Organizational Context
The diagnostic intervention conducted earlier, coupled with the organization’s future business mission, had revealed significant opportunities to strengthen feedback capability at managerial and leadership levels. Building a culture of innovation and a customer-first approach was deeply dependent on employees experiencing a culture wherein they could bring in ground-level insights and voice these in an assertive manner. Employees expected their managers to create psychologically safe spaces for dialogue, while leaders saw the need to role-model feedback as a cultural signal. 89North was engaged to translate these insights into tangible capability-building interventions.
The Developmental Challenge
Managers and leaders needed structured capability-building support to conduct two-way feedback conversations that were constructive, developmental, and safe. Without this, cultural change would remain aspirational. Our consultants recognized that shifting behavior at scale required both mindset and method, combining learning with reinforcement.
Our Intervention
We designed a multi-phase learning journey to build capability, align leadership behaviors, and embed consistent practices across the organization.
- Leadership Alignment
Senior leaders participated in co-creation workshops to build a shared language for feedback. Leadership messaging reinforced commitment, accountability, and role-modeling expectations. - Managerial Capability-Building
Experiential workshops blended theory, peer learning, and role-play simulations grounded in real workplace scenarios. Participants practiced separating behavior from identity, framing feedback constructively, and encouraging dialogue. Psychometric assessments built self-awareness around communication styles. - Reinforcement Mechanisms
Peer Circles allowed managers to reflect and share progress. Short “touchpoint” modules before performance reviews or transitions maintained continuity. High-impact managers were viewed as culture anchors and received extended internal support. - Recommended Institutional Integration
Feedback was linked to leadership scorecards, people metrics, and formal forums. Senior leaders embedded these practices in cross-functional interactions, signaling that feedback was not a project, but a way of working.
Targeted Outcomes
- Through this engagement, 89North enabled managers to gain confidence and consistency in conducting feedback conversations, while also strengthening trust in both formal and informal feedback channels through visible role-modeling. The program helped shift feedback from episodic instances to a continuous, everyday practice, creating early signs of cultural movement as employees became more open to sharing upward feedback.