One of the best things a supervisor can do to build trust is to openly listen to an employee’s feedback—and give an honest reply about what will happen to their suggestion. Then act on it!
In my first book If You Can’t Say Something Nice What DO You Say, I share the following sample replies:
- “Thanks for your input. Although the budget is already set for this year, I will make it a priority for next year.”
- “I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. I will fix the situation myself and give you an update at our next one-on-one meeting.”
- “I’m glad you suggested this idea. Let’s bring this up at the next departmental staff meeting and brainstorm possible solutions.”
I also suggest that as a supervisor you ask yourself the following five questions to give serious consideration to employee feedback—especially when it’s something about your own abilities that you’d rather not hear.
- Have I received this feedback before? Perhaps from other employees?
- Have I observed myself demonstrating the offending behavior?
- Is it something I want to change?
- Is it something I CAN change?
- What will I actually DO in response to this feedback?
A favorite example I frequently share in my presentations is about an employee—let’s call him Bill—who I supervised when I worked in university administration. He had the audacity to say to me “you could be a better supervisor!” When I asked him to clarify, he suggested that I could do a better job of regularly letting the staff know how they were performing.
After I resisted the urge to get defensive, I ran his feedback through the filter of five questions and realized that:
- Yes, I had received similar feedback in the past from others.
When I first started supervising, I had foolishly announced to my staff: “No news is good news!” Their reply: “If you don’t tell us what’s going on, we’ll make something up!” And I knew their imaginations would be way more dramatic than the reality.
- Yes, I had observed myself demonstrating the offending behavior.
Although I had good intentions of providing the staff with regular feedback, my busy schedule took over and before I knew it the week was gone.
- Yes, I wanted to change.
I was highly motivated as a supervisor to gain the employees’ trust and that meant making the time to keep the lines of communication open.
- Yes, it was something I could change.
Using the “ask for more” advice I’d received from one of my grad school mentors, I asked Bill what he would suggest. This increased his trust in me and reassured him—and me—that I could change.
- Yes, I would actually DO something about it.
Thanks to Bill’s suggestion that I use the one-on-one meeting as an occasion to give each person well-deserved kudos and suggested improvements, it was a little easier for me to take action to make a change.
Listening, acknowledging, and acting upon ideas are all powerful ways to have employees respond with a resounding “yes!” when they wonder: “Can I trust you?”
[Author’s Note: DO try this at home and with colleagues too!]
