Strategies For Closing The Feedback Loop In Training

Last week, a mentee came to me after her annual review. Her feedback was good — specific enough to sting a little. She walked out with every intention of acting on it. I asked her one question: "What's different on your calendar this week?" She paused. Nothing was different. That's where feedback dies — not in the reading of it, but in the week after, when life resumes and the document closes. Understanding feedback and acting on it are two completely different skills. Most people only practice one. Here's what I told her to do instead: 𝟭/ 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 "Be more strategic" tells you nothing. This does: take the project you're leading and present how it accelerates a priority your organization cares about — before your next leadership meeting. Specific. Timely. Actionable. For every piece of feedback, ask: what does this look like in practice? 𝟮/ 𝗔𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 If it doesn't make it into your goals, it's not going to happen. Don't create a separate "development item" that lives outside your work — embed it into the goal itself or into how you'll achieve it. If the feedback is "delegate more and develop your team," don't just note it. Update your existing goal to: 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘟 𝘣𝘺 𝘘3, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴. Same goal. The feedback is now inside it. 𝟯/ 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿 Your calendar is your priorities made visible. If the change you need to make doesn't appear there, it won't happen. If the feedback is "scale your impact by partnering across the organization," don't wait for opportunities to show up. Schedule 1:1s this week with leaders in adjacent teams to learn their priorities. What's on your calendar next Monday tells you more about your intentions than anything you wrote in your development plan. 𝟰/ 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 Share what you're working on with a peer, a mentor, or your manager. Not for accountability theater — because saying it out loud makes it real. And it invites the micro-feedback you'll need along the way. 𝟱/ 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝟵𝟬-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸-𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 Not "am I trying harder?" — what's actually different in what you do? If the answer is nothing, the feedback is already expiring. The annual review is a gift. Most people open it, admire it, and put it back in the box. If nothing changes in what you do, the outcome is likely to be the same. What’s one change you’ve actually put on your calendar this year? PS: If you know someone in the middle of their review cycle — send this their way. --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for weekly Leadership and Career posts

"We brought in a trainer for two days and nothing changed." Of course it didn't. You treated training like a checkbox activity. Sales leaders constantly make this mistake: → Hire external trainer for 2-day workshop → Everyone gets excited during sessions → 30 days later, zero behavior change → "Training doesn't work" Wrong. Your approach to training doesn't work. Here's what actually happens: Day 1: Reps are pumped. Taking notes. Asking questions. Day 2: Still engaged. Ready to implement everything. Day 30: Back to old habits. Zero retention. Why? Because you treated symptoms, not the disease. You didn't change their daily habits. You didn't provide ongoing reinforcement. You didn't build systems for accountability. Real training that creates lasting change looks different: #1 It's diagnostic first. Before any training, you identify specific skill gaps through call reviews, deal analysis, and performance data. Not generic "they need better discovery" but specific "they ask surface level pain questions but never uncover business impact." #2 It's delivered in sprints. Six weeks of twice-weekly sessions beats a 2-day workshop every time. Reps can practice between sessions, get feedback, and build muscle memory. #3 It includes reinforcement systems. Weekly coaching calls, peer practice sessions, and manager check-ins. The learning doesn't stop when the trainer leaves. #4 It measures behavior change, not satisfaction scores. "Did you like the training?" is worthless. "Are you now asking better discovery questions?" matters. #5 It provides job aids and frameworks. Reps need cheat sheets, email templates, and conversation guides they can reference in real situations. Most importantly: It's customized to your specific challenges, not generic sales advice. The companies that see 40%+ improvement in performance don't do one-off training events. They build learning into their culture. They have weekly skill-building sessions. They do call reviews with specific feedback. They practice objection handling until it's automatic. Stop buying training like it's a magic pill. Start building capability like it's a muscle that needs consistent exercise. Your reps deserve better than motivational speeches that wear off in a week. — Tired of wasted training budgets? I'll design a performance improvement system that actually creates lasting behavior change. Book a diagnostic: https://lnkd.in/ghh8VCaf

