Knowledge Base · Measurement
What is a feedback loop, and why does it matter?
A feedback loop is a cycle: make a change, track the results, learn from them, and adjust your approach, then repeat. The glossary puts it as taking a system's outputs, such as complaints or suggestions, and circling them back as inputs. It matters because it stops a team falling in love with its solution instead of its results.
If huddle boards are the dashboard of an improvement effort, the chapter calls feedback loops the engine. A feedback loop is a continuous cycle of learning and refinement, described in the book as the scientific method applied to business. The glossary says much the same in plainer terms: outputs from a system, complaints from customers or suggestions from employees for example, get fed back in as fresh inputs that help the system improve. It is a conversation between you and your customers or your team.
The loop matters because teams grow attached to what they have built. Months go into a new process or tool, people become invested in it, and its flaws stop being obvious to them. The chapter's corrective is a change of attachment: care about outcomes more than about the particular fix, and build a culture where saying this is not working, then trying something new, feels safe.
One way to formalise the loop is an operational review: leaders and teams sit down in a structured meeting to test performance against the KPIs and ask whether their improvements are working. A rubric helps that review stay honest, because it scores work against a shared guide to what good looks like at each level. Put together, the rubric supplies evidence, the review supplies a place to learn from it, and both end in a concrete action plan for the next cycle.
“You have to teach them to fall in love with the results, not the solution.”
Continuous Improvement in the Workplace, Ch. 5
Related questions
- How do I know whether an improvement actually worked?
- What is the PDCA cycle, and how do I run one?
- How often should a team review its metrics?
Source: Continuous Improvement in the Workplace, Ch. 5 (Measuring Success and Ensuring Sustainability); the CI glossary in the book's Appendix.