Everyone has an inherent desire to feel recognised, competent, and accepted, and to be admired for their contributions. This is why it’s crucial to approach challenging feedback with careful consideration and sensitivity. I think when providing feedback, it's important to protect the "status-need" of your colleagues by directing your focus on the work or behaviour at hand, rather than making it personal. By critiquing the work and not the individual will help to engage your colleagues in a collaborative dialogue, encouraging the discovery of shared solutions which fosters a sense of partnership and teamwork.
Simple is hard
People can explain away numbers, but anecdotes tell the emotional story. I think that it’s a good idea to have cross-functional teams sit in on interviews to hear feedback first-hand and include their questions to ensure customers dig into areas that matter to your team. Whenever possible, have some of the executive team join in as it can be jaw-dropping for someone in the C-suite to hear from a customer that the program they relentlessly pushed for creates a negative experience.
“The more you rehearse, the less rehearsed you sound.”