The New Worker

One-on-one meetings are the cornerstone of effective team leadership. When conducted well, these meetings can enhance communication, deepen mutual respect, and fortify employee satisfaction with any organization. So, we've created an invaluable tool for managers to streamline these essential interactions and make them more productive. The One-on-One Meeting Template not only simplifies meeting prep but also makes sure that every meeting is impactful.  

The value of one-on-one meetings

Regular, personalized communication between managers and their team members is critical for fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment. One-on-one meetings offer many benefits, including increased employee engagement and a better understanding of individual goals. These sessions are crucial for proactive problem-solving and can help anticipate challenges before they become real barriers to success. 

Preparing for one-on-one meetings

Like most events, no matter their size and time, the effectiveness of one-on-one meetings can be significantly enhanced with proper preparation. Both managers and employees should come prepared to discuss topics with intention: 

• Review previous meeting notes and action items to make sure there is continuity and accountability. 
• Reflect on the employee's workload and projects to provide relevant feedback and support. 
• Prepare updates on team and company news to keep the team member informed and engaged. 
• Share the agenda beforehand to encourage employee input and make the meeting collaborative. 

Conducting the meeting

Setting the right environment and structure for one-on-one meetings is crucial: 

• Choose a quiet, private location to conduct the meeting without interruptions. 
• Maintain a flexible but focused agenda to guide the discussion, allowing space for any impromptu topics that may arise. 
• Focus on building a stronger working relationship by listening empathetically, coaching without judgment, and encouraging two-way feedback. 

Sample one-on-one meeting flow

Following the "One-on-One Meeting Template," the structure of the meeting can include: 

• Check-in: Start with a personal and professional wellness check to gauge the employee's current state. 
• Review: Discuss past work and feedback to acknowledge achievements and address issues. 
• Forward-looking: Set goals and discuss upcoming projects to align expectations and inspire motivation. 
• Wrap-up: Make sure all topics have been covered and set the agenda for the next meeting to maintain momentum. 

Using the one-on-one meeting template

The template serves as a structured guide for these discussions, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't personalize it to meet specific needs: 

1. Customize each section based on the focus areas and priorities of the meeting. 

2. Use the template to take notes during the meeting, capturing key points, actions, and decisions. 

3. Follow up with a discussion summary, including agreed-upon actions and next steps, to ensure accountability and continued progress. 

{emphasize}Templates are helpful, but one-on-one meeting software can also be a game-changer. With Workleap Officevibe, you can take notes, create collaborative agendas, set action items, and schedule invites — all from one place.{emphasize}

One-on-one meetings: An HR management essential 

One-on-one meetings are invaluable for effective management, offering a direct line of communication that fosters a positive work environment and drives organizational success. By using the "One-on-One Meeting Template," managers can enhance the quality and outcomes of these interactions. 

Download the One-on-One Meeting Template to elevate your management style and strengthen team dynamics.

And for more management tools to help you confidently lead, check out the full suite of templates in the HR Toolbox. 

Efficient, effective, empowering

Managing a team requires clarity, foresight, and organization. The HR Toolbox simplifies these challenges, providing structured templates to guide your most critical interactions. Each template includes: 

• Best Practices: Clear guidelines to enhance your managerial approach. 
• Talking Points and Sample Questions: Ready-to-use prompts to ensure productive discussions. 
• Tailored Plans and Agendas: Get everything you need for the task, from checklists to suggested schedules. 

{emphasize}What's included in the HR Toolbox: 

• One-on-One Meeting Agenda Template: Establish a consistent routine with comprehensive agendas and essential talking points for effective one-on-one meetings. 
• Stay Interview Template: Discover what motivates your team members to stay committed and engaged, helping you retain top talent. 
• Career Development Plan Template: Assist your team members in crafting their career trajectories with a guided framework for discussion and goal setting. 
• Clarify Roles and Responsibilities Template: Clarify expectations and roles, bridging gaps and boosting productivity and accountability within your team. 
• Addressing Poor Performance Template: Navigate conversations about performance issues with tact and constructiveness, fostering improvement and success.{emphasize}

Understanding each team member's role and responsibilities is foundational to organizational success. Clear definitions help avoid confusion, ensure everyone knows what is expected of them, and align team efforts. So, we created the Clarify Roles and Responsibilities Template, a practical tool designed to facilitate these crucial discussions, ensuring that every team member knows their specific roles and their expectations. The result? Enhanced overall team efficiency and satisfaction. Score! Let's dive in.

Understanding the need for role clarity

Unclear roles can lead to many issues within a team, including overlapping duties, inefficiencies, and decreased morale. When team members are unsure about their roles or the boundaries of their responsibilities, it can lead to conflicts and wasted effort.  

On the other hand, clear roles and responsibilities contribute to a streamlined workflow, better alignment with organizational goals, increased accountability, and a significant boost to job satisfaction. 

Preparing for a meeting to clarify roles 

To make sure that everyone on your team is clear about their roles and responsibilities, schedule a meeting dedicated solely to the topic. Regularly scheduled reviews of roles and responsibilities should be a staple management practice, especially after onboarding new team members or when team dynamics or business objectives are shifted. And preparation is key! Essential preparation steps include: 

• Reviewing previous meeting notes and feedback to assess current understanding and satisfaction. 
• Reflecting on each team member's contributions and potential areas for growth. 
• Gathering current project information to accurately align roles with business needs. 

Conducting the meeting: A collaborative approach

Creating the right environment for these discussions is critical. The meeting should take place in a setting that is private and free from interruptions, with all notifications silenced to maintain focus. The agenda should be straightforward yet flexible enough to allow for meaningful discourse. Here's a recommended flow for the conversation to follow: 

• Personal check-in: Begin with a friendly discussion to establish comfort. 
• Role and responsibilities review: Compare the employee's understanding of their role with managerial expectations and clarify any discrepancies. 
• Goal and support discussion: Talk about personal growth goals and the support needed to achieve them. 

Sample meeting agenda using the template

The "Clarify Roles and Responsibilities Template" provides a structured format to guide the conversation: 

• Check-in and context: Start with how the employee feels about their current role and any initial questions they might have. 
• Collaborative review: Jointly review and align on key responsibilities and personal aspirations. 
• Checkout: Conclude with feedback on the discussion and set clear action items. 

Post-meeting actions and follow-up

Documenting the discussion's outcomes is crucial for accountability and future reference. Practical follow-up actions include: 

• Sending a meeting recap to the employee, highlighting agreed-upon responsibilities and future goals. 
• Assisting in drafting objectives and key results (OKRs) to provide clear targets and expectations. 
• Scheduling follow-up meetings to assess progress and make necessary adjustments.  

Clear communication around roles and responsibilities: An HR management essential 

Precise definitions of roles and responsibilities can dramatically transform team dynamics and individual performance, leading to a more organized and productive work environment. The clarity gained from these discussions helps to make sure that everyone is working towards the same goals in a coordinated effort. By using the "Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities Template," managers can refine team roles,  streamline operational efficiency, and up the morale of their teams.

Download the Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities Template now to begin bridging gaps and boosting your team's accountability.

And for more management tools to help you confidently lead, check out the full suite of templates in the HR Toolbox. 

Efficient, effective, empowering

Managing a team requires clarity, foresight, and organization. The HR Toolbox simplifies these challenges, providing structured templates to guide your most critical interactions. Each template includes: 

• Best Practices: Clear guidelines to enhance your managerial approach. 
• Talking Points and Sample Questions: Ready-to-use prompts to ensure productive discussions. 
• Tailored Plans and Agendas: Get everything you need for the task, from checklists to suggested schedules. 

{emphasize}What's included in the HR Toolbox: 

• One-on-One Meeting Agenda Template: Establish a consistent routine with comprehensive agendas and essential talking points for effective one-on-one meetings. 
• Stay Interview Template: Discover what motivates your team members to stay committed and engaged, helping you retain top talent. 
• Career Development Plan Template: Assist your team members in crafting their career trajectories with a guided framework for discussion and goal setting. 
• Clarify Roles and Responsibilities Template: Clarify expectations and roles, bridging gaps and boosting productivity and accountability within your team. 
• Addressing Poor Performance Template: Navigate conversations about performance issues with tact and constructiveness, fostering improvement and success.{emphasize}

Career development planning is pivotal in fostering employee growth and retention. It helps create a pathway for personal achievement and organizational success. The Career Development Plan Template provides a structured framework to facilitate these core discussions. We created this template to help managers and employees collaboratively outline a clear career trajectory that aligns individual aspirations with the organization's strategic goals.

The role of career development in talent management 

Effective career development plans are integral to talent management strategies, tying individual aspirations to broader organizational objectives. These plans increase employee motivation and job satisfaction and ensure better alignment with the organization's evolving needs. By investing in employees' careers, companies can enhance workforce skills, encourage loyalty, and drive sustained productivity. 

Preparing for the career development discussion 

The better prepared you are for career development discussions, the better the outcomes. Preparation involves: 

• Reviewing the employee's past achievements and feedback to acknowledge their progress and identify areas for improvement. 
• Considering the team's needs and future opportunities within the organization to ensure the development plan supports business goals. 
• Formulating insightful, open-ended questions that encourage employees to reflect on their career aspirations and identify potential growth areas. 

