Imagine a day at work without any supervision or a lack of good management. Do you still think employees and teams will work as efficiently as before? Do you think the working environment will remain as calm as before? The answers to these questions underline the importance of having someone to supervise teams and steer them in the right direction. This is where the role of the manager comes in.
However, for managers to become thought leaders, regular performance appraisals are necessary. Giving a manager useful and positive feedback can inspire them to keep up the good work. Managers are closest to their team and by empowering them, you end up empowering the whole team.
The importance of constructive feedback for managers
Leadership depends on perception, leadership consultant, coach, and author of Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up. If managers don’t know how they are perceived at work, their performance will suffer.
Thus, a manager, like any other employee, has a responsibility to upskill and develop himself based on what he learns over time. Although upward feedback is not widespread in most workplaces, putting it into practice will help senior managers to become influential leaders. Managers can do this by getting regular feedback from their teams. Constructive feedback can help them:
- Set clearer goals
- Monitor their teams better
- Plan the use of resources more accurately
- Increase motivation
- Enhance personal development
- Strengthen employee-manager relationships
- Characteristics of honest and constructive feedback
We live in a feedback-driven world. Look around you, every app, and every experience you use, your rate on a scale. The same applies to people at work. Ratings or feedback allow them to do better next time to be effective, feedback needs to be specific, not generalized. The more specific you can be, the more likely it is that the person receiving the feedback will understand what went wrong and where they can improve.
Here are 15 examples of how to give feedback to managers
- Your ability to put things in perspective has always encouraged me and my team to do our best and strive for excellence.
- It is incredible how you have managed to bring the whole team together. I admire the fact that you stand up for us, that you are aware of our mental health, and that you pay attention to our thoughts, however insignificant they may be.
- I understand that it takes time and effort to achieve a good balance, but I like the management approach that you take with me and I can see that I thrive with this level of involvement.
- I would like to express my gratitude for your continued enthusiasm and willingness to step in whenever the team needs some advice. This kind of leadership is very motivating.
- Our team has done exceptionally well this year and I believe part of that is due to your ability to boost morale when we have done badly. I would like to express my gratitude to you for doing your best to keep everyone’s spirits high.
- I consider myself extremely lucky to be part of your team. Your management style is commendable and has helped us to achieve our objectives on time. However, I would like to request one thing. Could we have more meetings in the office, perhaps three times a week, because physical interaction is always better than virtual? It saves a lot of time.
- I understand that it is the end of the year and that you have mostly done everything, but I miss our monthly check-ins. I have made a lot of progress in my courses and I am ready to apply for projects this month. I can even help with some critical project tasks with little supervision, but I would like to meet with you more often to discuss this possibility.
- You are truly inspiring with the number of excellent projects you support and the resources you make available to everyone. Your commitment to helping us in our development shows the compassion and thoughtfulness that is evident in everything you do!
- You have provided me with great opportunities and mentoring so far, but I believe I could be doing so much more for the company right now. What improvements can I make to become a more valuable member of the team?
- I appreciate your willingness to engage in open communication, which helps to resolve any problems in a shorter time. We have several new people joining our team, so it would be great to have team-building events so that everyone gets to know each other and feels part of the team.
- I appreciate your trust in me and in our team, but I believe that some more concrete guidance would benefit everyone in the long run.
- I really admire your commitment that you recognize our achievements and making us to deliver an excellent work. Your encouraging words make me feel good about what I have achieved.
- I am a little stressed with my current workload and I believe that this is because the tasks have been distributed unfairly. In order to complete my work on time, I need your help to reduce my workload.
- I appreciate you informing me about our latest task this week. It helped me to communicate better with our stakeholders and I am happy to report that we are very well on schedule. Moreover, it is exciting to see how you are working and the efficiency improvements you are making are impressive.
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