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍. 𝑪𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕. Sound familiar? A team closed a major deal. Leadership congratulated them. Everyone moved on to the next quarter. No one asked: “What made this work? What would we do differently?” Three months later, they tried to replicate the success — couldn’t. Because no one had captured what actually drove the win. McKinsey found that organizations with structured learning processes are 2.5× more likely to sustain performance, yet most skip the debrief and wonder why progress doesn’t stick. 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯’t 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 — 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒑 High-performing teams don’t just execute. They learn, capture, and apply. 1. Execute → Deliver the outcome 2. Reflect → Ask: What worked (and why)? What didn’t (facts, not blame)? What will we do differently next time? 3. Capture → Store lessons where people actually use them (not slides no one opens) 4. Apply → Embed learnings into the next cycle Most teams stop at Step 1. The best close the loop. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒉𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 Improvement isn’t a project. It’s a practice. Daily: 5-min huddles → “What’s working? What’s stuck?” Weekly: 15-min retros → “What did we learn this week?” Quarterly: Strategic debriefs → “What patterns are emerging?” If reflection only happens when things go wrong, you’re learning too late. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 ❌ Celebrating wins without decoding success ❌ Repeating mistakes because no one reflected ❌ Treating improvement as a one-off project ❌ No feedback loops — teams flying blind 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐃𝐨: ✓ Debrief every outcome — success and failure ✓ Make reflection part of weekly rhythm ✓ Capture insights in living systems, not cluttered docs ✓ Apply relentlessly 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉: If you’re not getting better, you’re getting beaten. The fastest teams aren’t the busiest — they’re the most reflective. Reflect: → When did you last debrief a success to understand what made it work? → Do you have a weekly rhythm for learning — or only during crises? 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯’t 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. P.S. To build this discipline into your leadership rhythm → 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒅𝒈𝒆 https://lnkd.in/gi-u8ndJ #TheInnerEdge #ContinuousImprovement #ExecutionExcellence #LeadershipRhythm #StrategicLeadership

I've facilitated 500+ workshops. These 5 closing techniques are the only ones that stick. Most facilitators spend hours designing the opening and the activities. Then the last 10 minutes arrive and they panic. → "Let's share a final thought." → "Any last reflections?" → "Thanks everyone, great session!" The closing is where behaviour change gets locked in or evaporates. Most facilitators treat it like an afterthought. Here are the 5 that actually work: 1. The One Commitment Round Every participant states one specific thing they'll do differently this week. Out loud. To the room. → Not: "I'll communicate better." → Instead: "I'll start every Monday standup asking my team what's blocking them before giving updates." Vague commitments die on the drive home. Specific ones survive. Public commitment creates social accountability. Say it out loud and it costs something to not follow through. 2. The Accountability Partner Every participant pairs up. They exchange commitments. They set a check-in within 14 days. Calendar invite sent before they leave. → Not: "Let's all keep each other accountable." → Instead: "You and your partner have a 15-minute call on March 31st. One question: did you do it?" Accountability without a name and a date is just a wish. 3. The Letter to Yourself Each participant writes a short message to their future self. What they committed to. Why it matters. The facilitator collects them and emails them back in 2 weeks. A delayed mirror. When the workshop energy has faded, you get a message from yourself reminding you what you promised when you were most motivated. 4. The Team Contract The group co-creates 3-5 agreements about how they'll work together. One page. Everyone signs. Photographed and shared in the team channel before they leave. → Not: "Let's agree to be more open." → Instead: "If you disagree with a decision, raise it in the meeting, not after. If you don't speak up, you've agreed." Invisible norms become a visible artefact. When someone breaks the agreement, anyone can point to it. The contract does the confrontation so individuals don't have to. 5. The Pre-Mortem Close Instead of "how was the session?" ask: "It's 30 days from now and nothing has changed. Why?" Participants write down every reason the commitments might fail. Then for each, one thing that would prevent it. → "It'll fail because I'll get pulled into daily fires." → Prevention: "I'll block 30 minutes every Friday to review my commitment." Instead of hoping for the best, you design against failure before it happens. The pattern across all 5? Every closing that sticks has three things: → A specific commitment, not a feeling → A named person responsible for follow-up → A date on the calendar Without all three, it was a nice ending to a nice day. Nothing more. ___ Save this for later (three dots, top right). Share with friends → ♻️ Repost. Get consultant-grade workshops every Sat → https://lnkd.in/eSfeUapJ