Conducting the career development meeting 

It's crucial to set the right environment and tone to run an effective career development meeting: 

• Choose a private and distraction-free setting to facilitate open and honest dialogue. 
• Focus the conversation on exploring opportunities and guiding rather than prescribing career paths. 
• Use the "Career Development Plan Template" to structure the discussion: 
  • Begin by assessing the employee's current job satisfaction and professional aspirations. 
  • Explore potential career paths and the skills necessary for advancement. 
  • Collaboratively establish specific, actionable goals with clear timelines. 

Sample questions and discussion points from the template 

The template includes sections designed to unearth valuable insights and set the stage for effective planning: 

• Discovery: Discuss strengths, memorable achievements, and areas for knowledge enhancement. 
• Career Path: Delve into long-term career goals and the competencies needed to achieve these ambitions. 
• Action Planning: Identify immediate and medium-term objectives that bridge the gap between current skills and future roles. 

Developing a concrete action plan 

Transforming career discussions into a concrete action plan with clear milestones is crucial for accountability and progress: 

• Set regular check-ins to monitor advancements and adjust the plan as necessary, ensuring continuous alignment with personal and organizational goals. 
• Provide necessary resources and support to help employees meet their career objectives, fostering a supportive environment that values growth and development. 

Career development planning: An HR management essential 

Career development discussions are vital for cultivating a culture of growth and achievement within any organization. By using the "Career Development Plan Template," managers can more effectively support their team members in realizing their career potential. 

Download the Career Development Plan Template today to begin crafting personalized career development plans that motivate and engage your team members.

And for more management tools to help you confidently lead, check out the full suite of templates in the HR Toolbox. 

Efficient, effective, empowering

Managing a team requires clarity, foresight, and organization. The HR Toolbox simplifies these challenges, providing structured templates to guide your most critical interactions. Each template includes: 

• Best Practices: Clear guidelines to enhance your managerial approach. 
• Talking Points and Sample Questions: Ready-to-use prompts to ensure productive discussions. 
• Tailored Plans and Agendas: Get everything you need for the task, from checklists to suggested schedules. 

{emphasize}What's included in the HR Toolbox: 

• One-on-One Meeting Agenda Template: Establish a consistent routine with comprehensive agendas and essential talking points for effective one-on-one meetings. 
• Stay Interview Template: Discover what motivates your team members to stay committed and engaged, helping you retain top talent. 
• Career Development Plan Template: Assist your team members in crafting their career trajectories with a guided framework for discussion and goal setting. 
• Clarify Roles and Responsibilities Template: Clarify expectations and roles, bridging gaps and boosting productivity and accountability within your team. 
• Addressing Poor Performance Template: Navigate conversations about performance issues with tact and constructiveness, fostering improvement and success.{emphasize}

Employees are at the heart of every organization's success. Ensuring employees are fully engaged makes a workforce more united, collaborative, motivated, and performant.

But how can you measure engagement levels? And how does engagement fit into the bigger picture of organizational goals? As a manager, how can you equip yourself to track and continuously improve engagement at work?

The answer lies in employee engagement surveys. They’re valuable tools to help assess employee satisfaction, company alignment, wellness, and the overall health of your workplace. They gather actionable insights from the source, revealing where your organization excels and what can be improved.

Managers can unlock this secret weapon of ultimate productivity by understanding the purpose of employee engagement surveys and the right implementation methods.

What is an employee engagement survey?

An employee engagement survey collects data on employee well-being, work satisfaction, performance, and other key engagement metrics. 

Engagement surveys can help HR and management examine current organizational values and culture to set up strategies and initiatives that maximize performance.

Employee engagement surveys involve the entire organization — from senior management to junior staff members — because everyone's feedback counts. More often than not, they’re facilitated by managers, providing complementary insights to other important engagement feedback mechanisms, like performance appraisals and one-on-one conversations.

{emphasize}Download our e-book on employee engagement surveys, which includes best practices, survey types, when to use them, and how to interpret the results.{emphasize}

What employee engagement surveys measure

There are many ways to measure employee engagement — and surveys are a key component. Depending on your engagement surveys' questions, they can measure metrics around job satisfaction, culture, alignment, collaboration, and work relationships. Different themes and aspects of work can be covered in engagement surveys.

The type of data that can be lifted from employee engagement surveys also depends on how your questions are designed. For example, answers based on a rating system will give you an overall score, whereas open-ended questions might provide more qualitative, nuanced insights. Consider these types of questions:

• Rating or Likert scale
• Multiple choice
• Yes or no answers
• Open-ended questions
• Close-ended questions
• Ranking questions
• Demographic related

Not every employee engagement survey has to be the same — some can be short, and others can be more exhaustive. Managers can build a comprehensive understanding of where their teams are over time by using a mix of recurrent surveys that scratch high-level feelings with once or twice-a-year surveys that dive deeper into certain subjects.

Employee engagement: A multi-dimensional understanding

Technically, employee engagement isn't derived from a singular metric. Rather, it’s a score distilled from several different metrics. Employee engagement is a layered understanding of engagement across:

• Manager and peer relationships
• Perceptions of career advancement opportunities
• Recognition initiatives and their impact
• Alignment between employee and company values
• Satisfaction around responsibilities and compensation

The employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) can be seen as an employee engagement index — a great way to summarize engagement metrics to provide an overall understanding of employee engagement and satisfaction. Each facet of employee engagement can and should be examined in detail to inform specific engagement strategies.

The significance of employee engagement: Why conduct an employee engagement survey?

To understand why these surveys are so important, managers must first tap into the importance of employee engagement and how this plays a critical role in overall business success.

Employee engagement relates to each employee's intrinsic commitment to their job; it's the motivation that fuels an employee's perseverance, sense of purpose, and investment in their work. Engaged employees feel a high sense of loyalty, not just to their own position but also to the organization as a whole. They understand company objectives, work hard to promote them, and are less likely to consider a position at other organizations.

Engagement at work closely relates to employee satisfaction — but they aren't interchangeable. What’s undeniable, though, is the fact that engaged employees feel more satisfied with their jobs, and satisfied employees are more dedicated.

In a nutshell, companies with high engagement levels benefit from:

• Better team performance
• Increased employee productivity
• More objective achievements
• Positive workplace vibes
• Lower burnout rates
• Less absenteeism
• Higher retention rates
• Strong employee ambassadorship

These engagement benefits ultimately translate into better productivity, higher sales, and a positive corporate reputation — all contributing to a company’s bottom line. As Gallup highlights, organizations with the highest levels of engagement were 21% more profitable than organizations with the lowest engagement levels. The benefits of employee engagement are clear, and the ROI is undeniable.

The best questions to ask in employee engagement surveys

Engagement surveys are only as good as their questions. So, crafting effective questions is essential for gathering meaningful insights. Here are some examples of questions to consider:

Questions relating to job satisfaction

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your current role?
• What aspects of your job do you find most fulfilling?
• Are there any areas of your job that you find particularly challenging or frustrating?

Questions relating to company culture

• Do you feel that your values align with the company's values?
• How would you describe the overall workplace atmosphere?
• Do you feel a sense of camaraderie and teamwork among your colleagues?

Questions relating to managerial support

• How would you rate the support you receive from your immediate supervisor?
• Do you feel comfortable discussing problems or concerns with your manager?
• Does your manager provide regular feedback and recognition for your work?

Questions relating to career development

• Do you feel there are opportunities for growth and advancement within the company?
• Are you satisfied with the training and development opportunities provided by the company?
• Do you feel that the organization supports your career goals?

Questions relating to work-life balance

• Do you feel that you have a healthy work-life balance?
• Are you able to manage effectively your workload and personal commitments?
• Does the company offer sufficient flexibility to accommodate your personal needs?

Questions relating to communication and feedback

• How would you rate the communication within your team and across departments?
• Do you feel that your opinions and ideas are valued by management?
• Are you satisfied with the frequency and effectiveness of feedback you receive?

Questions relating to employee well-being

• Do you feel that the company prioritizes employee well-being and mental health?
• Are you satisfied with the benefits and wellness programs offered by the company?
• Do you feel supported in maintaining a healthy work-life balance?

{emphasize}For even more inspiration, find our list of employee engagement survey questions covering the most common workplace contexts.{emphasize}

4 tips to use employee engagement surveys the right way

For employee engagement surveys to be effective, they require planning, thoughtfulness, and consideration. By following survey best practices and top tips, you can leverage their benefits as much as possible:

1. Define and align employee engagement survey goals

Different employee engagement surveys may have different aims. Is this your company’s first major employee survey, or are you planning a quick pulse check? The goals of a survey influence its structure, format, and content.

If your survey aims to gain deep insights and a comprehensive understanding of engagement levels across multiple aspects of work, then you might want to consider a robust structure that includes a variety of question types. If you aim to do a surface check of engagement levels about a specific area, then regular pulse surveys, compared over time, are the way to go.

With the appropriate format selected, creating the right questions is critical for insights to be of value. Managers should ask themselves: Which business areas need to be looked at? How is engagement potentially impacting these areas? For example, if a company underwent restructuring, managers might want to see how employee engagement level is related to the present workplace culture.

