Breaking the news of negative feedback to the responsible party can put you in an awkward position. You need to share the information to remedy the root cause, but the way you approach it might put some people on the defensive. What works?
Start with one-on-one discussions.
People tend to react better to bad customer experience news when they’re not called out in front of a large audience. Try approaching the manager of the team in which the problem lies and let him know about the feedback you received. Explain the situation from the customers perspective and ask if he can help you research it and come up with a game plan for resolution. This is best done over the phone or in person. The tone of emails can sometimes be misconstrued and result in denial and deflection. If you are responsible for providing read-outs on feedback to a larger audience, make sure you work with the manager to have an action plan ahead of time. That way when the negative feedback news comes up in the review, you can speak to the resolution that’s in the works. You also gain the manager’s trust by presenting yourself as part of the solution and not someone that just wants to point a finger.
Share a report on the relevant KPI.
If the manager isn’t quite convinced that the bit of negative feedback is accurate, then you can figure out a way to report on a KPI that reflects the feedback provided. Use that report in a follow-up discussion with the manager to show where they have an opportunity for improvement based on cold hard data.
Communicate the things you’re doing with other departments.
When you start to hear excuses as to why the customer responded with negative feedback (such as, “it’s someone else’s fault, not mine”), be sure to communicate with the manager that you’re also working with other departments to resolve the same issue. Talk through how each team impacts the process and outcome, and get his feedback on what he thinks the other teams could improve on. By engaging him in a discussion on how other teams can help the process (and ultimately help him), you can start to move into how he can reciprocate by helping the other teams as well. Seeing other colleagues involved in fixing the same issue can help provide some motivation.
Overall, being respectful about negative feedback goes a long way. Sometimes calling someone out is the only way to get a reaction, but I recommend that as a last resort. You want to build trust with your teams, collaborate, and ultimately, have a positive impact on the business. Think more along the lines of “Let’s talk about this and investigate the scenario” instead of “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” when sharing negative feedback. Try to remind everyone that fixing a source of negative feedback has exponential benefits.