Managers
New manager feedback survey
Run this six to ten weeks after a team changes manager. If that manager is you and you feel nervous about asking, you're in the normal position for someone six weeks in.
Opens this survey in Gists as a draft you can edit. Sign in with Slack, Google or your work email. 30 days free. No card needed.
What your team will be asked
How clear are team priorities since the change in manager?
1 = much less clear, 5 = much clearer
How comfortable do you feel bringing problems to your new manager?
1 = not comfortable, 5 = very comfortable
Have you had a one-to-one with your new manager?
Pick one
- Yes, regularly
- Once so far
- Not yet
Overall, how has the transition affected the team?
Pick one
- Better than before
- About the same
- Harder than before
- Too early to say
What is your new manager already doing well?
Written answer, optional
What could help the team settle in with the new manager?
Written answer, optional
We wrote these questions for this survey and they are not a validated scale. You can edit them once the survey opens in Gists. If you copy them into another tool, check what it records about who answered.
Who sees this
Results show only when 5 or more people answer. A team below 5 rolls up into the team above it. A group is also held back when comparing it with another group could reveal a small team. HR and named leaders see every team with 5 or more answers. Each manager sees only their own team. Employees see no team scores. Themes only by default. Word-for-word answers are a company setting, off unless turned on, and employees see a notice before they write.
Before you run this
Say that no one will be treated differently because of what they wrote, and mean it. With seven people, don't try to work out who said what.
The decision it helps with
Is this transition going well enough, and what is the one thing to do differently?
Running it
Six to ten weeks after the change, once. Agree what the results are for with your own manager first. A team of seven needs 5 to answer before you see anything, and in a group that small people will guess at who said what, so say so when you send it.
What the results might look like
These are made-up examples to show the patterns, not real data.
Low comfort bringing problems
2.4 on question 2 with 6 of 7 answering.
- What it means
- Some people don't yet feel able to bring you problems.
- What it doesn't mean
- It doesn't show you've done anything wrong. Six weeks is short, and people may be holding back from the last manager's habits.
- What to do
- Start one-to-ones by asking about blockers, and take the first problem someone brings you visibly seriously.
Priorities got less clear
most say “much less clear” on question 1.
- What it means
- Context was lost in the handover.
- What it doesn't mean
- It doesn't say you've failed to lead.
- What to do
- Write down what the team is doing and why, and check it with the person who had the job before, if you can.
What to tell people afterwards
Say what you heard and what you'll try. For example: “Thanks for being straight with me. I heard it isn't always easy to bring me problems. For the next month I'll ask about blockers first in our one-to-ones. Tell me if that isn't helping.”
What to measure next, and when
Check in again informally after a month, and use the regular manager feedback survey about six months in.
The score to look at first
Comfort bringing problems to you (question 2). In a study of 3,149 employees and 223 managers at a restaurant chain, a manager's openness was related to people speaking up, through their sense that it was safe to do so (Detert & Burris, 2007). A review of four decades of trust research found that direct leaders are a particularly important focus of trust (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002). Neither study looked at new managers specifically.
About six months later
Switch to the regular manager feedback survey, which is longer and repeats.
Related
Sources
- Detert, J. R., Burris, E. R. (2007). Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open?. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 869-884. doi:10.5465/amj.2007.26279183
- Dirks, K. T., Ferrin, D. L. (2002). Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 611-628. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.87.4.611