Defining the goals of each survey and how they will serve organizational decision-making will inform the survey questions that need to be asked. But if you aren't sure there are many free employee engagement survey templates to take inspiration from.

2. Pick the right questions depending on the context

Effective employee engagement surveys come down to asking the right questions. To choose the right employee engagement survey questions, managers should consider factors like the size of their team, survey frequency (i.e., a monthly or an annual survey), and data available on current employee engagement rates.

For instance, survey questions might need to be altered depending on if the workforce is engaged or disengaged. Or, if the company is experiencing a busy period and employees have little time already, short pulse surveys might be favored over a single, long, and tedious survey.

What will the survey insights be used for? If managers need to collect hard numbers, then multiple-choice or scale rating questions are ideal for this type of data — their answers are quickly and easily quantifiable. Open-ended questions might be best if the idea is to gain a deeper understanding of employees’ psychological and emotional states. Their answers take more effort to group and analyze but provide valuable insights.

3. Communicate the intentions to your employees

Reaping the full benefits of employee engagement surveys requires gathering everyone’s feedback. Low participation rates can skew results and miss important insights, leaving managers with employee engagement blind spots.

Involving employees in the employee engagement survey process will help improve response rates. Before sending out an employee engagement survey, let your teams know what to expect and communicate its objectives. Crafting a simple message that underlines the importance of survey participation could look like:

Or, a friendly nudge to encourage employees to participate in the survey:

That said, there are many other ways to increase survey participation. Communication is a fundamental one.

4. Use anonymity options for total transparency

Once managers are ready to send out an employee engagement survey (which can be sent via a Teams poll or Google Forms) there might be an additional consideration to anonymity. If the questions are delicate or the answers potentially sensitive, anonymity might affect how honest employees answer questions — especially if their perspective is less than positive. Thankfully, there are pulse survey tools that guarantee anonymity, manage results, and track trends over time.

How to measure employee engagement survey results and take action

Once all answers are collected, it's time to analyze the results — identifying patterns and trends and considering the appropriate actions that need to take place to improve engagement. Analysis can be a manual process, especially with open-ended questions, but AI-assisted analytic tools exist to make this less tedious.

There are many ways to translate and interpret survey data into actionable insights, but a general rule of thumb would be to consider:

• Central themes: What types of recurring employee feedback did the survey results produce? For instance, did a significant percentage of employees mention unreasonable workloads as a major difficulty in their current position?
  
• Changes compared to previous surveys: Unless this was your first employee engagement survey, there should be readily available statistics from previous surveys focusing on the same metrics. Look to see what changed from the last quarter or year and how changes implemented may have influenced employee engagement.
  
• Team and department trends: How do different teams and departments compare in terms of engagement and performance? If one department lags significantly behind others, managers may look deeper into this department's practices and how they influence employee engagement.

Segmenting the results of engagement surveys by employee groups may also deliver useful insights. For example, let's say you discover that recently recruited employees demonstrate high job satisfaction and engagement levels while more senior, experienced employees report considering a career switch.

These results indicate a positive onboarding experience and highlight long-term retention concerns. Here, the appropriate action may be to call a leadership meeting and brainstorm ways to improve employee retention throughout the entire employee lifecycle.

{emphasize}Pro tip: Measuring employee engagement should focus on your specific organization's metrics — not another company’s. Benchmarking against yourself using previous engagement scores and survey results is always best!{emphasize}

Final step: Creating an action plan

The result from the analysis should leave you with a clear path forward on what to improve (and what to keep doing) — this is where creating an action plan comes in.

Engagement action plans should focus on the areas that require improvement the most, with specific steps and activities outlined on a timeline. The best plans to improve employee engagement also consider the following:

• Slow reforms: Significant change may take time. If a survey reveals that many employees feel stuck in their career development, there may be a need for improvement over time — including mentoring programs, sponsored courses, and team restructuring.
  
• Quick changes: Do employee engagement survey results point to something that can be resolved quickly? It’s important to take advantage of these opportunities. If many employees feel they don't receive enough manager feedback, feedback frequency can be adjusted almost immediately.
  
• Clear, focused goals: Breaking down action plans into multiple, specific actions across timelines will ensure success. Instead of a vague goal like “improving team communication every week,” specific actions such as “all direct managers are to email their team at the start of every week with an update on objectives” are more impactful.
  
• Motivated leaders: It’s important to ensure the ones responsible for carrying out the action plans are engaged managers and HR leaders, as they will motivate the rest of the troops and lead by example.

Moving towards a culture of high engagement and continuous improvement

Creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and connected is key to success. Employee surveys help us understand what's working well and where we can improve. By listening to feedback and taking action, managers can make their teams happier and more effective, fostering an environment of openness and support.

Making this shift requires clear communication, a willingness to learn, and a focus on improving things for everyone. The right tools and approach can make all the difference in enhancing this process. 

As more and more companies work towards higher engagement, it’s not just about improving business — it’s also about building a stronger, more united culture that values each person's voice and looks to improve continuously.

Just like building a strong foundation for a house is crucial to establishing a lasting structure — having a solid employee onboarding phase sets the tone for the rest of an employee’s life cycle.  

Onboarding sows the seeds of employee engagement, productivity, and retention. That said, a Gallup report reveals that only 12% of employees agree their employers do a great job at onboarding. Clearly, there’s room to improve.  

The onboarding process is a critical phase that shouldn’t be slept on. But how can managers tell if their current onboarding process is hitting all the right marks?  

This article looks at ways to evaluate employee onboarding processes, helping you take your own onboarding experiences from good to great. 

The importance of evaluating your onboarding process

Following the guiding principles of continuous performance management, regularly evaluating onboarding processes is critical to ongoing growth. This routine sense check ensures managers have constant visibility of opportunities for improvement so their new employees can thrive and perform at their best as they get up to speed with their new work environment. 

Neglecting such a critical phase of the employee journey can lead to high turnover rates and break the confidence of new hires. And, according to Gallup’s onboarding perspective paper, most managers have no idea what parts of their onboarding programs work and what parts don’t. By continually assessing (and fine-tuning) your onboarding process, you’re ensuring the employee experience standards of your company remain high at all times. 

Onboarding is deeply tied to the overall employee experience. Imagine a new employee welcomed with a comprehensive, personalized, and super-engaging onboarding process. What a great tone this sets!  

Step-by-step employee onboarding evaluation guide

An effective employee onboarding evaluation requires a structured and methodical approach. The following sections offer a template structure to help managers evaluate and enhance their own onboarding processes.  

Jump to: 

• Five steps to conduct an evaluation
• Key areas of onboarding to evaluate 
• Using technology to enhance evaluations 

{emphasize}Remember: These guidelines are meant to serve as a jumping-off point. Don’t hesitate to personalize them to make them fit your team’s realities!{emphasize}

Five steps to conduct an evaluation

Conducting and onboarding process evaluation starts with involving the right people, knowing what data you need to collect and analyze, and making a plan for any needed improvements: 

Step 1: Identify and survey the right stakeholders 

Who better to provide insights on your onboarding process than those who use it, be it directly or indirectly? For a comprehensive understanding of the state of things, look to survey:  

• New employees going through onboarding 
• Employees who have just completed their onboarding 
• Other team managers who oversee onboarding 
• HR managers   

Find in the next section the key areas of the onboarding process to evaluate — and what types of questions to ask these stakeholders! 

Step 2: Analyze onboarding data 

There’s nothing like numbers to reveal objective truths. Review data related to onboarding to identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies, including areas like:

• Onboarding program duration 

• Task completion rates 
• Time-to-productivity 

Consider feedback and data insights to decide the best course of action. Data should be used as a complementary understanding of what's working and what's not.

Step 3: Benchmark against onboarding best practices 

How can managers know what good standing is if they don’t have established benchmarks? Comparing current onboarding best practices against industry standards or company benchmarks can help you identify areas for improvement. 

Step 4: Identify opportunities for automation and integration 

Automation and integration remove unnecessary manual processes to make work less tedious and more productive and streamline the onboarding experience as a whole.  

While certain processes may not cause issues, they may still benefit from improvement. For example, manual bookings for standardized onboarding meetings could be automated — adding one less thing to a manager's plate. Optimize processes, see where they can integrate better with existing systems, and where's an easy upgrade.

Step 5: Create an action plan for improvement 

Every solution needs a next step. Every solution needs a next step. Once an evaluation is complete and you've identified opportunities for improvement, the next step is to develop a strategic action plan to address the gaps and incorporate solutions to improve onboarding where appropriate. Read on to find out more. 

{emphasize}A note on the role of feedback in onboarding evaluations 

While it’s great for managers to self-evaluate employee onboarding processes, getting feedback from multiple perspectives and through multiple ways ensures a comprehensive understanding. 

There’s more than one way to ask for feedback. Managers can gain more understanding of their onboarding process through surveys, one-on-one discussions, or even group feedback sessions.  

Seeking feedback from others who have stakes in onboarding success, such as HR managers and team leaders, could also reveal opportunities for improvement. But more on that in the next section. 

