3 ways to use employee feedback to improve leadership

By John Rampton, Founder of Palo Alto, CA Calendar < em>, a company that helps your schedule be much more productive.

Leaders are used to giving feedback to their employees to help their team achieve their goals and improve individual performance. However, managers also need feedback from their direct reports on their leadership style. Without it, they cannot improve and may continue with patterns and behaviors that frustrate their team and even cause turnover.

Managers who collect, listen, and act on employee feedback can take action to improve the work environment. Employees may also view these leaders as more invested in their professional development and well-being. Research suggests that managers who make their team members feel valued and competent can increase employee engagement levels.

The hard part, however, is finding ways to get honest feedback from employees without making them feel uncomfortable or pressured. Establishing open communication and a culture where team members feel safe to voice their opinions can help break down some power dynamics. Here are three ways managers can do just that while using employee feedback to improve their leadership style.

1. Conduct employee surveys.

Despite the very real threat of survey fatigue, employee surveys can be an effective way to gather anonymous feedback. Polls give team members a chance to voice their thoughts without the pressure of a face-to-face meeting. This is important because some direct reports may feel uncomfortable providing feedback in person.

An employee may be new to the organization, for example, or may not have worked very long under their current manager. Others might come from organizational cultures where traditional command and control dynamics were not challenged. Annual and ad hoc surveys provide them with a less intimidating space to express their perceptions of a leader's performance.

Annual surveys are usually broader in scope and ask a variety of questions. Pulse surveys are more focused on specific topics and usually contain no more than 10 questions. Annual surveys can give leaders a general idea of ​​how teams perceive their style and level of support. But feedback from the flash survey could reveal opportunities around certain areas of concern and current needs. Leaders can use employee responses to provide more resources, improve methods, and increase long-term satisfaction levels.

2. Organize individual and team meetings.

A democratic leadership style involves regularly asking employees for their input on processes and decisions. Instead of a manager making decisions alone, the whole team can participate and have a say. This small difference can increase engagement levels because it involves employees in choices that directly impact their work.

Teams usually can't choose their managers, but how their leader approaches work will definitely influence their happiness. Employees may feel less controlled if they can help shape their workplace and their leader's practices. Individual and team meetings are opportunities for managers to find out how they are holding the group back.

Team members can point out, for example, how conflicting responsibilities prevent them from getting the job done on time. The leader could restructure these tasks or bring in more staff to handle specific work assignments. Likewise, a one-on-one meeting might reveal that an employee needs more on-the-job training and direct management involvement. The manager can take a more hands-on approach or pair this employee with a more experienced team member.

3. Working with employees of the tr...