In the Global Recognition Study, more than 40% of those respondents who cited not feeling appreciated said they didn’t fully trust their managers and believed their managers didn’t trust them.
Not listening to teammates can have catastrophic consequences! It leads to errors, high turnover, ineffective decisions, eroded teamwork, and delays. All of these have a cost and can even put your job on the line.
Being a leader means listening to your teammates. But they are not going to give you feedback easily. You need to create a safe environment for honest feedback to be shared.
In this guide you will discover:
- The reasons your teammates don't give honest feedback
- The actions you can take to foster honest feedback
- How TeamMood can help you get more feedback
- The benefits of team feedback culture
Why is it so hard to get honest feedback from your teammates?
There are many reasons your teammates don’t want to share their feedback or only gives shallow feedback.
- They are waiting for you to give feedback. It’s always hard to do the first step, especially when it’s to their leader.
- They are afraid negative feedback will be taken personally. Not a lot of people will feel comfortable giving negative feedback if they think there will be consequences like getting unrealistic annual objectives or being ostracized.
- They are discouraged because their feedback is not taken into account. Feeling ignored is hard on the morale and results in less feedback or even no feedback at all.
How to foster honest feedback?
It’s your role to make sure your teammates are in a safe environment to give honest feedback. It will make your job easier and everybody will be happier. Here are what you can do.
- Don’t be the boss. Be a leader. If you put too much distance and show off your power too much, your teammates will be scared to give feedback.
- Don’t react badly. That’s an obvious one, but it needs to be said. Negative feedback is useful so don’t be mad.
- If you want feedback, give feedback. Reciprocity is very beneficial to get feedback from your teammates.
- Ask for feedback often. There are still a lot of managers doing only annual reviews for feedback. Ask for feedback daily or weekly with a tool like TeamMood.
- Make feedback fun. 1-on-1 meetings feel very formal and it’s not really a fun way to give feedback. Software is also not necessarily fun. Find a fun way to gather feedback.
- Make feedback anonymous. If your teammates’ identities are hidden, they will feel more comfortable and give honest feedback.
- Feedback is a gift. Or at least, think of it as one. Be grateful and take care of it. Show genuine interest.
- Transform feedback into action. If you asked for feedback, use it! Analyze it and find actions you can take based on the results.
- Reflect. Hold meetings in order to reflect on what feedback enabled the team to do and how it changed the mood. But leave judgments at the door!
- Be open about your mistakes. Everyone make mistakes. Don’t deny it or your teammates won’t be able to trust you. Be truthful when you make a mistake.
How to use TeamMood to foster honest feedback?
TeamMood is a great solution to get more feedback. It won't do everything and you still have to work on being more open yourself, but it will help you tremendously.
- TeamMood increases feedback frequency. Get daily or weekly notifications to everyone in your team in just a few minutes after signing up.
- TeamMood is fun. The only thing your teammates need to do is click on their corresponding mood and they are done. Written comments are optional. It's perfect to start getting more feedback. And it's easy and quick enough to keep this habit in the long term.
- TeamMood is anonymous. Your teammates won't be scared to give honest feedback because their identity is hidden.
- TeamMood helps you transform feedback into action. Our analytics dashboard help you monitor and analyze feedback to uncover actionable insights more easily.
“With TeamMood, people feel they have a voice. It’s all the more important with the majority of the team living under UK lockdown rules….it doesn’t replace the quality time spent with colleagues around a cup of tea, but it offers a way for team members to share their struggles….and they really appreciate it.”— Erika, Team Engagement Manager and Health & Wellbeing Champion at a global pharmaceutical company
The benefits of creating team feedback culture
Once you get more honest feedback and take them into account, benefits will follow.
- Improved wellness. Your teammates will be happier and more satisfied
- Team synergy. You and your teammates will know each other better and work in synergy.
- Effective decisions. With more data from feedback, decisions are more informed and therefore more chances to be effective.
- Low turnover. When your teammates are happy and appreciated, they don't want to leave.
A 10-year study of 200,000 employees revealed that 79% of employees who quit their jobs cited a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving. At the same study, 66% of respondents cited praise was an essential motivator.