Want the truth? Look at the metrics! Know what else may reveal insights about the efficiency of your onboarding process? Retention and engagement metrics! Data relating to early turnover rates and engagement levels are vital indicators of onboarding success.{emphasize}

Key areas to evaluate  

Breaking down your current onboarding process into its core elements will make evaluating and pinpointing opportunities for improvement that much easier. Generally, these areas would be key to look at: 

Onboarding milestones and timeframe

Consider the entire onboarding journey from an employee’s first day to the last day of onboarding. It’s crucial for milestones to be clear and for the overall timeframe in which they sit to be realistic.  

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• Are the onboarding goals and milestones well-defined and communicated?
• How does each milestone contribute to the new employee’s integration process? Are they aligned with the organizational goals? 
• Is there sufficient time given to accomplish each milestone? Is there flexibility toward individual progress? 
• Does the overall onboarding plan feel too short or too long? How confident do employees feel once they complete the onboarding phase?{emphasize}

Task management and role clarity 

Onboarding journeys must be easy to track — for managers’ and employees’ sake. Having an efficient onboarding task assignment and management system helps everyone be clear on their roles and stay on target. 

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• What current onboarding management system is used? Does it enhance the employee onboarding experience and make task management easy? 
• Are roles, task assignments, and expectations clear, or do new hires sometimes experience uncertainty or confusion? 
• Is the system user-friendly? Does it integrate other tools, resources, or communication channels the new hires need?{emphasize}

Performance and productivity 

The whole point of onboarding is to get new employees up to speed on their roles, responsibilities, and organizational processes as fast as possible — so they can become productive members of your workforce. A good onboarding process contributes positively to performance. 

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• Does the performance and productivity data of new employees over the first year experience a steep or are there dips in progress? Is there a correlation with specific moments of the onboarding process? 
• How do new employees feel about their performance in the first month compared to three months in? Do they feel confident or need more support? 
• In hindsight, is there any key knowledge that helped unlock performance that should be more emphasized in onboarding?{emphasize}

Employee feedback and engagement 

Feedback reveals important truths. And, while direct feedback through surveys is insightful, employee engagement is a valuable, indirect feedback metric too. 

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• What channels or tools are available for new employees to provide feedback? Are they properly shared and explained, accessible, and easy to use? 
• Are feedback opportunities for both employees and managers frequent enough? Are they being properly leveraged to gain insights? 
• What are the options for negative feedback? Would anonymous feedback tools help increase response rates? 
• How is indirect feedback, such as engagement metrics, being collected during onboarding?{emphasize}

Retention and early turnover rates 

Retaining top talent begins with effective onboarding. Early turnover rates (turnover observed in new employees) can reveal gaps in your current onboarding process to help prevent future success stories from coming to a premature end. 

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• What is the current retention rate amongst newly onboarded employees, especially within the first year? 
• During exit interviews, is feedback being asked about the onboarding experience and how this could have impacted the decision to leave? 
• In what ways is the current onboarding process applying long-term retention strategies?{emphasize}

Cultural alignment

Onboarding isn’t just an opportunity to bring employees up to speed with their new responsibilities but also to showcase the company culture — which in turn has a ripple effect on employee morale, performance, and loyalty. 

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• Does the current onboarding process effectively introduce our company’s values, mission, and culture? 
• Can opportunities for new employees to engage in exciting cultural activities be integrated into the onboarding process? 
• What are new employees’ sense of belonging and connection to the organization after the first month? What about the first six months?{emphasize}

Resources and support involved 

From training materials to mentors, all kinds of resources and support are needed throughout the employee onboarding process and have a great impact on the overall onboarding experience. 

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• What resources (ex: reading materials, training modules) are available to support new employees in their onboarding? Are all bases covered?  
• Are resources made easily accessible throughout onboarding, or do new employees have a hard time finding them? 
• Are buddies or mentors established and assigned? Are introductions being facilitated in the early stages of onboarding?{emphasize}

Integration with tools and systems 

As with any organizational process, seamless integration is key to enhancing employee and managers' efficiency and overall onboarding experience. The extent to which your onboarding process integrates with existing systems, like HR or communication tools, can reveal where you could upgrade to current standards and revitalize your practices.

{emphasize}Questions to ask:

• Does the onboarding system benefit from additional features, like progress tracking, reporting, and communication channels?  
• How does the integration of existing tools and systems contribute to the effectiveness of the onboarding experience? 
• Does the overall onboarding process help fulfill other organizational agendas, like performance evaluations, project tracking, or team management?{emphasize}

Using technology to enhance onboarding

In a world where there’s a lot of multitasking, technology comes to the rescue to automate tasks to free up bandwidth for more human moments.  

Tools designed for onboarding can address common gaps and inefficiencies in the onboarding process — like lack of clarity and manual processes — and have the ability to enhance how employees experience what is, essentially, the first chapter of their professional journey with you.  

The advantage of a tool like Workleap Onboarding is the integrative elements, making it a turn-key solution to welcome new hires and set them up for success. We’re talking task management to make visibility and better prioritization possible, integration capabilities like an automated meeting booking system, and smart analytics to capture progress and engagement in real-time. Workleap Onboarding also hubs discussion boards so new hires feel empowered to ask questions and surveys to get feedback from everyone involved.  

Implementing changes and measuring success

After conducting an evaluation, it’s essential to set actionable steps towards improving to see better results from future onboarding experiences. Here are some tips: 

Prioritize certain areas first 

Process improvement doesn’t happen overnight — it comes one step at a time. That’s where segmenting the key areas of onboarding, as above, comes in handy. Once you’ve identified the gaps, start by addressing the critical areas where new employees’ productivity, satisfaction, or retention is impacted most. 

{highlight}For example, if new hires have glaring feedback about lacking clarity on their tasks and what’s expected of them, look at that first. There’s no point in looking at a tech upgrade if the foundations of an onboarding plan aren’t well structured first.{highlight}

Implement changes thoughtfully 

Every organization has its own set of realities. You’ll have to consider your company or team's specific needs and limitations before introducing changes to a process. Gradual modifications and open communication are always key to ensuring everyone’s buy-in and minimizing the resistance to changes. 

{highlight}In the case where a more interactive experience might be needed, start with one feature first. Interactive training modules could be introduced gradually, slowly replacing manual training.{highlight}

Set (new) measurable goals 

What are you looking to improve? Whether it's reducing onboarding time, increasing employee engagement, or enhancing role clarity, establishing goals and quantifiable metrics to track progress will help keep the next steps in focus. 

{highlight}If one of the goals set for onboarding improvement is to improve engagement, track metrics like survey participation, onboarding tool usage, and feedback giving to establish how engaged new hires are within different aspects of their onboarding.{highlight}

Track improvement over time 

Success isn’t met overnight. By continuously monitoring the impact of your implemented changes and measuring metrics and feedback against the new goals set out, you’ll be able to effectively gauge if your improvement strategies are working over time. 

{highlight}Let’s say a goal is to improve role clarity. Positive trends in feedback and performance evaluation scores over time would indicate that the changes applied in your onboarding process are successful. But if there’s no improvement or even a decline, you might have to go back to the drawing board.{highlight}

Workleap Onboarding: Your onboarding ally

A great employee experience starts with great onboarding. And continually evaluating and improving your onboarding process will ensure your new employees are set up for lasting success.  

Applying a structured approach to evaluation ensures you don’t miss any blind spots. Having a step-by-step process, evaluating key areas of onboarding one at a time, and engaging in the feedback of others will allow you to make informed decisions as to where to take your onboarding process — it might be to review the basics, or it might be to invest in more advanced solutions like Workleap Onboarding to take things up a notch. 

{emphasize}🤝 Pairing is caring. Workleap Onboarding is a match made in heaven for Officevibe users. It seamlessly integrates with the software to help you build a world-class engagement and performance culture end-to-end. 

Request a demo to see how Workleap software can help you onboard new hires and engage employees.{emphasize}

Constructive feedback is an essential tool in any manager’s arsenal to improve team performance and morale. Delivering constructive feedback requires empathetic communication skills, a people-centered mindset, and a good grasp of feedback methodologies.  

Even the best leaders can sometimes find the constructive feedback process challenging. An effective way to learn and hone in on delivering helpful feedback is by taking a cue from a variety of different constructive feedback examples applied to different scenarios. So, we’ve rounded up 26 of them to help you master the art of giving constructive feedback! 

What is constructive feedback: Meaning and team impact 

The path to professional growth starts with providing constructive feedback, so understanding its importance as a cornerstone of progress and development is a great place to start.  

Before we jump into our constructive feedback examples, this article first focuses on understanding the basics — including the process of giving feedback, the importance of empathy and active listening, and the impact constructive feedback has on employees. 

Why constructive feedback matters 

Constructive feedback matters because it acts as a catalyst for growth and improvement. It provides individual employees and teams the insights needed to help their own professional advancement — be it to achieve their targets, enhance their skills, or develop their relationships at work. When delivered effectively, constructive feedback helps employees understand their performance and keeps them accountable for their success.  

By putting time and care into feedback, managers also demonstrate that they’re invested in supporting their teams, which, ultimately, creates a culture of trust and empowerment. 

