How to Effectively Communicate Feedback to Managers

According to a recent Gallup poll, most managers receive little feedback on managing effectively from their direct reports and peers. If managers don’t know how well (or poorly) they’re performing as managers and how their approach impacts their team, they can’t build on what’s good or improve on what isn’t working.

Bad management puts organizations at risk. It can result in costly inefficiencies and is often to blame for employees feeling pressure to look busy or, conversely, overworking. Conversely, great managers elevate their teams, inspiring and empowering good workers to improve. Great managers know that excellence is a moving target — there’s always room to improve, more to learn, and skills to develop.

Let’s go over how to gather and communicate feedback to managers effectively.

Determine What Feedback Would Be Most Valuable to Your Managers

Before you begin soliciting feedback, determine what information would be most helpful so you can prioritize what you ask. Consider soliciting information that would help validate what managers are doing well and provide them with ideas for improvement. In general, the more specific your questions, the better. The following topics should get you started:

Clarity of performance expectations
How well do the manager’s direct reports understand what’s expected of them? Do they know what success looks like?

Quantity and quality of the manager’s feedback to direct reports
Are direct reports getting adequate feedback about their performance?

Engagement
Are the manager’s direct reports engaged in their work? Do they care about the team’s success?

Belonging
Do direct reports feel like they have an essential role on the team and place within the company?

Motivation
Do the manager’s direct reports feel inspired to do their best work and continuously improve?

Resources
Do direct reports have the resources they need to do their jobs? If not, what could their manager do to help?

Self-sufficiency
Can the manager delegate tasks and trust direct reports to do their work with an appropriate level of supervision?

Professional development
Do direct reports have opportunities to increase their knowledge and build new skills? Are they challenged in ways conducive to their satisfaction and growth?

Psychological safety
Do direct reports have the freedom to voice questions, concerns, and suggestions without fear of retaliation?

Advocacy
Do employees feel their manager cares about them and their success? Do they believe their manager has their back? Do they trust their manager?

Cohesion
Does the manager’s team work well together? Are they able to collaborate effectively among themselves and with other teams?

Awareness
Does the manager know what their direct reports are working on and how that work contributes to the organization’s success?

Compliance
Does the manager understand and adhere to company policies? Do they take the appropriate steps to minimize risk (e.g., avoiding behavior that could be perceived as discriminatory)?

Positive responses to these questions indicate that a manager is doing well. Negative responses mean there are opportunities for improvement. Both are valuable if used effectively.

Solicit That Feedback

In rare cases, an employee may feel comfortable providing critical feedback directly to their boss, but it would be unfair to expect this, even in an environment that prides itself on candor and trust. You’ll need a process that inspires curiosity, maintains confidentiality, and prevents retaliation to get reliable and valuable feedback. Here are a few ways to gather valuable feedback:

Confidential surveys

Many employee surveys have built-in functionality that maintains anonymity — for instance, by only sharing written responses with managers if they have many direct reports and would, therefore, be less likely to know which individual provided each comment. We recommend using confidential surveys like this to inquire about manager performance.

Skip-level meetings

To investigate potential issues more thoroughly, you might consider skip-level meetings. These are meetings between an employee and their manager’s boss. They’re difficult to schedule frequently, but making them an annual occurrence can provide another avenue for feedback.

Exit interviews

An exit interview is a conversation with a departing employee about their time at the company and the reason for their departure. Sometimes, but not always, departing employees may be willing to speak more candidly than they might while still employed. If you conduct exit interviews, we recommend asking about general management practices and how the employee felt about their manager.

Peer input

It’s fine to contact a manager’s peers directly to get perspective, but it’s also recommended that managers who work together ask for and offer feedback among themselves.

Manager self-reflection

In their day-to-day work, managers probably aren’t thinking much about what management practices they’ve implemented, how they execute those practices, or why they manage the way they do. All that takes time and focus. One-on-one meetings are a good place for those who manage managers to reflect on management skills and practices. The point isn’t to make managers justify what they’re doing but to get their thoughts on what’s going well and what could be improved. This input is as important as feedback from their direct reports and peers.

Communicate That Feedback

If the feedback you collect would benefit managers in your organization more generally, it may be worth sharing and discussing during management team meetings or incorporated into management training. If the feedback pertains to an individual manager’s practices, techniques, or behavior, specific feedback may be better communicated with that manager directly, provided you can maintain confidentiality.

While it’s perfectly fair to hold managers to high-performance standards and expect them to be generally receptive to feedback, don’t rush to judgment. Individual comments don’t tell the whole story and may not always be accurate. When gathering, analyzing, and sharing feedback, keep an open mind and remember that the goal is to give managers information they can use to help them do their best work and continuously improve.

Need Help with Feedback for Managers?

A cultural review can be valuable if your business is experiencing a high turnover rate, complaints from your staff about managers and supervisors, or just a feeling that something isn’t working within your organization. Conducting an internal survey of your employees can provide some insight, but many are reluctant to be completely honest when responding to a supervisor or colleague. A non-biased third-party survey will have greater success in getting in-depth feedback on what your company is doing well and what areas need to be the focus of improvement. Our HR consultants will come to your office for face-to-face, confidential interviews with your staff. For employees that work remotely, interviews can be done virtually. Armed with these insights, you can implement actions that lead to a happy, productive, and innovative workforce that drives performance and revenue. Fill out the brief form below to learn more.