Feedback as a system
The mechanisms that replace the unfiltered signal a senior leader no longer gets in person. They include skip-level programmes, engagement data that somebody reads, calibrated reviews of leaders, and norms that make dissent at the leadership table safe.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
From organisational scope upward, whenever your picture of a team reaches you through its manager.
Where it stops working
Every one of these mechanisms fails in the same way. It goes on existing on paper while the leader's visible reaction to bad news teaches people to stop using it.
Where the standard uses it
- PL-2Feedback and difficult conversationsTimely, specific, behaviour-anchored, in both directions.
Used alongside it
- Radical candour practice
- Situation, behaviour, impact practice
- The three triggers practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Feedback as a system. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.feedback-as-a-system). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/feedback-as-a-system