The benefits of constructive feedback 

Only good things can come from constructive feedback. When delivered properly and regularly, it can result in increased motivation, productivity, and employee satisfaction. As an added bonus, constructive feedback can also build stronger relationships within a team, which boosts collaboration and collective performance. 

{highlight}The short and sweet: Simply put, the goal of constructive feedback is to point out areas of improvement in a way that is both helpful and positive, rather than critical. When done right, it's a powerful tool for promoting personal growth and enhancing employee performance.{highlight}

Characteristics of constructive feedback 

Effective feedback is specific, clear, and focused on behavior rather than on a person. Managers should deliver it in a timely fashion, while the memory of the action or behavior is still fresh and top of mind for the employee. And lastly, there should be a fair balance between positive reinforcement and points of improvement. 

Specificity 

Why does being specific matter when giving feedback? Because it allows employees to understand precisely which behaviors or actions they need to work on. This avoids guesswork, ensuring the issue isn’t misinterpreted and the road toward a solution is clear! 

{highlight}For example, “You’re always late” isn’t specific or objective enough. Instead, try “You’ve been late to the last three meetings.”{highlight}

Clarity 

Clarity in feedback explains the “why.” To ensure mutual understanding, managers should explain why a certain matter needs attention. This helps connect the dots. Providing examples to illustrate the point can help make the picture crystal clear 

{highlight}For example, a statement like “The meeting had to start later which caused issues” leaves the problem up to interpretation. Instead, give more context to the problem: “Because you arrived late to the meeting, it had to start later. That prevented us from having enough time to discuss X topic, which we needed to do.”{highlight}

Objective 

Constructive feedback needs to be objective. This is achieved by focusing feedback on observed behaviors and not personal characteristics. Addressing specific behaviors helps managers provide actionable insights and keeps the vibes non-judgmental. 

{highlight}A comment like “You don’t care about arriving on time!” is subjective, unhelpful, and likely untrue. Keeping feedback on behavior, such as “I noticed you’ve been 15 minutes late to most meetings in the last few weeks” removes judgment and sets things up for finding solutions.{highlight}

Actionable 

Lastly, feedback becomes constructive when the direction is solution-oriented and forward-looking. Managers should ask themselves: Does the feedback frame the next steps? By providing actionable feedback, employees have a map for improvement. 

{highlight}In the context where an employee has an issue with arriving to meetings on time, actionable feedback looks like: “Let’s make sure you can manage your time better. Can you share the day planning techniques you’re currently using and try a tool to help you?”{highlight}

Delivering constructive feedback 

There is, of course, an art to giving constructive feedback to ensure that it's well received. Start by stating what was done well, then follow this by pointing out the areas where improvement is needed. It's also important to offer specific suggestions or actions for how the situation can be improved so that the person has the tools they need to grow and progress positively and productively. 

Some additional tips to deliver great feedback: 

Choose the right time and place 

Sometimes, timing is everything. By picking an appropriate moment and setting to provide them feedback, an employee will likely be more receptive. Delivering feedback during a five-minute window between meetings in a room with other people not only prevents the chance to ask questions and advice but could also risk embarrassing them. Make sure there’s enough time available for a discussion and create a moment with privacy. 

Use the “feedback sandwich” method

The good ol’ sandwich method is about “sandwiching” constructive criticism between two positives. This sets the tone of the conversation, using praise to soften the delivery of the feedback. It also allows managers to end the conversation on an encouraging note, which helps mitigate defensiveness from the receiver. 

An example of constructive feedback using the sandwich method looks like this: “I love how confident you are about sharing your ideas at our meetings. Because everyone needs to have a chance to speak, let’s work on how we can help you share the floor more. You’re a great speaker and I see how you could help inspire others to share ideas!” 

Encourage two-way communication 

While managers may be the ones providing constructive feedback, it’s important to remember that the feedback process should always be a two-way flow of communication. To reach a successful outcome, a little active listening can go a long way — keeping the conversation open, honest, and supportive. 

The importance of empathy 

There's a lot to be said about the way in which constructive feedback is given. When managers take an empathetic approach, it can make the feedback process even more effective. Considering the feelings of the person receiving the feedback, and putting yourself in their shoes, makes it easier to connect with them in a way that resonates and makes them feel more comfortable. 

Receiving constructive feedback 

Just like there’s an art to delivering feedback, there’s an art to receiving it too. Receiving feedback is the other side of the coin. It requires open-mindedness and willingness to learn and grow. It involves active listening, reflection, and a willingness to improve. Remember these principles: 

Maintain an open mind 

Being on the receiving end of constructive feedback, it’s essential to approach the process with an open mind. This is what fosters a growth mindset. After all, no one is perfect. It’s important to check one’s ego at the door, remain receptive rather than defensive, and remember that feedback is an opportunity to learn and improve. 

Ask clarifying questions 

Asking questions is part of active listening. The more questions asked, the more clarity and understanding one can have about the feedback one receives. This is why picking the right time and place is so important — there has to be room for constructive dialogue, so the receiver can walk away confidently, knowing exactly what they need to do because they had the opportunity to ask questions. 

Develop an action plan 

As with any constructive conversation, there should be clear next steps toward the solution. Based on the insights gained from feedback, an action plan with clear goals, strategies, and a timeline should be agreed upon between the manager and the employee. Action plans can also be adjusted and evolve, depending on the context. This is central to the continuous improvement philosophy. 

The secret to effective feedback? Make it regular

Growth is perpetual and so should be constructive feedback. Make it a regular occurrence, rather than a one-off, to see ongoing improvement and prevent small issues from snowballing into larger ones. Regular check-ins help keep everyone aligned and on the right path to success. 

Giving constructive feedback: Examples and scenario-based tips 

Feedback is not just for quarterly performance reviews anymore and the ability to communicate effectively with employees is more critical than ever. Below, find 26 examples of constructive feedback for managers, with actionable advice to apply to your own real-life scenarios. 

Improvement feedback examples for time management 

Is an employee frequently late to team meetings or running behind in the morning? When discussing the issue, managers should show genuine concern, set clear expectations of their timeliness, and avoid an accusatory tone. 

1. “I’ve noticed that you’re struggling to make it on time to your afternoon sessions with the team and I’m concerned that you may miss some vital information. Can we work together to develop a plan to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?” 

2. “We’ve missed you during our morning team meetings. I know you have a heavy workload, but we value your input and ideas. How can I support you in improving your time management skills?” 

Feedback with performance improvement recommendations 

If an employee’s performance is declining, there's likely a logical explanation behind it with easy solutions. To avoid sounding accusatory, nosy, or invasive, managers should take a more generalist approach to the issue and open the conversation with a question. 

3. “The team has noticed that you’ve missed some deadlines lately. Is everything ok? Let’s schedule some time to chat where we can assess your current workload and any roadblocks, and develop a plan so that you can get back to feeling focused and productive in your day-to-day.” 

4. “I wanted to connect with you and see how you’re doing. I’ve noticed that you don’t show the same motivation as usual. How can I help you get back on track? Let’s review your priorities and brainstorm the best ways to accomplish them.” 

{emphasize}Follow our simple guidelines to address an employee's poor performance with confidence and put them back on the road to success.{emphasize}

Improvement feedback examples for employee attitudes and team morale 

Even one team member with a negative attitude can significantly affect employee morale. Constructive feedback can stop this issue in its tracks and shift the mood before it becomes too disruptive to the team. 

5. “The team has recently noticed that you’re struggling to stay positive. We’re all in this together. Is there anything the team or I can do to help?” 

6. “Hey, I wanted to check how you’ve been feeling lately. Can we talk about what’s bothering you? I appreciate how hard you’ve been working and I would like to help you overcome your challenges and lift your spirits. We can talk privately or schedule a team meeting for an open and honest discussion.” 

{emphasize}When negative attitudes enter the workplace, it can be tough on everyone. Learn more about how to give feedback on negative attitudes in the workplace.{emphasize}

Constructive criticism examples for continuous improvement 

Mistakes happen. But when they don’t get addressed, they are often repeated. When mistakes happen, managers should take a moment to course-correct to avoid mistakes becoming habits, and for employees to get the quality of their work back up to par. 

7. “You’re generally very good at learning from past mistakes, but the team has noticed you making this one similar mistake during the current project. Understandably, such small things may slip through the cracks, but I wanted to flag it so that you can be more vigilant in the future.” 

8. “You're usually someone who's eager to learn and grow. We've noticed that you've been a little less engaged lately. Is there something we can do to help you find your groove again?” 

{highlight}Pro tip: One-on-one meetings offer an excellent opportunity to bring up these kinds of conversations. During one-on-one sessions, empathize with employees to build a positive, judgment-free zone. Give concise, clear guidance and maintain an understanding but firm attitude.{highlight}

Examples of constructive feedback for teamwork enhancement 

Evaluating a team’s collaboration skills should be a top priority for leaders. Managers should address gaps in teamwork abilities by focusing on creating a mutually supportive environment and improving employee morale. 

9. “You’ve got the talent and drive to be a shining star in this company, but you tend to stay apart from the wider team. What do you think would help you integrate better with your teammates?” 

