Why it matters
Research at Google showed that great management is a set of learnable behaviours — coaching, empowering, communicating, supporting careers. Asking the team regularly how their manager is doing on those behaviours, and acting on it visibly, turns good intentions into habits.
How to run it
- Build a short survey around specific behaviours, for example: I get feedback I can act on. I have room to decide how I do my work. I feel cared for as a person, not just as a resource. We talk about where my career is heading. I know what our team is trying to achieve and why.
- Run it anonymously each quarter, with one open question: What should your manager keep doing, and what should they do differently?
- The manager reads the results — ideally with a coach or their own manager.
- Share back with the team: "Here's what I heard, here's what I'll change, here's how you'll know."
- Practise one behaviour until the next round — and see if the scores move.
Watch out for
- Using results to rate or rank managers — keep it developmental
- Collecting feedback and never discussing it with the team
- Vague questions ("Is your manager good?") instead of behaviours
When not to use it
With very small teams where anonymity can’t be protected — use a facilitated conversation instead.
