Standard : Feedback flows upward as well as across
Purpose and Strategic Importance
This standard ensures feedback flows upward to leadership as well as across teams, enabling informed decision-making, transparent communication, and a culture of continuous improvement. It helps leaders stay close to delivery reality and adapt based on real-world insight—not just assumptions.
Aligned to our "Fast Feedback Loops" and "Minimise Handoffs" policies, this standard builds trust, nurtures psychological safety, and gives teams a voice in shaping the environment they operate within. Without it, leadership blind spots persist, challenges fester, and performance stagnates.
Strategic Impact
- Increased trust and transparency between teams and leadership
- Faster resolution of systemic issues surfaced by delivery teams
- Improved morale, engagement, and psychological safety
- Leadership decisions grounded in evidence and lived team experience
- Accelerated improvement cycles at every level of the organisation
Risks of Not Having This Standard
- Disconnect between leadership vision and team reality
- Poor morale due to unaddressed or unheard concerns
- Delayed or missed opportunities for course correction
- Reduced trust in leadership and organisational responsiveness
- Inefficient processes sustained by lack of visibility
CMMI Maturity Model
Level 1 – Initial
| Category |
Description |
| People & Culture |
Upward feedback is rare or discouraged. Teams are cautious or disengaged. |
| Process & Governance |
No formal mechanisms exist to surface feedback into leadership structures. |
| Technology & Tools |
Feedback is isolated to local conversations or retrospectives. |
| Measurement & Metrics |
Leadership rarely reviews input from teams or tracks engagement sentiment. |
Level 2 – Managed
| Category |
Description |
| People & Culture |
Some teams share upward feedback informally or during retrospectives. |
| Process & Governance |
Feedback is occasionally captured via surveys or line management. |
| Technology & Tools |
Tools like engagement surveys or forums are used inconsistently. |
| Measurement & Metrics |
Some review of team health and engagement indicators occurs periodically. |
Level 3 – Defined
| Category |
Description |
| People & Culture |
Teams are actively encouraged to provide upward feedback. |
| Process & Governance |
Feedback channels are structured, visible, and lead to timely responses. |
| Technology & Tools |
Platforms and processes support feedback visibility and routing. |
| Measurement & Metrics |
Feedback themes are documented and shared with relevant leadership groups. |
Level 4 – Quantitatively Managed
| Category |
Description |
| People & Culture |
Feedback is viewed as a shared responsibility and integral to improvement. |
| Process & Governance |
Organisational change is regularly informed by upward feedback loops. |
| Technology & Tools |
Feedback data is synthesised, tagged, and used to track systemic issues. |
| Measurement & Metrics |
Leadership uses feedback trends to guide decisions and measure responsiveness. |
Level 5 – Optimising
| Category |
Description |
| People & Culture |
Teams and leadership co-create a culture of feedback, trust, and reflection. |
| Process & Governance |
Continuous improvement is fuelled by upward insight and local intelligence. |
| Technology & Tools |
Feedback is integrated into strategy cycles, investment planning, and OKRs. |
| Measurement & Metrics |
Feedback influence on decisions is made visible and celebrated across teams. |
Key Measures
- Frequency and volume of upward feedback from teams
- Visibility of leadership responses to team-raised concerns
- Survey-based measures of trust, inclusion, and safety
- Evidence of feedback-to-action loops at senior levels
- Engagement scores and sentiment trends over time