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    • Action plan

    Encouraging employees to give feedback on company leadership

    High effort

    High impact

    Getting honest feedback from employees is important if you want to develop as a leader and run your business or department effectively. However, it’s easier said than done. Asking employees for feedback on the management team requires putting in some groundwork to alleviate any concerns about negative consequences.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline
    What's involved? Ways to use this action plan Measuring impact
    1

    Make a list of ten reasons why getting employee feedback will help your business and leadership team improve

    Impact: low

    Why will this help?

    Before you ask for feedback, it’s essential to make sure you’re prepared to hear it and won’t get defensive. Reminding yourself why feedback matters will help you get into the right mindset.

    2

    Send out a survey so employees can share feedback anonymously, including a clear explanation of why feedback is being solicited

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    It can be difficult to get people to open up, so give employees the opportunity to offer feedback anonymously at first – and explain why it’s valuable. You’ll need to provide reassurances that the feedback won’t be tied back to them.

    Getting employee feedback on management

    Gathering feedback from employees helps managers to develop their skills and grow. This simple survey template used by Google is a great place to start.
    3

    Invite an external consultant, member of the HR team or a trusted peer from outside the business to meet with small groups of employees to explore any issues that come up

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Giving employees an impartial figure to speak to allows you to learn more about key themes from the feedback and get concrete examples of situations staff have experienced.

    4

    Set aside five minutes at the end of meetings to ask employees to provide feedback and encourage the rest of your leadership team to do the same

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Whether it’s a one-to-one or larger staff meeting, setting aside five minutes at the end of each meeting to ask for feedback will help it become a regular part of your culture.

    5

    Decide what actions you will take as a result of the feedback and outline them to employees in your next company meeting or via email

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    If your employees have been brave enough to provide feedback, show them that you appreciate it and that your behaviour will change as a result. It will make people feel more comfortable about providing feedback in the future.

    What can I do with this Action Plan?

    Start this Action Plan

    Add some extra information to this plan and we’ll help you get it done.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline

    Download and print

    Get a printable template for this Action Plan, fill it in with some target dates, and share it with your team. Pin it on the wall where everyone can see it.

    Get the printable Action Plan

    Learning Groups

    We also run Learning Groups on these topics where you can join other leaders tackling the same challenges.

    Find a Learning Group

    How will I know if my action plan is working?

    Amount of feedback received

    The advice employees give you about your performance

    Why this metric?

    The amount of feedback you receive will demonstrate how comfortable staff are with providing input on the leadership team’s performance.

    How do I start tracking?

    Make a note of any feedback you receive in meetings and send out a larger feedback survey every six months.