What is the Feedback and Innovation Culture health check?
Good ideas often die quietly. Someone holds back early feedback because the last suggestion went nowhere, or an idea gets built before anyone tests the assumption behind it. The Feedback and Innovation Culture health check asks each team member to rate 10 statements about those everyday moments, such as My feedback on ideas is actionable and helps improve the idea and I can share my learnings, including failures without fear or judgment. Ratings use a five-point scale from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree, and because the statements are written in the first person, people answer for their own experience. The results show where ideas move freely and where psychological safety, ownership or evidence-based decisions need work. Use them to talk about how an idea gets from first mention to delivery, and how the team recognizes the people who take the initiative.
Dimensions
Feedback and Innovation
How the team gives and receives feedback, validates ideas, and takes ownership to drive innovation.
Early Feedback
When an idea arises, I can give early feedback that is positive and constructive, even if not all feedback is accepted.
- Rarely give early feedback
- Sometimes give early feedback
- Always give constructive early feedback
Motivation to Give Feedback
I can easily give feedback that is appreciated and well-received.
- Hard to give feedback
- Feedback sometimes welcomed
- Feedback easily welcomed
Benefit from Feedback
My feedback on ideas is actionable and helps improve the idea.
- Feedback rarely actionable
- Feedback sometimes useful
- Feedback consistently improves ideas
Validate Ideas Early
I focus on removing uncertainty and proving assumptions before I implement ideas.
- Build before validating
- Sometimes validate first
- Always validate assumptions early
Openness to Evidence
I have the opportunity to test and gather data for ideas and to provide evidence within certain constraints.
- No room to test
- Limited testing possible
- Free to test and gather evidence
Objectivity
My decisions are weighted more toward objective results rather than individual opinions.
- Driven by opinions
- Mix of opinion and evidence
- Driven by objective results
Individual Agency
I am free to own and implement ideas and solutions independently, without undue barriers.
- Blocked by barriers
- Some freedom to act
- Free to own and implement ideas
Taking Responsibility
I am happy to take full responsibility for the implementation of our projects.
- Avoid responsibility
- Take some responsibility
- Fully own responsibility
Appreciation for Taking Responsibility
I experience open appreciation for taking responsibility and initiative.
- Initiative goes unnoticed
- Occasionally appreciated
- Openly appreciated for initiative
Learning from Mistakes
I can share my learnings, including failures without fear or judgment to help others avoid making the same mistake.
- Mistakes feared or hidden
- Some openness about failures
- Failures shared openly to learn
When to use this health check
- When you want to know how freely people share and receive feedback on new ideas.
- When new ideas seem to stall and you suspect feedback loops or ownership are the cause.
- In a retrospective about how ideas move from concept to implementation.
- When you're building a habit of experimenting and learning from failure.
- As a periodic pulse check on psychological safety and initiative in the team.
Tips & tricks
- Run it anonymously so people answer honestly about feedback and failure.
- Compare results across teams to see where ideas get the most support and where they need more.
- If Learning from Mistakes scores low, follow it with a conversation about psychological safety.
- Re-run it quarterly to see whether changes to how you give feedback are taking hold.
- Focus the discussion on the two or three lowest-scoring dimensions instead of trying to fix everything at once.