A key part of my management framework is communication, the goal of which is to build a trusting working relationships with the people who report to you. That means that it’s not just about you communicating to them – it’s also about them communicating with you. One way to do that is to give your subordinates an open forum to offer you feedback. This is not a lovey dovey exercise – the goal is to bring out the best in your employees by creating an environment that allows them to do their best work. If you don’t know the things that they like, and the things that are causing them pain points day-to-day, creating that optimal environment is difficult at best. And, as we know, happy employees are more productive employees.
Now, many of you managers might instantly think “I have an open door policy…they can always give me feedback!” But it doesn’t work like that. If your employees don’t feel comfortable offering feedback, the only way you’re going to get it is by proactively soliciting it and focusing time on it. Here are some steps to help you.
Give them advanced notice
Don’t just spring the idea of asking them for feedback in your weekly check-in (You have weekly one-on-one meetings right? If not, you should). Give them time to think about it constructively. Let them know a week or so in advance that you’d like to focus your next check-in meeting on their thoughts and feedback about you:
- What are you doing that they like?
- What are you doing that they don’t like?
- What could you be doing that you aren’t already?
Emphasize that you want and value their honest thoughts and encourage them to be as open as they can be. Keep in mind that if this is the first time you’re doing this exercise, they are likely not going to be very open with their thoughts – you need to develop that level of trust with them over time so that they can see, through your behavior, that it’s really OK.
Reinforce the intention of the exercise
During your one-on-one, start off by reinforcing what you articulated to them in the email a week prior – you want their open feedback about what you are doing well, what are you doing not-so-well, and what are you should be doing that you aren’t already. Make sure how you’re presenting this is on point – you want to appear to be in a good mood, smiling as you explain it. That positions it as a positive thing and will make your employees more open to giving you the type of information you’re asking for. Coming into the meeting with a scowl, and making it seem like there are a million other things you’d rather be doing, is just going to turn them off.
Offer your undivided attention
After you’ve set the stage, make sure they know you have their full attention. Put away your computer. Put away your notebook. Don’t take notes – just listen. You can jot down your notes on the feedback after the meeting. Look them in the eye, smile, and give them the floor.
Do not respond to critical feedback
A big portion of this exercise is asking your employees to offer you critical feedback. That’s just as uncomfortable for them as it might be for you. But keep the big picture in mind – you are trying to create an open trusting environment for them and they need to see that critical feedback will be received so that they feel comfortable giving it next time, and the time after that. So it’s critical not to respond. Don’t explain yourself. Don’t correct them. Just let them talk, even if what they are saying is a little bit off base or taken out of context. Remember, they likely don’t have all of the information you have and articulating their perceptions. That’s ok.
There is one caveat to this guideline – it’s ok to ask questions for clarification. If you’re not sure exactly what they are referring to, or how they are defining certain terms, it’s ok to ask as long as you do it non-defensively (and they are probably going to be highly sensitive to this). Don’t use questions as a way to be able to correct them. Ask things like “what do you mean by that?” and “can you give me an example?” Let them explain, and say “thank you.”
Show them you listened
Once they’ve given you the feedback, make sure they know that you heard it. After they are done in the meeting, recap to them: “Just to make sure I’m understanding this, what I heard you say is that you like our team meetings but think we should have them more than once every two weeks, that we should be planning out an agenda beforehand to make them more productive, and that I should let other people in the department present during the meetings. Am I hearing that correctly?” This gives them the opportunity to recount their own feedback and offer additional information.
Showing them you listened goes beyond that individual meeting. Of course, you’re likely not going to act on all of the feedback they give you, but there will likely be a few quick fixes that make complete sense that you can implement right away, even if it’s just as test. That will show your employees not only that you listened, but that their feedback does result in action.
Rinse and repeat
Just as performance management should not be a once-a-year exercise, soliciting feedback from your employees should be done on a regular basis. Regularly check-ins will not only allow you to monitor the job satisfaction and morale of your employees, but will also help you to improve and hone your own leadership strategy.
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