Standard engagement surveys fail because employees fear answering direct questions about job satisfaction or retention honestly. A more effective approach is to use a proxy question like, "How seen and heard do you feel by your immediate supervisor?" which provides a safer space for truthful responses.
Related Insights
A silent dissenter won't respond to "What are your concerns?". Instead, "soft-float" several potential objections, like giving them a multiple-choice question (e.g., "Is it our integrations, our pricing, or something else?"). This lowers the barrier for them to engage and allows them to latch onto a specific point, revealing their true apprehension.
To move beyond status updates in one-on-one meetings, managers should open up about their own challenges. Asking a team member for their perspective on a decision the manager is making fosters trust, shows respect, and can uncover valuable insights you hadn't considered.
When an employee rates their job satisfaction as a 3 out of 10, asking 'Why so high?' disrupts their negative thought pattern. It forces them to acknowledge what's working, even if minimal. This shifts the conversation from complaining to identifying positive elements to build upon.
To transform team dynamics, leaders should intentionally ask questions that invite challenges and alternative viewpoints. Simple prompts like 'What might we be missing here?' or 'Does anyone have a different point of view?' create psychological safety and signal that all contributions are valued.
One of Brad Jacobs' favorite tools is a simple employee survey he deploys immediately after an acquisition. It asks just three questions: 1) What's working well? 2) What needs fixing? and 3) What's your single best idea? This quickly surfaces crucial insights and signals to new employees that their input is valued.
The 'TRUTH' framework (Trust, Risk, Understanding, Titles, How-to) provides a diagnostic tool for understanding the five key factors that prevent employees from speaking up. It helps leaders move beyond simple encouragement and address the specific, underlying reasons for silence within their teams.
As leaders rise, direct reports are less likely to provide challenging feedback, creating an executive bubble. To get unfiltered information, leaders should schedule regular one-on-ones with employees several levels down the org chart with the express purpose of listening, not dictating.
Feedback often gets 'massaged' and politicized as it travels up the chain of command. Effective leaders must create direct, unfiltered channels to hear from customers and front-line employees, ensuring raw data isn't sanitized before it reaches them.
Managers are often so agenda-driven they simply wait for a pause to speak, rather than truly listening. Asking a simple question like "Is there more?" after an employee shares something signals genuine curiosity, invites deeper sharing, and makes the employee feel genuinely heard and valued.
The phrase "Can I give you feedback?" triggers a threat response. Neuroleadership research shows that flipping the script—having leaders proactively *ask* for feedback—reduces the associated stress by 50% for both parties. This simple tweak fosters a culture of psychological safety and continuous improvement.