“Train-the-trainers” (TTT) is one of the most common methods used to scale up improvement & change capability across organisations, yet we often fail to set it up for success. A recent article, drawing on teacher professional development & transfer-of-training research, argues TTT should always be based on an “offer-and-use” model: OFFER: what the programme provides—facilitator expertise, session design, practice opportunities, feedback, follow-up support & evaluation. USE: what participants do with those opportunities—what they notice, how they make sense of it, how much they engage, what they learn, & whether they apply it in real work. How to design TTT that works & sticks: 1. Design for real-world use: Clarify the practical outcome - what trainers should do differently in their next sessions & what that should improve for the organisation. Plan beyond the classroom with post-course support so people can apply learning. Space learning over time rather than delivering it in one intensive block, because spacing & follow-ups support sustained use. 2. Use strong facilitators: Select facilitators who know the topic & how adults learn, how groups work & how to give useful feedback. Ensure they teach “how to make this stick at work” (apply & sustain practices), not only “how to deliver a session.” 3. Make practice central: Build the programme around realistic rehearsal: deliver, get feedback, & practise again until skills become automatic. Use participants’ real scenarios (especially change situations) to strengthen transfer. Include safe practice for difficult moments (challenge, unexpected questions) & treat mistakes as learning. Build peer learning so participants learn with & from each other, not just the facilitator. 4. Prepare participants to succeed: Assess what participants already know & can do, then tailor the learning. Build confidence to use skills at work (confidence predicts application). Help each person create a simple, specific plan for when & how they will use the approaches in their next training sessions. 5. Ensure workplace transfer support: Enable quick application (opportunities to deliver training soon after the course), plus time & resources to do it well. Provide ongoing support (feedback, coaching, & encouragement) from leaders, peers &/or the wider organisation. 6. Evaluate what matters: Go beyond satisfaction scores - assess whether trainers changed their practice & whether this improved outcomes for learners & the organisation. Use findings to improve the next iteration as a continuous improvement cycle, not a one-off event. https://lnkd.in/eJ-Xrxwm. By Prof. Dr. Susanne Wisshak & colleagues, sourced via John Whitfield MBA

