platforms.

Features such as cutting-edge analyic dashboard and report enable user to tap on the power of data. Simplicity and compelling design are also worth mentioning.

Key Findings

Competitor Analysis / Findings

The online ethnography is conducted mainly on G2Crowd, a platform that offers un-biased and authenticated user reviews. Six (06) companies in the competitor matrix have nearly 1,000 reviews written by HR professionals (15Five is the market leader with 849 reviews). Though we can uncover many insights on how to improve the products, it’s important to keep in mind that they reflect the perspective of the managers more than the employees.

While the positive reviews share many similarities with the Key Findings from Competitor Analysis (in page 5), the comments on aspects that the customers “dislike” shed a lot of light into how people use the tools in practice.

Sources

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TEAM AND AD-HOC TEAM

“As a Team Leader it could be helpful to have a "private" team channel. In a big company, we want to have some celebrations of our own” (Sonia, 2017)

“More flexibility on departments (some team members are members of more than one department” (Angela, 2018)

INTEGRATION INTO WORKFLOW

“ Integration into a Google calendar to add reminders there rather than only the email notification reminders” (Jathan, 2018)

“I would love to see in Lattice is a Gmail integration that allows managers to keep notes on team member achievements and developmental opportunities as they come through in email.” (Heather, 2018)

“No Android app, I'd love to sometimes fill out my 15Five or add notes for my 1-on-1 on the go, but there is no app for my Android” (Gregor, 2018)

FEEDBACK, GUIDE AND ANALYSIS

“It would also be great if feedback could be edited after submission” (Brandon, 2017)

“An area for improvement would be to make it easier for their clients to analyze qualitative comments.” (Claura, 2017)

“I really dislike the repetition of questions” (Dalton, 2018)

“If I mark something for follow-up, a nudge would be nice to say, "Hey, how's that progressing?" (Doug, 2017)

“A platform that the employees trusted was anonymous or secure, and a system that made basic data analysis go quickly” (Elizabeth, 2018)

“Their product is easy to use and a really neat way to provide transparency throughout an organization” (Mallory, 2018)

ANONIMITY, TRANSPERANCY AND EASY OF USE

Online Ethnography

Needs & Issues Summary

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It is apparent that employees long for not only a secure platform that offers anonymity in the feedback process but also guiding questions that helps them to write effective feedback.

They need the ability to edit feedback after submission, either for fixing spelling & grammar mistakes or making adjustments.

To some extent they need to communicate to each other during the feedback process.

They expect the tool to be well integrated into their workflow (as a plug-in for existing tools and as a mobile application).

The research also brings forward the need of employees to overcome mental barriers in giving and receiving feedback.

Lastly, it all boils down to personal growth and professional development with analytic report and dashboard.

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T O P N E E D S T O P I S S U E S

Public recognition (company-wide) is not suitable for team celebration and appreciation.

The inability of existing software to analyse and extract insights from qualitative comments.

Employees still lack of motivation to use the applications more frequently.

Employees have no semantic guide in writing and responding to feedback.

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Apart from addressing the issues of existing applications, based on the employees’ needs in giving and receiving feedback effectively, I have developed three (03) ideas on how to faciliate that process.

Card DeckThe idea is to design a visual card deck of advices which employees can use as a checklist to go through. Every card in the deck features a real life-inspired scenario that they can resonate with.

Expert CoachThe application now includes a very short course on feedback. The course (in video format) will play the coaching role and equip employees with the right mindset and skills in delivering constructive feedback or responding to criticism.

Design Proposal / Ideas

A Scenario From Card Deck Video Playlist

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GenieNatural Language Processing (NLP) makes it possible to support the reflective journey of users during feedback process and to provide them with semantic guidance in writing feedback. Using NLP, we can also analyse qualitative messages and match them with a framework of skills, competencies and company values.

R AT I O N A L E

While the other two alternatives “Card Deck” and “Expert Coach” rely on user’s proactiveness in learning, “Genie” adopts a personalised and contextual approach. Given there’s no constraint in time and budget and that we’re keen a explore a conceptual interface design, “Genie” is the recommended solution.

