The Need for Real-Time Feedback for Managers
In a survey of 253 HR leaders, 63% of them are taking steps to be more agile. Agile HR refers to the way an HR function helps the organization become more adaptive and responsive. Feedback for managers is key in creating agility. You don’t merely implement controls and standards, but rather focus on executing programs and strategies that react to the situation inside and outside the company. HR practices are part of such programs.
If you’re operating your people practices annually (or even quarterly), you’re behind. The workplace is rapidly changing and if current annual HR processes aren’t changing, companies will be hard-pressed to build a competitive environment to retain and inspire great talent. In other words, HR will not be as agile as it could be.
As the workplace environment changes, the combined speed at which businesses operate and the makeup of the modern employee, demands a change in approach.
We need real-time conversations and real-time feedback on maximizing the performance and engagement of our employees.
Empowering Managers with Feedback for Engagement
When it comes to employees, HR gets the responsibility, but it’s really the manager that needs to be leveraged. The manager works with employees daily and can have an impact on how employees work.
In a survey of over 1,000 employees by Joblist, more than a third of them want more feedback outside of their performance reviews. The demand for feedback is high for managers.
Similarly, managers have to provide feedback as well. Gallup has found that managers who give weekly feedback are likely to extract almost three times as much engagement from their team members. The employees surveyed also said that when the frequency of feedback is increased, they're more than three times more likely to agree that they receive meaningful feedback.
By giving and getting feedback, managers are more empowered in their jobs. They know where they stand. They have a better comprehension of how to delegate. Effective two-way feedback is the name of the game. It’s partnering for success by shortening the feedback loop.
An important facet of that feedback loop is employee surveys. You need to know where you stand by hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Download the information sheet to see how WorkTango can enable meaningful manager feedback.
Best Practices
Forward-thinking companies are implementing new processes proving to be successful. For example:
- Real-time engagement
- One-on-one meetings (we call them Sync-Ups) – forgoing performance management systems and replacing them with 1:1s to encourage conversation. Here are categories of most popular 1-on-1 questions.
- Manager training (but not as you imagine) – gone are the days of two-day workshops. It’s about putting it into practice daily, such as assigning a manager-coach to support managers and be a sounding board for feedback.
- Confidentiality– keeping two-way conversations private builds trust among both parties. They're able to continue this conversation either synchronously or asynchronously as per their wishes.
Technology has made it easier to do all these things, but the reality is the power lies in the hands (or handheld devices) of your managers. They have to be accountable for the feedback they receive.
Managers understand they're not the only ones in the organization that receive feedback, but such a process extends to the C-suite of the organization. There's a lot to learn from leadership feedback for managers.
Managers Need Constructive Feedback
Feedback can be both positive or negative. The more important question is, is it constructive?
Constructive feedback is based on:
- A clear understanding of priorities (so it’s known why something is being said)
- Being honest when something has already been decided (so there are no false expectations)
- Clarity on the work process (so things other than actual deliverables are also talked about)
- Conversations around improvement, and not the documentation of failures.
We know how important the manager is in any organization, so it’s important to ensure they give and get continuous constructive feedback. It’s best if the survey tool you use not only makes it easy to share and receive feedback, but offers tips on how to make it more constructive. After all, communication is key. Recommending actions to act on feedback is an emerging field.
Communication gaps between managers and the rest of your organizations need to be addressed. These gaps occur not just because of the lack of communication, but because of the lack of inconsiderate communication where what the person meant is not what the person said.
As managers are often the linchpins of organizations, there's greater urgency now than ever before to collect constructive feedback in an agile fashion. If you're still relying on annual surveys, we hope you see the value in switching to pulse surveys and real-time two-way confidential conversations between managers and their team members.