A lot of trainers run a great exercise… and then waste the learning moment that follows. The debrief is where performance improvement actually happens. But too often we get generic reflections: “Yeah, that was good” or “Interesting exercise.” None of that helps anyone perform better back on the job. A simple tool I use in almost every session, face-to-face or virtual, is the Feedback Grid. It structures the debrief so delegates can evaluate the outcomes of an exercise, not just how it felt. Here’s exactly how to use it straight after an activity: 1. Set up the 4 quadrants before the exercise Worked Well (+) Needs Change (Δ) Questions (?) New Ideas (💡) By having it visible from the start, delegates know there will be a structured review, not a free-for-all discussion. 2. Immediately after the exercise, ask individuals to add notes Give everyone 2–3 minutes to jot down their thoughts in each category. This stops dominant voices from setting the tone and gives you a broader view of what actually happened. In a virtual room, this is as simple as shared online sticky notes. Face-to-face, use flipcharts or a whiteboard. 3. Analyse the activity, not the activity’s “vibe” This is where most trainers go wrong. We’re not asking whether they “liked” the exercise. We’re capturing what the exercise showed about their skills, behaviours, and decision-making. Examples might include: Worked Well: “Clearer roles helped us move faster.” Needs Change: “We didn’t communicate early enough.” Questions: “How do we apply this under time pressure?” New Ideas: “Create a decision checklist before starting.” These are performance insights, not opinions. 4. Turn the grid into next-step actions Once patterns emerge, summarise 2–3 practical actions they can take into the workplace. This is where the ROI sits. The exercise becomes a rehearsal, and the grid becomes the bridge to real work. 5. Keep the pace tight A structured debrief shouldn’t drag. Five to eight minutes is enough to turn a simple exercise into a meaningful learning moment. When used properly, the Feedback Grid transforms exercises from “fun activities” into performance diagnostics. That’s the whole point of training, to improve what people do, not what they think about the training. What do you use for this? -------------------- Follow me at Sean McPheat for more L&D content and then hit the 🔔 button to stay updated on my future posts. ♻️ Save for later and repost to help others. 📄 Download a high-res PDF of this & 250 other infographics at: https://lnkd.in/eWPjAjV7

As a manager, have you ever sent someone to a training or a series of workshops… and then noticed little (or no) change afterward? For learning and development to last, the connection between lessons learned and the work needs to be explicit. Support from a manager to connect expected learning and behavior change to the job will expedite learning and change in behavior. Suggested steps (manager + person attending meet to discuss): 1. Why this training? - What evident challenges illustrate that this workshop/training will be helpful and effective? - What have you noticed? - How is it affecting the work? - How is it affecting the work of others? 2. What do we want to see change? - What do you hope happens from the person taking this workshop/training? - What do you want to see changed or improved? - How will you notice or measure this change or improvement? - What can you do to support the person in making this change? 3. Follow-up and check-ins How often do you plan to check in and see what is learned and applied? - What has the person learned? - How are they using it? - What are you noticing that is different and better? - How can you help? 4. 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 days post-training - What is still being applied? - What are you noticing that is better or different? - Is there more training or support needed?

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 🗣️ Ever feel like your Learning and Development (L&D) programs are missing the mark? You're not alone. One of the biggest pitfalls in L&D is the lack of mechanisms for collecting and acting on employee feedback. Without this crucial component, your initiatives may fail to address the real needs and preferences of your team, leaving them disengaged and underprepared. 📌 And here's the kicker—if you ignore this, your L&D efforts risk becoming irrelevant, wasting valuable resources, and ultimately failing to develop the skills your workforce truly needs. But don't worry—there’s a straightforward fix: integrate feedback loops into your L&D programs. Here’s a clear plan to get started: 📝 Surveys and Questionnaires: Regularly distribute surveys and questionnaires to gather insights on what’s working and what isn’t. Keep them short and focused to maximize response rates and actionable feedback. 📝 Focus Groups: Organize small focus groups to dive deeper into specific issues. This setting allows for more detailed discussions and nuanced understanding of employee needs and preferences. 📝 Real-Time Polling: Use real-time polling tools during training sessions to gauge immediate reactions and make on-the-fly adjustments. This keeps the learning experience dynamic and responsive. 📝 One-on-One Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews with a diverse cross-section of employees to get a more personal and detailed perspective. This can uncover insights that broader surveys might miss. 📝 Anonymous Feedback Channels: Ensure there are anonymous ways for employees to provide feedback. This encourages honesty and helps identify issues that employees might be hesitant to discuss openly. 📝 Feedback Integration: Don’t just collect feedback—act on it. Regularly review the feedback and make necessary adjustments to your L&D programs. Communicate these changes to employees to show that their input is valued and acted upon. 📝 Continuous Monitoring: Use analytics tools to continuously monitor engagement and performance metrics. This provides ongoing data to help refine and improve your L&D initiatives. Integrating these feedback mechanisms will not only enhance the effectiveness of your L&D programs but also boost employee engagement and satisfaction. When employees see that their feedback leads to tangible changes, they are more likely to be invested in the learning process. Have any innovative ways to incorporate feedback into L&D? Drop your tips in the comments! ⬇️ #LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #ContinuousImprovement #FeedbackLoop #ProfessionalDevelopment #TrainingInnovation