10. “I know you’re all hard workers and dedicated to your jobs, but we need to focus on improving collaboration and strengthening our group bond. Can we brainstorm solutions for making everyone feel like a valuable team player?” 

{highlight}Are your remote employees struggling to collaborate? Here are some tips to increase collaboration and foster better relationships across your remote team.{highlight}

Constructive feedback to improve communication style and skills 

Effective communication between managers and employees is a critical component of success. Providing regular, constructive feedback is vital for improving communication in a group setting and during one-on-one meetings. 

11. “I’ve noticed that we sometimes have a communication mismatch. Do you want to work together to better understand how we can communicate more effectively?” 

12. “Your work has been great, but I've noticed that you've been a bit quieter lately. Can we schedule a weekly sync so I can stay in the loop and offer my support when you need it?” 

{highlight}Pro tip: When it comes to delivering constructive feedback, keep your communication clear, objective, authentic, and fact-based. Ask for feedback during your next one-on-one to understand how your team member feels about your communication skills and how you can improve.{highlight}

Constructive feedback to improve listening skills in group discussions 

If team members operate in a fast-paced environment, sometimes the extroverts will unknowingly “take over” in a group meeting while others get lost in the shuffle. While there is nothing wrong with having passionate employees, talking over others isn’t conducive to productivity or collaboration. Managers should find constructive ways to even the playing field. 

13. “I appreciate the passion you bring to the project! However, you also need to make space for others to be included in the conversation. Letting others speak will support your development, and it will also help other members of the team bring creative ideas. Let’s come up with a solution that channels your passion and that of the team.” 

14. “I love the creativity and new ideas you bring to our brainstorming sessions. But, when you get excited, sometimes you forget to share the floor. When I’m in a creative flow, I write down my ideas while others speak so I can remember them. Would you like to try that during our next group collaboration?” 

Goal-oriented feedback to support target achievement 

Employees with a solid commitment to their jobs will have moments when they feel disappointed and guilty about missing a goal. Managers should acknowledge their disappointment and lift them back up by giving feedback that offers actionable solutions to prevent the same missed opportunities in the future. 

15. “We appreciate your passion for this project, even if you didn't hit the goal you set out to achieve. What can we learn from this experience? I’m always here to support you if you need help meeting your next goal.” 

16. “Your work ethic and dedication to achieving goals are admirable and a valuable part of this team. I know you’re upset that [project name] didn’t go exactly as planned, but it’s a meaningful learning experience. How can we realign your goals moving forward to ensure success?” 

{highlight}Browse through our employee goal-setting examples and learn how to set measurable and attainable goals that will make your employees shine.{highlight}

Feedback to encourage camaraderie and interpersonal relationships 

When teammates get along, the positive vibes are infectious. People who genuinely like each other produce extraordinary teamwork. Managers can expect to see greater creativity, stronger bonds, and better morale when they encourage positive social interactions. 

17. “I've noticed that you haven't been getting along as well with [employee name] lately, and I’ve also noticed that many team members have been in the same boat. Shall we get together and set the record straight about what's causing the disconnect?” 

18. “Hey, I noticed the tension between you and [employee name]. You’re valuable team members, and I want to help you work through your issues together. Can I schedule a mediation session to help you both understand each other better?” 

{highlight}💌 Encourage your employees to recognize each other. A platform like Good Vibes makes peer-to-peer recognition fun and easy and contributes to creating a positive culture and strong team relationships.{highlight}

Feedback to encourage taking initiative and autonomy 

Every successful manager pushes employees to take the initiative when problem-solving. It facilitates productivity and development on the team. It’s important to encourage independence but also be clear that any employee who feels stuck can reach out for help. 

19. “I’m glad that you’re comfortable asking for help. That’s an important skill. Next time you need a hand, I would like to see you bring forth possible solutions you've come up with, along with your request.” 

20. “I appreciate all your hard work on [project name], but I noticed you needed extra help. I know you’re a resourceful person. What kind of help can I give you to help you improve your confidence in your critical thinking and problem-solving skills?” 

Constructive feedback to help facilitate feedback reception 

For constructive feedback to be both understood and effective, it needs to be clear, concise, and contain actionable guidance. Managers can set their team up for success by outlining clear expectations and boundaries regarding workload, and offer the space to open up conversations around the feedback. 

21. “I know performance reviews can be challenging to hear and you may not agree with all of the constructive criticism you’ve received. If there’s anything you want to discuss further, please feel free to reach out.” 

22. “I’d like to schedule a weekly one-on-one meeting together. Let’s use this time to make sure we’re clear about expectations and priorities. You’re a great team member, and I want to help you succeed.” 

Feedback offering conflict resolution strategies 

When working with humans, interpersonal conflict is inevitable. That said, it needs to be resolved fast. By intervening and offering guidance on conflict resolution techniques, managers can help mediate tensions between co-workers and maintain a positive working atmosphere for everyone at work! 

23. “I’ve noticed tension rise between you and your peer during the meeting. Unresolved conflict could affect our team’s productivity. Let’s schedule a private moment to discuss the issue openly and find solutions that work for the both of you.” 

24. “It seems like there’s a misunderstanding about the recent project allocations. Let’s have a team meeting to clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that everyone can feel confident in what they need to focus on.” 

Feedback to recognize effort and initiative 

Just like it’s important to flag areas to improve, it’s crucial to also highlight what’s going well. Positive feedback is incredibly powerful — a means to boost confidence and reinforce behaviors they want to keep seeing. Managers should use that tactic to their advantage! 

25. “I want to commend you for your initiative in spearheading last Friday’s presentation. You took the lead and delivered the numbers confidently. It made a big impression on everyone — great job!” 

26. “Thanks for jumping in on that project yesterday. Your proactiveness and team player attitude showed through. Keep that up!” 

{highlight}Hungry for more? Take a look at these 24 employee feedback examples to help you discuss recognition, areas of improvement, goal setting, and more.{highlight}

When to use different types of constructive feedback 

Different circumstances require different solutions and knowing what type of feedback to give in a particular situation is an invaluable management skill. Here, we look at two types of constructive feedback: feedback to reinforce good behaviors and feedback to improve less-than-great behaviors. 

Use positive feedback to reinforce strengths and celebrate success 

When a team member does well, giving positive employee feedback celebrates their success and reinforces positive actions and behaviors. By recognizing an employee’s positive impact, managers provide them with a clear understanding of their work’s value to the team. 

Use constructive criticism to target areas of growth and development 

There's a difference between negative feedback and constructive feedback. Negative feedback  focuses on negative attributes and can be perceived badly, whereas constructive feedback (or constructive criticism) focuses on the positive possibility and guides the recipient toward a better outcome. By providing solutions to issues, managers are ensuring their feedback is constructive and helpful, rather than just pointing out the issues and making the employee feel demoralized. 

Remember, great feedback doesn't always need to be purely positive. Constructive feedback can include praise, criticism, or both — as long as it’s fact-based (not opinion-based) and sets the employee up for a chance to improve, grow, and succeed. 

{highlight}Check out our comprehensive guide to employee feedback to learn everything you need to know about this critical managerial skill.{highlight}

Challenges in giving and receiving constructive feedback 

Understanding the benefits of continuous feedback is the first step toward fostering a healthier workplace, but the practicalities of integrating feedback into a corporate culture can be a challenge. Some people struggle with effectively communicating feedback without causing offense or demotivation, while others find it challenging to receive feedback without feeling defensive or demotivated. 

A whole lot can be going on that impacts a productive feedback loop. If you’re struggling with maintaining a positive feedback culture, the following realities might be at play: 

• Fear of offending the receiver and causing conflict 
• Taking feedback personally due to projection  
• Cultural differences that influence communication style 
• Power dynamics affecting feedback exchange 
• Past experiences with negative feedback  
• Lack of clarity or balance in positive and negative feedback 
• Picking the wrong time where the conversation is rushed 
• Not creating a safe environment for honest dialogue 
• Difficulty with managing emotions and self-regulation 

Overcoming feedback challenges is part of the commitment to create a culture of open communication and continuous improvement.  

How to build a feedback-oriented workplace culture 

Just like Rome wasn’t built in one day, an office culture is built collectively — one action at a time. So how can managers start nurturing a strong feedback culture? With effective communication and using feedback tools to their advantage! 

Clear communication tips: Make feedback specific and actionable 

One of the keys to effective feedback is making sure it’s specific and actionable. Vague or general comments don’t allow the receiver to have a clear understanding of which behaviors need to be targeted and addressed.  

So what does clear, specific, and actionable feedback look like? 

“I noticed your late attendance lately, such as with [X, Y, and Z instances]. Everyone needs to show up to meetings on time so we can all make the most out of them and be as productive as possible. If we can get a plan in place to help you, like blocking out 10 min before every meeting so you have wiggle room, I’d like to start seeing improvement starting next week. How does that sound?” 

By offering specific examples of what needs to be improved, suggestions for improvement, and expected outcomes, the receiver can see a clear path forward.  

{highlight}Future framing: When delivering feedback try focusing on the future instead of dwelling on past mistakes. What’s done is done, and it’s important to maintain a positive outlook on what can be fixed and what’s ahead. This framing ensures the feedback is constructive — not criticizing.{highlight}

Constructive feedback tools and techniques for managers 

People may be reluctant to provide feedback to their superiors out of fear of repercussions or the belief that their input will remain unheard. It’s crucial to encourage communication without repercussions, both from employees and managers.  

