Employee survey questions about management can be tricky but with the right approach they can be a breeze.
In this article we explore the importance of collecting employee feedback about their managers, provide examples of survey questions, and how to use those insights to improve managerial effectiveness.
Employee Feedback and Managerial Effectiveness
It’s no surprise that because managers have a direct line of communication with their teams, they heavily influence the experience of their employees. Managerial relationships can make or break engagement in the workplace and performance, productivity, and culture can suffer as a result.
According to a recent study, more than 50% of managers report that they received no formal training at all, and 44% say they are overwhelmed at work. This lack of training isn’t just impacting management, employees are suffering as a result. This SHRM article notes that:
- 84% of employees say poorly trained managers create a lot of unnecessary work and stress.
- 57% of employees say managers in their workplace could benefit from training on how to be a better people manager.
- 50% of respondents feel their own performance would improve if their direct supervisor received additional training in people management.
It is important to create lines of communication with employees so they can provide feedback about their managers. Asking the right questions is key to getting honest and constructive insight into their behavior.
Manager Survey Questions
Being strategic about manager survey questions sets you up to take action and support your managers in their opportunity areas. Whether it be in check-ins with leadership or in annual company-wide surveys, here are some best practices and survey question examples to follow:
Best Practices:
- Identify what categories you want to know about in your survey. For example:
- Manager trustworthiness – do employees trust their manager?
- Frequency of check-ins – how often are managers having check-ins or one-on-ones with employees?
- Communication – is the manager’s communication style effective?
- Ask questions on the same topic in different ways to validate the consistency of responses.
- Don’t ask leading questions and keep the phrasing of the questions unbiased.
- Consider a 360 approach where feedback about each manager is collected from multiple sources such as direct-report employees, leadership, and peers.
Question Examples:
These questions would be asked on a 5-point Likert scale of agreement.
- My manager treats employees with respect
- I trust my manager
- My manager is effective in resolving issues
- I meet with my manager on a regular basis
How to Train-Up Managers with Feedback
As an organization, it is important to focus on professional development for both employees and supervisors. Focusing on developing managers’ skills greatly impacts their retention. According to a Microsoft study, 76% of employees would stay longer at a company if they could benefit more from learning and development support.
So, you’ve collected feedback on managers, now what? The most productive way to move forward is to go over the results individually with each manager. Discuss what areas were identified as strengths and create a plan of action for their opportunity areas.
Lean into group training sessions. Even the most accomplished manager can benefit from sharpening soft skills like communication, relationship-building, and recognition. If you have the means, bring in experts to conduct training sessions or use other resources such as books, videos, or case studies.
The most important part of this process is to make sure managers feel supported and that they are being held accountable and recognized for their effort.
Simplify the Process
Collecting this feedback and knowing where to start can feel daunting but it doesn’t need to be. Using an employee survey solution like People Element can streamline the entire process from start to finish. With full templates of validated survey questions, all you need to do is send the anonymous survey link to employees and the responses are automatically collected and your data is presented in your online dashboard.
The Manager 360 tool takes manager feedback even further generating custom action plans based on each manager’s results and sending them automated emails with useful training materials.
If you’re ready to take the next step in building a better workplace, request a demo from one of our experts.
