One of the most frequent obstacles I’ve observed in organizations is the tendency for hierarchies to get in their own way. Whether dealing with external customer feedback or internal dissatisfaction with corporate tools and processes, many companies find themselves stuck in an endless cycle: customer complaints come in, and management reacts by reshuffling strategies or implementing new solutions, often without tapping into one of their most valuable resources—the frontline.
The Real Key to Strategy Adoption? It’s Already Inside Your Organization
Think about it: every organization is constantly on the hunt for better strategies, whether it’s to improve product adoption, drive better user engagement, or enhance the effectiveness of enterprise tools and processes. The search often leads to endless rounds of brainstorming, consultancy, and reorganization, but here’s the truth—the answers might already be within your organization.
Your frontline employees—those who work directly with your external customers and those who rely on corporate tools for internal tasks—are sitting on a goldmine of insights. They see firsthand what works and what doesn’t. They interact with customers, navigate daily workflows, and use the tools that leadership has deployed. If management spent more time listening to these frontline workers, they could develop more practical, effective strategies that address real pain points and lead to stronger adoption of products and solutions.
Serving Both External and Internal Customers
This is not just about customer-facing roles or improving external product adoption. Internal customers—your own employees—are just as critical. In large organizations, enterprise tools and platforms are deployed to streamline operations, increase productivity, and ensure smooth collaboration across departments. But how often do the people using these tools—HR teams, IT departments, customer service agents, and others—get to provide feedback on their efficiency?
Far too often, decisions about deploying or updating tools are made without involving the end users. The result? Tools that are underutilized, processes that are inefficient, and strategies that don’t fully deliver the desired results.
The best way to improve tool adoption internally? The same principle applies: listen to the frontline—the people who interact with these tools every day. Their feedback can provide invaluable insights to better shape the deployment of tools and processes, just as frontline feedback is critical to external customer success.
Why Hierarchies Can Hold Back Innovation
Too often, organizational hierarchies create silos. Feedback and ideas are exchanged among top management but rarely flow freely between those who manage and those who operate the core processes. This disconnect between management and the frontline is why strategies often fail to take root or result in subpar outcomes.
In some organizations, a culture of fear or hesitation can prevent employees from sharing valuable ideas with higher management. Instead of fostering open communication, ideas are often filtered or blocked within the management chain. In my own experience, I’ve seen how well-meaning suggestions can be stifled because a manager feels that passing them up the line would be perceived as “challenging” leadership or questioning authority. This leads to a significant missed opportunity for innovation and problem-solving. When the mindset is more about preserving hierarchy than encouraging contributions, it drastically reduces the chances of new ideas ever reaching decision-makers. This is particularly true in certain cultural environments or where management fears they may appear to be “calling out” their superiors by sharing input from their team.
For example, when it comes to the internal deployment of enterprise solutions, management might choose new tools or systems based on top-down directives without consulting the employees who will actually be using them day in and day out. This leads to a lack of engagement and adoption, and companies end up reshuffling strategies again and again—searching for answers that could have been found simply by listening to their internal customers from the start.
How to Tap into Frontline Insights for Better Results
So, how do organizations avoid this endless cycle of restructuring without real change? By creating a culture that listens to frontline employees—both those interacting with external customers and those working internally.
Here are a few ways to do that:
- Surveys with Substance: Rather than generic satisfaction surveys, design targeted questionnaires that ask the right questions, focusing on how internal tools are working, what pain points employees face, and what external customer feedback they’re hearing.
- Feedback Loops: Create regular channels for employees to offer feedback—whether it’s through team huddles, dedicated feedback sessions, or digital platforms where ideas can be shared and voted on. This ensures the feedback loop is always open.
- Internal Hackathons and Innovation Sessions: Gather cross-functional teams to brainstorm creative solutions for both external and internal challenges. These can help surface fresh ideas for improving tools, workflows, or customer interactions in a way that’s fun, collaborative, and impactful.
- User-Centric Platforms: Just as companies create portals for external customers to provide feedback, they should set up similar systems internally. A place where employees can suggest ideas for improving tools or processes, and where these ideas can be prioritized based on the support they receive from others. For example, ServiceNow has the Idea Portals.
- Leverage Data from the Frontline: Use data analytics to capture feedback from frontline users, both internal and external, to see what’s working and what isn’t. This data can be used to inform strategic decisions that align with real-world needs.
The Bigger Picture: Creating a Culture of Involvement
At the heart of this shift is culture. Organizations need to create an environment where feedback is not only encouraged but becomes an integral part of the strategy development process. Frontline employees, whether they are interacting with external customers or using internal enterprise tools, need to feel empowered to contribute ideas and insights.
This requires management to step out of their silos and create systems that value, capture, and act on frontline input. This approach does more than just improve product adoption or the use of internal tools—it creates a more engaged and innovative workforce. When people know their insights matter, they become more invested in the outcomes and more likely to champion the strategies they helped shape.
Conclusion: Your Frontline is Your Best Resource—Use It
Rather than chasing external answers or continuously reshaping strategies, organizations should start looking inward. The frontline—whether it’s employees interacting with customers or those using internal systems—holds the key to unlocking better results. By building a culture that actively seeks and listens to this feedback, companies can drive more effective strategies, higher adoption rates, and better overall performance.
What has been your experience? Have you seen strategies in organizations to consider frontline feedback so they can obtain better results? Feel free to share your comments below.