Last week, in part two of my series on how to be a better manager, I posted about sharing our mistakes and imperfections with our teams. Another key component is to actively and genuinely encourage feedback from our team members and peers.
While managers expect to give feedback, we often hesitate to ask for it in return. Yet, asking for feedback is vital if we want to build effective, productive, successful teams. And the people who have the most specific and helpful information are likely our direct reports.
In order to truly understand how we can improve, we should regularly ask our team members for their thoughts on team dynamics, our management, and their challenges. Some common questions are: What’s going well? What could be better? How can I support you? Whichever questions we use, we need to ask them consistently, authentically, and without defensiveness (if the questions feel performative, or if the recipient is at all concerned about retaliation, we won’t receive honest responses). Then, we need to listen carefully and ask open-ended questions to truly understand their perspectives and their needs. And finally, we need to commit to implementing the feedback and to truly supporting our people—in the way that works best for them.
My new employees are generally shocked when I request that they provide direct feedback, as most have never been asked to do so. And at the beginning of the relationship, many hesitate to share their honest thoughts; their experience is that offering feedback to a manager can be challenging at best and often detrimental to their career trajectories. Yet, I have found that when I ask my closest team members to provide their perspectives, and when I graciously welcome their feedback, not only do I benefit, but they tend to feel more valued, more integral to the team, and more invested in our mutual success.
So, let’s continue to practice humility. Assume there is much feedback to receive, and ask for it. When you get that feedback, avoid defensiveness, and be truly curious. And then act on that feedback to improve and to serve your team members better. Ultimately, integrating consistent feedback will help both us and our teams perform better.