10,000 hours of practice? Yeah, they still matter, but they only pay off when each hour rides shotgun with immediate feedback. Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman told Inc. Magazine that relevance and real-time correction are the multipliers that turn long practice into fast mastery. If practice is water, feedback is the cup that keeps it from spilling out all over the place. When repetition runs on autopilot, your brain quietly holds on to every flaw. A crisp critique, whether from a coach, a peer, or an AI copilot, snaps you back into conscious control. It rewires the pattern before it hardens, and delivers the small win that keeps motivation rolling for the next rep. Practical ways to blend those hours with high-velocity feedback: 🏹 Set micro-targets for every session Name one measurable outcome before you start (trim thirty seconds off a 5K split, refactor a function to cut runtime by five percent, open a discovery call without filler words). End only after you check that metric. 🏹 Build a same-day feedback channel Pair each practice block with a critic who can respond within twenty-four hours: a mentor dropping Loom notes on your sales call, an AI pair-programmer flagging inefficient loops the moment you hit Save, or a training app overlaying bike-fit angles on video right after your ride. 🏹 Run a five-minute post-mortem Immediately jot what worked, what flopped, and the single tweak you will test next time. Reflection turns raw data into insight while the memory is still warm. 🏹 Track velocity over volume Count iterations per week, bugs squashed per hour, objections neutralized per call, or whatever. Share those numbers publicly so the team celebrates speed of improvement rather than brute hours logged. If 10,000 hours is tuition, feedback is the scholarship that lets you graduate early. Which feedback ritual shaved months off your learning curve? Share so we can tighten the loop together. Welcome to Tuesday, ya'll!

Closing the Feedback Loop Isn’t a Checkbox—It’s the Whole Damn Circuit You asked for feedback. You got it. Now what? Too many leaders treat follow-through like a favor—something optional, maybe even inconvenient. But in elite teams, responding to feedback isn’t a nice to have. It’s the whole point. At Greencastle, we treat feedback response like a mission order: - We document what we heard. - We decide what to do. - We tell people what we did. But here’s the catch: not all feedback deserves a green light. Anonymous input is valuable—but not infallible. If you react to every piece without thinking, you trade discipline for drama: - Undermining managers before hearing the full story. - Solving for symptoms, not root causes. - Making noise louder instead of signal clearer. As a leader, I have to weigh if making a change to one piece of feedback might cause 10 others to be upset. So we apply a few filters: Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. Not every harsh comment is sabotage—sometimes it’s just fatigue, a bad process, or a bad day. Hitchens’ Razor: What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Emotion isn’t proof. Data is. Context is. Repetition over time is. Which is why we try not to make snap changes—we look for themes. We cross-check Shadow Board insights with AARs. We match anonymous eNPS feedback with team leads' observations. We ask our team: - Is this a pattern or a one-off? - Are we seeing this from multiple levels, functions, or client types? - Is the signal getting louder over time? Patrick Lencioni calls it out clearly: conflict avoidance kills trust. But knee-jerk leadership kills momentum. The sweet spot is deliberate action—based on trends, not tweets. And even when we do act quickly, we know it can feel sudden to those outside the decision loop. That’s why we apply structured change management: - We share the “why” behind what we’re doing. - We phase in the changes intentionally. - And we reinforce decisions with clarity, not ambiguity—because clarity is kindness. Feedback builds trust—but only if your response is thoughtful, transparent, and earned. Ask. Listen. Look for themes. Weigh. Decide. Act. Communicate. That’s how you close the loop—and build a culture that lasts.