Design Proposal / Recommendation

Coaching Chatbot Semantic Guidance Analysing FeedbacksInto Skills And Competencies

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Natural Language Processing Coaching Chatbot

Natural Language Processing

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is an emerging technology concerning how computers can understand and process human languages. NLP does not look for specific keywords from our messages but “uses knowledge of sentence structure, idioms, and machine-learned pattern recognition to try to match what you say to an ‘intent’ which has been ‘classified’,” (Boutin, 2017, para. 6).

For the purpose of facilitating the inner reflective journey of users and helping them develop the growth mindset, a coaching chatbot trained to guide the conversation would be a useful tool.

Because of limited time working on the research, I am yet to find any NLP model that enables a chatbot to adapt its guiding questions based on preceding context. However, Amazon “Context Carryover” (Amazon, 2018) and Google’s “Continued Conversation” (Google, 2018) in voicebots indicates the possibility of chatbots to have a seamless back-and-forth conversation. In 2016, Dusek and Jurcıcek presented a natural language generator for dialogue system, in which the generator is “capable of entraining (adapting) to users’ way of speaking” (p.1).

Semantic Guidance

Sentiment analysis using deep learning technique gains huge popularity these days “because for the first time in human history, we have a huge volume of opinionated data recorded in digital forms” (Zhang, Wang & Liu, 2018, p.1).

Combining intent and sentiment, in theory we can offer guidance that help employees to write actionable feedback using the right tone of voice.

As NLP has proved its use in qualitative data analysis, we can continue to leverage the technique in mapping the feedback with pre-defined skills, competencies and values of the company.

Assessing the feasibility of technology used in “Genie” design proposal

Mapping feedback

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References15Five. (2018). 15Five color logo [Image]. Retrieved from https://d3mobhvzizw0uf.cloudfront.net/wp-content/themes/15five/img/logo.png

Angela, N. (2018, April 30). A little more flexibility on departments (some team members are members of more than one department) [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/lattice-performance-management/reviews/lattice-performance-management-review-695124#

Bersin, J. (2017). HR technology disruptions for 2018: Productivity, design, and intelligence reign [Report] (pp. 2-3). Deloitte Development LLC. Retrieved from http://marketing.bersin.com/rs/976-LMP-699/images/HRTechDisruptions2018-Report-100517.pdf

Boutin, P. (2017). Does a bot need natural language processing? [Blog]. Retrieved from https://chatbotsmagazine.com/does-a-bot-need-natural- language-processing-c2f76ab7ef11

Brandon, W. (2017, December 28). It would also be great if feedback could be edited after submission [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/lattice-performance-management/reviews/lattice-performance-management-review-529089#

Cappelli, P., & Tavis, A. (2018). HR goes agile. Harvard Business Review, (March-April 2018). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/03/the-new-rules-of-talent-management#hr-goes-agile

Claura, L. (2017, July 18). An area for improvement would be to make it easier for their clients to analyze qualitative comments [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/culture-amp/reviews/culture-amp-review-336077#

Continuous performance management software. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.15five.com/

Culture Amp - The employee feedback platform. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cultureamp.com/

Culture Amp. (2018). Culture Amp color logo [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.cultureamp.com/images/logo-coral-a0c3fae4.svg

Dalton, B. (2018, January 30). I really dislike the repetition of questions [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/15five-continuous-performance-management/reviews/15five-review-601937#

Doug, B. (2017, July 3). If I mark something for follow-up, a nudge would be nice to say, Hey, how's that progressing? [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/15five-continuous-performance-management/reviews/15five-review-323955#

Dusek, O., & Jurcıcek, F. (2016). A context-aware natural language generator for dialogue systems [Report] (p. 1). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/ 1608.07076.pdf

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success.

