Case Story: From Feedback to Dialogue - Building a Culture of Learning
Helsinki Administrative Court
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Helsinki Administrative Court employs around 200 people
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In 2024, more than7,000 cases were resolved.
Background of the training program
Our client has recognized that smooth interaction and feedback are essential for success at work. The judicial process is inherently dialogical and requires strong communication skills. In the development initiative, strengthening the feedback culture across the entire organization was identified as a key goal. Developing feedback skills was seen as a way to enhance collaboration, psychological safety, and learning—both at the individual and organizational level. Particular emphasis was placed on practicing how to request and receive feedback, as well as consciously developing one’s own learning, both professionally and in workplace interaction skills.
How the training program was delivered
The training program was carried out in 2024–2025 with Netco Advisors Oy. All staff members participated in half-day training sessions, and additional sessions were organized specifically for managers to support their leadership work. The trainings were designed as a process, including preparatory assignments, interim tasks, and peer-to-peer sparring. The learning environment was created to be experiential and interactive.
Key themes of the training:
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Feedback skills – requesting, receiving, and giving feedback
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Emotions in feedback situations
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Psychological safety and trust
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Identifying personal learning goals
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Development discussions as a tool for learning
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Advancing one’s own learning in everyday work
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Managers as coaches and enablers of development
Client Voice
Court work has become increasingly demanding, and our most important asset is a staff with strong professional expertise.Maintaining and developing that expertise, as well as refining our work processes, requires open dialogue about what has been done well and where we can still improve. Yet giving feedback has often been experienced as difficult, and receiving it easily perceived as criticism – even as something that undermines professional identity. Even giving positive feedback on an individual level has sometimes felt challenging, especially in front of others. As a result, successes have not always been celebrated as much as they could have been. With the training, we wanted to shift the feedback culture so that feedback would become a natural and positive part of everyday work – a tool to help both the organization and its people bring out the best version of themselves.
Working with Netco turned the very idea of feedback upside down. The focus was no longer on giving feedback, but on asking for it. This change in mindset also supports independent reflection on one’s professional development: what could I do better and more smoothly, and where can I find that sounding board that tells me whether others notice the change. The training included practical exercises that provided a strong foundation for embracing a new feedback culture.
Since the training, we have placed greater emphasis on self-assessment and sparring discussions as a means of supporting development. Change does not happen overnight in a conservative work community, and embedding new practices takes time– but the seeds have been sown, and the first sprouts are already visible. Managers have continued their collaboration with Netco through coaching sessions, where feedback often emerges as a central solution to the issues at hand. A valuable training, recommended for any workplace, and one that provides tools equally applicable to all forms of human interaction.