Anonymous surveys are an excellent place to start. They can show employees that the company is ready to listen while also allowing managers to identify systemic issues in the organization. 

One useful tip is to customize surveys. By asking employees specific or open-ended questions, managers might get more valuable and actionable feedback than generic questions with a scaling system. Personalized questions give employees a safe space to share their honest thoughts and spark conversations that probably wouldn’t happen otherwise. 

{emphasize}Gain your team’s confidence with Officevibe’s employee feedback tool: a conversation starter with examples of constructive feedback for employees to provide their own insights and perspectives. This tool enables managers to gather honest thoughts through surveys, follow-up questions, and a free feedback section — all with the option for anonymity.{emphasize}

Constructive feedback: A boost to everyone’s performance 

Clearly, constructive feedback is the key to enhancing a team’s overall performance, improving morale, and even strengthening relationships in the workplace. Sure, having these types of conversations may feel awkward or unnatural at first, but the constructive feedback examples listed in this article are a great place to start. 

Constructive feedback is an essential tool in any manager’s arsenal to improve team performance and morale. Delivering constructive feedback requires empathetic communication skills, a people-centered mindset, and a good grasp of feedback methodologies.  

Even the best leaders can sometimes find the constructive feedback process challenging. An effective way to learn and hone in on delivering helpful feedback is by taking a cue from a variety of different constructive feedback examples applied to different scenarios. So, we’ve rounded up 26 of them to help you master the art of giving constructive feedback! 

What is constructive feedback: Meaning and team impact 

The path to professional growth starts with providing constructive feedback, so understanding its importance as a cornerstone of progress and development is a great place to start.  

Before we jump into our constructive feedback examples, this article first focuses on understanding the basics — including the process of giving feedback, the importance of empathy and active listening, and the impact constructive feedback has on employees. 

Why constructive feedback matters 

Constructive feedback matters because it acts as a catalyst for growth and improvement. It provides individual employees and teams the insights needed to help their own professional advancement — be it to achieve their targets, enhance their skills, or develop their relationships at work. When delivered effectively, constructive feedback helps employees understand their performance and keeps them accountable for their success.  

By putting time and care into feedback, managers also demonstrate that they’re invested in supporting their teams, which, ultimately, creates a culture of trust and empowerment. 

The benefits of constructive feedback 

Only good things can come from constructive feedback. When delivered properly and regularly, it can result in increased motivation, productivity, and employee satisfaction. As an added bonus, constructive feedback can also build stronger relationships within a team, which boosts collaboration and collective performance. 

{highlight}

The short and sweet: Simply put, the goal of constructive feedback is to point out areas of improvement in a way that is both helpful and positive, rather than critical. When done right, it's a powerful tool for promoting personal growth and enhancing employee performance.

{highlight}

Characteristics of constructive feedback 

Effective feedback is specific, clear, and focused on behavior rather than on a person. Managers should deliver it in a timely fashion, while the memory of the action or behavior is still fresh and top of mind for the employee. And lastly, there should be a fair balance between positive reinforcement and points of improvement. 

Specificity 

Why does being specific matter when giving feedback? Because it allows employees to understand precisely which behaviors or actions they need to work on. This avoids guesswork, ensuring the issue isn’t misinterpreted and the road toward a solution is clear! 

{highlight}

For example, “You’re always late” isn’t specific or objective enough. Instead, try “You’ve been late to the last three meetings.”

{highlight}

Clarity 

Clarity in feedback explains the “why.” To ensure mutual understanding, managers should explain why a certain matter needs attention. This helps connect the dots. Providing examples to illustrate the point can help make the picture crystal clear 

{highlight}

For example, a statement like “The meeting had to start later which caused issues” leaves the problem up to interpretation. Instead, give more context to the problem: “Because you arrived late to the meeting, it had to start later. That prevented us from having enough time to discuss X topic, which we needed to do.”  

{highlight}

Objective 

Constructive feedback needs to be objective. This is achieved by focusing feedback on observed behaviors and not personal characteristics. Addressing specific behaviors helps managers provide actionable insights and keeps the vibes non-judgmental. 

{highlight}

A comment like “You don’t care about arriving on time!” is subjective, unhelpful, and likely untrue. Keeping feedback on behavior, such as “I noticed you’ve been 15 minutes late to most meetings in the last few weeks” removes judgment and sets things up for finding solutions.

{highlight}

Actionable 

Lastly, feedback becomes constructive when the direction is solution-oriented and forward-looking. Managers should ask themselves: Does the feedback frame the next steps? By providing actionable feedback, employees have a map for improvement. 

{highlight}

In the context where an employee has an issue with arriving to meetings on time, actionable feedback looks like: “Let’s make sure you can manage your time better. Can you share the day planning techniques you’re currently using and try a tool to help you?”

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Delivering constructive feedback 

There is, of course, an art to giving constructive feedback to ensure that it's well received. Start by stating what was done well, then follow this by pointing out the areas where improvement is needed. It's also important to offer specific suggestions or actions for how the situation can be improved so that the person has the tools they need to grow and progress positively and productively. 

Some additional tips to deliver great feedback: 

Choose the right time and place 

Sometimes, timing is everything. By picking an appropriate moment and setting to provide them feedback, an employee will likely be more receptive. Delivering feedback during a five-minute window between meetings in a room with other people not only prevents the chance to ask questions and advice but could also risk embarrassing them. Make sure there’s enough time available for a discussion and create a moment with privacy. 

Use the “feedback sandwich” method

The good ol’ sandwich method is about “sandwiching” constructive criticism between two positives. This sets the tone of the conversation, using praise to soften the delivery of the feedback. It also allows managers to end the conversation on an encouraging note, which helps mitigate defensiveness from the receiver. 

An example of constructive feedback using the sandwich method looks like this: “I love how confident you are about sharing your ideas at our meetings. Because everyone needs to have a chance to speak, let’s work on how we can help you share the floor more. You’re a great speaker and I see how you could help inspire others to share ideas!” 

Encourage two-way communication 

While managers may be the ones providing constructive feedback, it’s important to remember that the feedback process should always be a two-way flow of communication. To reach a successful outcome, a little active listening can go a long way — keeping the conversation open, honest, and supportive. 

The importance of empathy 

There's a lot to be said about the way in which constructive feedback is given. When managers take an empathetic approach, it can make the feedback process even more effective. Considering the feelings of the person receiving the feedback, and putting yourself in their shoes, makes it easier to connect with them in a way that resonates and makes them feel more comfortable. 

Receiving constructive feedback 

Just like there’s an art to delivering feedback, there’s an art to receiving it too. Receiving feedback is the other side of the coin. It requires open-mindedness and willingness to learn and grow. It involves active listening, reflection, and a willingness to improve. Remember these principles: 

Maintain an open mind 

Being on the receiving end of constructive feedback, it’s essential to approach the process with an open mind. This is what fosters a growth mindset. After all, no one is perfect. It’s important to check one’s ego at the door, remain receptive rather than defensive, and remember that feedback is an opportunity to learn and improve. 

Ask clarifying questions 

Asking questions is part of active listening. The more questions asked, the more clarity and understanding one can have about the feedback one receives. This is why picking the right time and place is so important — there has to be room for constructive dialogue, so the receiver can walk away confidently, knowing exactly what they need to do because they had the opportunity to ask questions. 

Develop an action plan 

As with any constructive conversation, there should be clear next steps toward the solution. Based on the insights gained from feedback, an action plan with clear goals, strategies, and a timeline should be agreed upon between the manager and the employee. Action plans can also be adjusted and evolve, depending on the context. This is central to the continuous improvement philosophy. 

The secret to effective feedback? Make it regular

Growth is perpetual and so should be constructive feedback. Make it a regular occurrence, rather than a one-off, to see ongoing improvement and prevent small issues from snowballing into larger ones. Regular check-ins help keep everyone aligned and on the right path to success. 

Giving constructive feedback: Examples and scenario-based tips 

Feedback is not just for quarterly performance reviews anymore and the ability to communicate effectively with employees is more critical than ever. Below, find 26 examples of constructive feedback for managers, with actionable advice to apply to your own real-life scenarios. 

Improvement feedback examples for time management 

Is an employee frequently late to team meetings or running behind in the morning? When discussing the issue, managers should show genuine concern, set clear expectations of their timeliness, and avoid an accusatory tone. 

1. “I’ve noticed that you’re struggling to make it on time to your afternoon sessions with the team and I’m concerned that you may miss some vital information. Can we work together to develop a plan to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?” 

2. “We’ve missed you during our morning team meetings. I know you have a heavy workload, but we value your input and ideas. How can I support you in improving your time management skills?” 

Feedback with performance improvement recommendations 

If an employee’s performance is declining, there's likely a logical explanation behind it with easy solutions. To avoid sounding accusatory, nosy, or invasive, managers should take a more generalist approach to the issue and open the conversation with a question. 