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Elizabeth, O. (2018, January 18). A platform that the employees trusted was anonymous or secure, and a system that made basic data analysis go quickly [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/culture-amp/reviews/culture-amp-review-597299#

Employee recognition & 360 degree feedback software. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.tapmyback.com/

Eurich, T. (2018). The right way to respond to negative feedback. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/05/the-right-way-to-respond-to-negative-feedback

Gebhart, A. (2018). Google Home's new continued conversation setting keeps the mic hot for a smoother chat. CNET. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/news/google-home-continued-conversation-setting-keeps-the-mic-hot/

Green Jr., P., Gino, F., & Staats, B. (2017). Shopping for confirmation: how disconfirming feedback shapes social networks [Ebook] (p. 2). Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/18-028_5efa4295-edc1-4fac-bef5-0111064c9e08.pdf

Gregor, F. (2018, July 31). I'd love to sometimes fill out my 15Five or add notes for my 1-on-1 on the go, but there is no app for my Android [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/15five-continuous-performance-management/reviews/15five-continuous-performance-management-review-825299#

Heather, D. (2018, April 30). I would love to see in Lattice is a Gmail integration that allows managers to keep notes on team member achievements and developmental opportunities as they come through in email [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/lattice-performance-management/reviews/lattice-performance-management-review-695331#

Impraise — Real-time 360 degree feedback and performance review software. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.impraise.com/

Impraise Inc. (2018). Impraise color logo [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.impraise.com/s/Untitled-1-01.png

Itzchakov, G., & Avraham N. (Avi), K. (2018). The power of listening in helping people change. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/05/the-power-of-listening-in-helping-people-change

Jathan, D. (2018, December 15). Integration into a Google calendar to add reminders there rather than only the email notification reminders [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/15five-continuous-performance-management/reviews/15five-continuous-performance-management-review-619714#

Lattice. (2018). Lattice color logo [Image]. Retrieved from https://lattice.com/img/lattice-logo-color.svg

Mallory, D. (2018, February 15). Their product is easy to use and a really neat way to provide transparency throughout an organization [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/15five-continuous-performance-management/reviews/15five-continuous-performance-management-review-619793#

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More companies planning to ditch annual performance reviews and ratings, but will employees benefit? PwC research. (2015). [Blog]. Retrieved from http://pwc.blogs.com/press_room/2015/07/more-companies-planning-to-ditch-end-of-annual-performance-reviews-and-ratings-but-will-employees-be.html

People management platform: Performance, development, & engagement software for employees. (2018). Retrieved from https://lattice.com/

Performance management for high-performance cultures. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.zugata.com/

Porath, C. (2016). Give your team more-effective positive feedback. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/10/give-your- team-more-effective-positive-feedback

R. Detert, J., & R. Burris, E. (2016). Don’t let your brain’s defense mechanisms thwart effective feedback. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/08/dont-let-your-brains-defense-mechanisms-thwart-effective-feedback?autocomplete=true

Sarikaya, R. (2018). Making Alexa more friction-free [Blog]. Retrieved from https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/60e1f011-3236-4162- b0f6-509205d354ca/making-alexa-more-friction-free

SHRM/Globoforce. (2015). 2015 Employee recognition report [Report] (pp. 6-10). Retrieved from http://go.globoforce.com/rs/862-JIQ-698/images/Globoforce_SHRM_2015.pdf

Sonia, F. (2017, December 15). As a team leader it could be helpful to have a "private" team channel. In a big company, we want to have some celebrations of our own [Online Review]. Retrieved from https://www.g2crowd.com/products/tap-my-back/reviews/tap-my-back-review-506513#

Spratt, A. (2018). Some of the Unsplash team working together [Image]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/MChSQHxGZrQ

Tap My Back. (2018). Tap My Back color logo [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.tapmyback.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Artboard-2- [email protected]

Zhang, L., Wang, S., & Liu, B. (2018). Deep learning for sentiment analysis: A Survey [Report] (p. 1). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1801.07883.pdf

Zugata. (2018). Zugata purple logo with white background [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.zugata.com/downloads/purple-logo-on-white.zip

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