Finding Strength in Stress: Turning Pressure into Power

By Hwee Ching Ho

Director, Kaleidoskope Pte Ltd

This cartoon makes us laugh because it highlights a very real tension: most people want to give feedback well — but aren’t always sure how.

Too often, feedback is treated as something reserved for managers, formal reviews, or that one conversation at the end of the year. When that happens, the feedback culture becomes heavy, awkward, and performative — a high-stakes moment rather than a meaningful exchange. What should be a powerful developmental tool is reduced to a tick-box exercise, disconnected from day-to-day work and real learning.

By the time annual feedback rolls around, the moment for impact has often passed. The missed opportunity, the unresolved tension, the unspoken frustration — all of it has already shaped behaviour, relationships, and performance. 

At Kaleidoskope, we believe feedback works best when everyone is equipped to give it — intentionally, empathetically, and regularly — as part of everyday work for employee development. 

Feedback is not an annual event. It’s a habit.

Why annual feedback conversations fall short

Annual feedback conversations carry an unrealistic burden. They are expected to:

• summarise a year’s worth of performance,
• address challenges that may have surfaced months earlier,
• motivate future growth,
• and preserve trust and morale — all in one sitting.

It’s no wonder they feel uncomfortable for both managers and employees. Effective feedback in the workplace becomes a challenge.

When feedback is infrequent, it becomes emotionally charged. People feel judged rather than supported. Managers soften messages to avoid demotivation. Employees brace themselves defensively. The conversation becomes more about evaluation than development.

As one employee once put it:
“We only talk about my goals once a year — by then, it’s too late to change anything.”

This isn’t a capability issue. It’s a design issue.

Reframing feedback as a shared responsibility

Feedback works differently when it’s not owned solely by managers.

When employees are empowered to give feedback to peers, collaborators, and leaders:

• conversations happen earlier, when they can still make a difference,
• issues are addressed with care, not accumulated frustration,
• trust builds through honesty, not silence.

Most importantly, feedback stops being about judging performance and starts being about helping one another succeed.

This shift from “managing performance” to developing people is subtle, but profound. It transforms feedback from something people endure into something they actively seek out and use.

What we learned from building a culture of meaningful conversations

Drawing from our work with a global organisation, we partnered closely with HR and leadership teams to reimagine how feedback was experienced across the employee lifecycle.

While formal performance processes were already in place, the quality and confidence of conversations varied widely. Feedback was happening, albeit inconsistently, cautiously, and often too late.

The aspiration was clear: to build a culture where conversations count, where feedback is frequent, human, and embedded into everyday work — not confined to an annual review cycle.

To support this shift, we designed a multi-month learning journey that equipped both managers and employees with the mindset, language, and practical tools to engage in feedback conversations that are clear, respectful, and growth-focused.

Not as a one-off intervention, but as a habit-building process to address development areas for employees.

The learning journey: practical and human

The learning journey was designed around a simple belief: feedback is a shared responsibility, not just a managerial task.

1. Foundations of Intentional Feedback

   Participants explored what makes feedback genuinely useful — specific, balanced, and grounded in shared goals rather than judgment. Feedback was reframed as information for growth, not a verdict on worth or competence.

Simple, easy-to-apply frameworks helped normalise feedback as an everyday practice rather than a once-a-year event.

2. Empathy & Courage in Feedback Conversations

   Giving feedback isn’t just about clarity, it’s also about emotional intelligence.

Participants learned how to:

• express impact without blame,
• manage their own emotional responses,
• listen with curiosity rather than defensiveness.

By understanding why feedback conversations can feel threatening, people become better equipped to stay present, respectful, and constructive, even when conversations are difficult.

3. Making Feedback Frequent and Consistent

   The final emphasis was on rhythm and habit.

Feedback was positioned as something that informs development throughout the year — in one-on-ones, project check-ins, and informal conversations — rather than something saved up for formal reviews.

When feedback becomes frequent, it also becomes lighter. There’s less pressure, less drama, and far more learning.

A healthier way to build performance

When employees know how to give feedback well, conversations happen naturally — earlier, more honestly, and with far less friction.

Performance improves not because people are more tightly managed, but because they feel:

• supported rather than scrutinised,
• seen rather than assessed,
• trusted rather than controlled.

Feedback becomes a signal of care, not criticism.

And over time, this creates something far more powerful than a well-run performance cycle: a culture of trust, alignment, and continuous growth.

Moving forward, one conversation at a time

If you’re looking to move beyond tick-box feedback and build a culture where conversations genuinely count, we’d love to explore how this kind of learning journey can be tailored for your organisation.

Because feedback isn’t about pointing things out once a year —it’s about moving forward together, one conversation at a time.