HCL: when the CEO posted his own feedback

HCL: the CEO posts his own feedback

In February 2005, Vineet Nayar, who led HCL Technologies (as president from 2005 and later chief executive), launched a philosophy he called “Employees First, Customers Second”. The idea was that the people who serve customers create the value, so managers' job is to help them do it.

Two practices stood out. HCL already ran 360-degree feedback, in which managers are rated by their teams, peers and bosses. Nayar posted his own results on the company intranet for anyone to read, and asked other managers to do the same. The results were open but not tied to pay, so the aim was learning, not judgement. HCL also set up an online “Smart Service Desk” where employees could raise tickets about problems with managers or departments, and a ticket was closed only by the employee who raised it.

Over the same years, from April 2005 to 2010, HCL's revenue grew about 3.6 times and its operating profit about 3.4 times. Nayar described the approach in his book Employees First, Customers Second (Harvard Business Press, 2010).

What any manager can take from HCL

1. The leader goes first. Nayar didn't ask managers to share feedback he wouldn't share himself. Ask for feedback on you before you ask your team to accept more feedback.
2. Separate learning from pay. Feedback that decides pay gets polished. Feedback for learning can be honest.
3. Make it safe to raise problems upward. A ticket closed only by the person who raised it meant problems couldn't be quietly buried.
4. Show what changed. People keep giving feedback only when they see it lead to something.

Chapter 6: Ask for feedback on yourself

The leader goes first. Asking for feedback on yourself, and visibly acting on it, is the fastest way to make honest feedback normal in your team.

• Ask for feedback in ways that get honest answers
• Receive criticism without defending
• Act on feedback visibly, so people keep giving it