Accountability is critical at every level of every organization, whether you lead a startup, nonprofit, or government agency. In this series, we discuss each element of accountability, why it matters, and ways to build it on your team.
We’re wrapping up Part 4 of our journey through accountability. As a reminder, the five elements of accountability are (1) clear expectations, (2) clear capabilities, (3) clear measurement, (4) clear feedback, and (5) clear consequences. In this post, we wrap up our discussion on feedback.
Getting Feedback is Critical
As leaders, we are not just responsible for giving good feedback. We are responsible for getting helpful feedback, too. Getting helpful feedback from your direct and indirect reports can help you identify blind spots that you cannot see from your vantage point (see, e.g., Johari's Window), improve your performance as a leader, and address simple issues like replacing a subpar copier (which can make a world of difference for some teammates) or complex ones like improving workplace culture.
Get Helpful Feedback by Building an Open Feedback Culture
There are many ways to gather feedback from your teammates, ranging from regular 1-on-1 upward feedback discussions to anonymous 360 surveys.
However, the best method is a culture of immediate, insightful, actionable feedback across the organization. When teammates feel that they can openly share their concerns, they often experience better performance and increased retention. (See James R. Detert and Ethan Burris, “Can Your Employees Really Speak Freely?” Harvard Business Review 2016).
Challenges
But just because you ask for helpful feedback doesn’t mean your teammates will give it. Building a feedback culture on your team can be extremely challenging, especially if your teammates have never experienced it. In many organizations, leaders will have to overcome the following obstacles to get open, honest feedback:
1) Lack of Vision
It’s hard for teammates to implement something they have never seen. Many teammates have no idea that open feedback cultures exist, much less how to engage in one.
2) Fear of Retaliation
In many organizations, teammates fear that speaking out against a supervisor could result in termination, getting left off of good projects, or having decreased visibility with senior management. Why should they risk job security to give you feedback? (See, e.g., Detert and Burris 2016)
Even negative experiences or rumors from years past can deter open feedback. This is especially true in government agencies, which frequently undergo leadership changes. It takes multiple positive feedback experiences to pave over one bad one.
3) Feelings of Futility
Some organizations gather lots of employee feedback through organizational health surveys, 1-on-1 interviews, 360 reviews, and then… do absolutely nothing. After so much false hope, who can blame teammates for saying “What’s the point?” and declining to sink more time into giving thoughtful feedback? (See, e.g., Detert and Burris 2016.)
4 Steps to Start an Open Feedback Culture
Leaders should use the following steps to start building an open feedback culture on their teams:
1) Model it
Start providing immediate, actionable feedback to your teammates, especially those who supervise others. (Be sure to incorporate the feedback best practices from our last post.)
Clearly communicate what you are doing and why you are doing it. Give your teammates a vision of what “good” looks like, and then follow up with supervisors to help them implement open, immediate feedback on their teams.
Examples: Same-day recaps of presentations or client pitches; project recaps shortly after wrap-up or, even better, after completing each milestone.
2) Ask for it
Make it a habit to regularly ask individual teammates for feedback on specific things.
Examples: You can ask how they think a client meeting went (and how you could do better next time), what challenges they wrestle with while administering a specific program, or to identify one equipment upgrade that would greatly improve their work experience.
The key is to make your feedback questions personal and specific.
If the question is too vague, it might be difficult for your teammate to figure out where to start. Try asking about a specific topic, and ask follow-up questions from there.
In addition to 1-on-1 feedback requests, you can use other methods to generate helpful feedback from your team.
Each method has its own challenges, but when done right, they can provide helpful insight. These methods include:
Skip-Level Feedback (i.e., meet with your indirect reports without their direct supervisor)
360 Feedback
All-Staff Survey
3) Use it
If you want your teammates to give you helpful feedback, you need to show them the impact. Proactively schedule time to review, respond to, and implement the feedback you get, and then make that plan clear to your team so they can hold you accountable.
Gallup research suggests that teammates are nearly twice as engaged when their organization actually acts on their survey results.
Tell your teammates what feedback you received, what you did with it, and the benefits that resulted.
If you do not use all the feedback, be transparent about what you did with the info. (See Detert and Burris 2016.)
4) Reinforce it
Thank your teammates for their feedback.
Select particularly helpful feedback and show it to your team as an example.
Give credit where credit is due. Reward and recognize individual teammates who provide the most helpful feedback that results in positive changes for the team and your customers.
Questions for Leaders
Do you have “blind spots” where you do not get feedback on your own performance? (e.g., feedback from specific employee segments, or about certain functions of your job)
Does your team trust you enough to provide open, authentic feedback on your performance and the organization?
Do you make enough time to review and act on the feedback you receive?
Good feedback helps people do their jobs better. Great feedback transforms lives for the better. When your organization has a thriving culture of open, immediate feedback, you have all the more opportunity to learn, grow, and improve together.
Next Time
Next time, we will wrap up our accountability journey with clear consequences - what happens when things go well, and what happens when they don't? Leaders must respond appropriately, and a solid foundation of clear expectations, capabilities, measurement, and feedback make a world of difference.
Michael Lanahan serves as Founder and Principal of MBL Ventures, a management consulting firm that helps business, nonprofit, and public sector leaders navigate issues of strategy, structure, and government.
To learn more, please visit www.mblventuresllc.com.
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