Feedback is information about the consequences of action that can be used to support learning, adaptation and improvement.
Feedback may be immediate and obvious, or delayed, dispersed and difficult to interpret. In complex environments, consequences may emerge somewhere other than where the intervention occurred, affect different stakeholders, or become visible only as patterns develop over time.
Consequences occur whether the organisation notices them or not. Feedback makes those consequences available for interpretation and learning. This is why reports and measures alone may be insufficient: Gemba, dialogue and reflection can reveal effects that formal information systems filter, simplify or overlook.
Feedback becomes valuable when it influences what happens next. A functioning feedback loop does more than report results; it allows experience to challenge understanding, assumptions and future action.