Most managers aren’t aware of what their employees really think about them, according to Harvard Business Review, and 80% of respondents in a recent survey said their boss had a significant weakness everyone knew and discussed covertly.
Many employees feel uncomfortable and unable to share critical feedback with their manager— especially when the feedback is about the manager’s behavior. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Here’s a few tips on what managers can do to encourage their employees to open up.
Make it normal: Make employee-to-manager feedback a regular agenda item at team meetings.
Adopt a coach: Ask a direct report who’s usually candid to be your coach. Meet regularly to request feedback. Make the coaching relationship public to demonstrate your sincerity about improving.
Prime the pump: One of the most powerful ways to encourage feedback in a group or one-on-one setting is to “prime the pump.” Give examples of concerns your coach has raised to demonstrate that it is safe to share tough feedback with you. If you can quote feedback you’ve received in a way that shows you aren’t threatened by it, you generate evidence for your team that other issues might be safe as well.
The frustration and concern people keep from their bosses can eat away at productivity, performance and results. And the Harvard Business Review says what people don’t talk out, they will act out in the form of resentment, turnover, apathy or deference. Read the full story.
