Doing good, by design

How Feedback for Good turns a powerful habit into real-world impact — and why we think giving back is part of the job, not a nice-to-have.

‍

Ask most people what feedback is for and they'll point to performance — better work, clearer expectations, fewer surprises come review time. All true. But what if building a strong feedback culture could also directly support local communities?

That's the idea behind Feedback for Good, our CSR program. We didn't want corporate giving to be something we did on the side, separate from the work — we wanted it wired into the work itself. Every time someone gives feedback through the platform, a little money moves towards a cause their firm's people chose, and many peoples’ lives get a little better.
‍

Feedback that does two jobs at once

Performance Leader exists to help firms build strong feedback cultures — the kind where people give each other timely, useful, generous feedback, because they care about their colleagues and they care about the business.
‍

Good feedback shows up in performance, wellbeing and retention. Gallup finds that the most engaged teams are 23% more profitable and 18% more productive than the least — and engaged people are far less likely to leave. Feedback and recognition are two of the biggest levers: people are 3.6 times more likely to be motivated to do outstanding work when they get feedback daily rather than once a year, and well-recognised employees are 45% less likely to have moved on two years later.

And with Feedback for Good, that same everyday habit does something more. It helps house people sleeping rough, feed families, support children living with serious illness and disability, back Indigenous-led health and truth-telling, fund mental health and suicide-prevention services, widen access to justice and education, and stand with survivors of domestic abuse.

How it works

It's deliberately light-touch. When someone gives or requests feedback through the Performance Leader platform, they cast a vote for one of three charities their firm has chosen to support. Every recognition form, strengths feedback, after action review, matter debrief, audit review nudges a little money towards a cause they care about, without anyone having to do anything extra.

Firms set a feedback target for the year. At the end, we look at how close the firm got to its target, donate up to 2.5% of the licence fee they pay us, and split it across the three charities according to how their people voted. We do all the donating — some firms choose to match us, but they never have to.

Where the giving has gone

This year alone, donations have flowed to 28 causes through the firms we work with. Since 2022, Feedback for Good has turned everyday feedback into charitable giving across the UK and Australia

The causes are as varied as the people who chose them: homelessness services like SIFA Fireside and Pets of the Homeless; children's health through Tiny Tickers and The Sick Children's Trust; Indigenous-led work with Seed and the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling; mental health support from Beyond Blue and Minus18; and access to justice and education through LawWorks and Action Tutoring.

Why we think this is the job

There's a bigger reason we keep doing this, beyond the giving itself.

We believe organisations have a responsibility to the communities they're part of — the ones that supply their people, their clients and a good deal of their purpose. We feel that responsibility too; our success depends on the success of our clients and the success of their people. When their work goes well, we do well. Sharing a slice of that back to the causes their people care about isn't generosity — it's just holding up our end.

It also fits something we believe about performance itself: purpose and performance aren't in tension. People do their best work when it means something. A feedback culture that quietly funds a children's hospice or a homelessness service is a small, concrete reminder that the day-to-day has a point beyond the day-to-day.

To the people who made it happen

So, to everyone at the firms we work with who gave feedback this year — thank you. You built better cultures inside your firms and sent real money to causes that needed it, often without realising the second part was even happening. That's a good year's work.

We're building a charity wall to show exactly who your feedback has supported — more on that soon. In the meantime, if your firm isn't part of Feedback for Good yet, come and talk to us. We'd love to do this with you.

‍

‍