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upward feedback

Also called: feedback to your manager, manager feedback from reports

Feedback that reports give to their manager. It works when the lead asks a narrow question, listens without defending, thanks the person and later shows what changed.

Upward feedback is feedback reports give their manager. Leads need it because every lead has blind spots: effects of their own behavior that others see and they don't, such as answering every question so fast that nobody else learns to. Reports rarely volunteer it, because the lead now decides their shifts, workload and review, and criticizing that person feels risky, even when the lead used to be a peer.

That is why "Any feedback for me?" at the end of a meeting usually gets "No, all good": the question is too wide to answer on the spot, and the power gap is real. What works is narrow and routine: one question about one specific thing the lead did ("When I change the rotation order, how does that land for you?"), in every one-to-one, with the option to answer in writing. In a small team an anonymous survey isn't really anonymous, and with four answers one person's mood moves the result by a quarter; treat it as a hint to ask about, and never try to work out who wrote what.

What the lead does next decides whether anyone is honest again. Listen to the end, don't defend or explain yet, thank the person, ask for an example, then say what you'll do and by when. Arguing back, "well, you also…", a colder tone that week or telling others who said it ends upward feedback for months. Sort what you hear into change now, explain why not, and come back by a date; two people naming the same habit independently is a pattern. Then close the loop: "You told me X; since then, Y." That sentence earns the next honest answer.

Example

In February the lead of Klasna's Support team asks one narrow question in every weekly one-to-one: 4 coordinators × 4 weeks = 16 chances for upward feedback in a month, against one wide "any feedback?" that got four "all good"s.

At Olha's one-to-one the question is about the rotation of hard tickets, which Olha was told she decides. Her answer: on Wednesday the lead changed the order in the team chat without a word to her. The lead's first impulse is to explain that Taras was offline. Instead:

  1. Thank and check: "Thank you. So I said you decide the rotation, then changed it myself on a busy day."
  2. Say what changes: "From now on only you change the order. If someone is offline, I'll message you and you decide."
  3. Say when she'll see it: "Let's look at how it went at next week's one-to-one."

By Friday the lead has five comments from the four people. Two go to "change now" (the rotation, and answering refund questions before Olha can), two to "explain why not", one to "come back by 26 February". Three weeks later the lead closes the loop with Olha: since then, only she has changed the order.

Common mistakes

  • Asking too wide. "Any feedback for me?" gets "all good"; ask about one specific thing you did this week.
  • Explaining on the spot. Even a true reason sounds like "you're wrong"; listen to the end, thank, and add context later, once.
  • Punishing honesty quietly. A colder tone, "you also…" or repeating who said it ends upward feedback for months.
  • Trusting a tiny anonymous survey. With four people it isn't anonymous and one answer swings it; never hunt for the author.
  • Not closing the loop. If nobody sees what changed, nobody bothers next time; silence is the one dishonest answer.

Learn it in the course