3. “The team has noticed that you’ve missed some deadlines lately. Is everything ok? Let’s schedule some time to chat where we can assess your current workload and any roadblocks, and develop a plan so that you can get back to feeling focused and productive in your day-to-day.” 

4. “I wanted to connect with you and see how you’re doing. I’ve noticed that you don’t show the same motivation as usual. How can I help you get back on track? Let’s review your priorities and brainstorm the best ways to accomplish them.” 

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Follow our simple guidelines to address an employee's poor performance with confidence and put them back on the road to success. 

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Improvement feedback examples for employee attitudes and team morale 

Even one team member with a negative attitude can significantly affect employee morale. Constructive feedback can stop this issue in its tracks and shift the mood before it becomes too disruptive to the team. 

5. “The team has recently noticed that you’re struggling to stay positive. We’re all in this together. Is there anything the team or I can do to help?” 

6. “Hey, I wanted to check how you’ve been feeling lately. Can we talk about what’s bothering you? I appreciate how hard you’ve been working and I would like to help you overcome your challenges and lift your spirits. We can talk privately or schedule a team meeting for an open and honest discussion.” 

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When negative attitudes enter the workplace, it can be tough on everyone. Learn more about how to give feedback on negative attitudes in the workplace. 

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Constructive criticism examples for continuous improvement 

Mistakes happen. But when they don’t get addressed, they are often repeated. When mistakes happen, managers should take a moment to course-correct to avoid mistakes becoming habits, and for employees to get the quality of their work back up to par. 

7. “You’re generally very good at learning from past mistakes, but the team has noticed you making this one similar mistake during the current project. Understandably, such small things may slip through the cracks, but I wanted to flag it so that you can be more vigilant in the future.” 

8. “You're usually someone who's eager to learn and grow. We've noticed that you've been a little less engaged lately. Is there something we can do to help you find your groove again?” 

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Pro tip: One-on-one meetings offer an excellent opportunity to bring up these kinds of conversations. During one-on-one sessions, empathize with employees to build a positive, judgment-free zone. Give concise, clear guidance and maintain an understanding but firm attitude.

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Examples of constructive feedback for teamwork enhancement 

Evaluating a team’s collaboration skills should be a top priority for leaders. Managers should address gaps in teamwork abilities by focusing on creating a mutually supportive environment and improving employee morale. 

9. “You’ve got the talent and drive to be a shining star in this company, but you tend to stay apart from the wider team. What do you think would help you integrate better with your teammates?” 

10. “I know you’re all hard workers and dedicated to your jobs, but we need to focus on improving collaboration and strengthening our group bond. Can we brainstorm solutions for making everyone feel like a valuable team player?” 

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Are your remote employees struggling to collaborate? Here are some tips to increase collaboration and foster better relationships across your remote team.

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Constructive feedback to improve communication style and skills 

Effective communication between managers and employees is a critical component of success. Providing regular, constructive feedback is vital for improving communication in a group setting and during one-on-one meetings. 

11. “I’ve noticed that we sometimes have a communication mismatch. Do you want to work together to better understand how we can communicate more effectively?” 

12. “Your work has been great, but I've noticed that you've been a bit quieter lately. Can we schedule a weekly sync so I can stay in the loop and offer my support when you need it?” 

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Pro tip: When it comes to delivering constructive feedback, keep your communication clear, objective, authentic, and fact-based. Ask for feedback during your next one-on-one to understand how your team member feels about your communication skills and how you can improve.

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Constructive feedback to improve listening skills in group discussions 

If team members operate in a fast-paced environment, sometimes the extroverts will unknowingly “take over” in a group meeting while others get lost in the shuffle. While there is nothing wrong with having passionate employees, talking over others isn’t conducive to productivity or collaboration. Managers should find constructive ways to even the playing field. 

13. “I appreciate the passion you bring to the project! However, you also need to make space for others to be included in the conversation. Letting others speak will support your development, and it will also help other members of the team bring creative ideas. Let’s come up with a solution that channels your passion and that of the team.” 

14. “I love the creativity and new ideas you bring to our brainstorming sessions. But, when you get excited, sometimes you forget to share the floor. When I’m in a creative flow, I write down my ideas while others speak so I can remember them. Would you like to try that during our next group collaboration?” 

Goal-oriented feedback to support target achievement 

Employees with a solid commitment to their jobs will have moments when they feel disappointed and guilty about missing a goal. Managers should acknowledge their disappointment and lift them back up by giving feedback that offers actionable solutions to prevent the same missed opportunities in the future. 

15. “We appreciate your passion for this project, even if you didn't hit the goal you set out to achieve. What can we learn from this experience? I’m always here to support you if you need help meeting your next goal.” 

16. “Your work ethic and dedication to achieving goals are admirable and a valuable part of this team. I know you’re upset that [project name] didn’t go exactly as planned, but it’s a meaningful learning experience. How can we realign your goals moving forward to ensure success?” 

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Browse through our employee goal-setting examples and learn how to set measurable and attainable goals that will make your employees shine.

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Feedback to encourage camaraderie and interpersonal relationships 

When teammates get along, the positive vibes are infectious. People who genuinely like each other produce extraordinary teamwork. Managers can expect to see greater creativity, stronger bonds, and better morale when they encourage positive social interactions. 

17. “I've noticed that you haven't been getting along as well with [employee name] lately, and I’ve also noticed that many team members have been in the same boat. Shall we get together and set the record straight about what's causing the disconnect?” 

18. “Hey, I noticed the tension between you and [employee name]. You’re valuable team members, and I want to help you work through your issues together. Can I schedule a mediation session to help you both understand each other better?” 

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💌 Encourage your employees to recognize each other. A platform like Good Vibes makes peer-to-peer recognition fun and easy and contributes to creating a positive culture and strong team relationships.

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Feedback to encourage taking initiative and autonomy 

Every successful manager pushes employees to take the initiative when problem-solving. It facilitates productivity and development on the team. It’s important to encourage independence but also be clear that any employee who feels stuck can reach out for help. 

19. “I’m glad that you’re comfortable asking for help. That’s an important skill. Next time you need a hand, I would like to see you bring forth possible solutions you've come up with, along with your request.” 

20. “I appreciate all your hard work on [project name], but I noticed you needed extra help. I know you’re a resourceful person. What kind of help can I give you to help you improve your confidence in your critical thinking and problem-solving skills?” 

Constructive feedback to help facilitate feedback reception 

For constructive feedback to be both understood and effective, it needs to be clear, concise, and contain actionable guidance. Managers can set their team up for success by outlining clear expectations and boundaries regarding workload, and offer the space to open up conversations around the feedback. 

21. “I know performance reviews can be challenging to hear and you may not agree with all of the constructive criticism you’ve received. If there’s anything you want to discuss further, please feel free to reach out.” 

22. “I’d like to schedule a weekly one-on-one meeting together. Let’s use this time to make sure we’re clear about expectations and priorities. You’re a great team member, and I want to help you succeed.” 

Feedback offering conflict resolution strategies 

When working with humans, interpersonal conflict is inevitable. That said, it needs to be resolved fast. By intervening and offering guidance on conflict resolution techniques, managers can help mediate tensions between co-workers and maintain a positive working atmosphere for everyone at work! 

23. “I’ve noticed tension rise between you and your peer during the meeting. Unresolved conflict could affect our team’s productivity. Let’s schedule a private moment to discuss the issue openly and find solutions that work for the both of you.” 

24. “It seems like there’s a misunderstanding about the recent project allocations. Let’s have a team meeting to clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that everyone can feel confident in what they need to focus on.” 

Feedback to recognize effort and initiative 

Just like it’s important to flag areas to improve, it’s crucial to also highlight what’s going well. Positive feedback is incredibly powerful — a means to boost confidence and reinforce behaviors they want to keep seeing. Managers should use that tactic to their advantage! 

25. “I want to commend you for your initiative in spearheading last Friday’s presentation. You took the lead and delivered the numbers confidently. It made a big impression on everyone — great job!” 

26. “Thanks for jumping in on that project yesterday. Your proactiveness and team player attitude showed through. Keep that up!” 

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Hungry for more? Take a look at these 24 employee feedback examples to help you discuss recognition, areas of improvement, goal setting, and more.

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When to use different types of constructive feedback 

Different circumstances require different solutions and knowing what type of feedback to give in a particular situation is an invaluable management skill. Here, we look at two types of constructive feedback: feedback to reinforce good behaviors and feedback to improve less-than-great behaviors. 

Use positive feedback to reinforce strengths and celebrate success 

When a team member does well, giving positive employee feedback celebrates their success and reinforces positive actions and behaviors. By recognizing an employee’s positive impact, managers provide them with a clear understanding of their work’s value to the team. 

Use constructive criticism to target areas of growth and development 

There's a difference between negative feedback and constructive feedback. Negative feedback  focuses on negative attributes and can be perceived badly, whereas constructive feedback (or constructive criticism) focuses on the positive possibility and guides the recipient toward a better outcome. By providing solutions to issues, managers are ensuring their feedback is constructive and helpful, rather than just pointing out the issues and making the employee feel demoralized. 

Remember, great feedback doesn't always need to be purely positive. Constructive feedback can include praise, criticism, or both — as long as it’s fact-based (not opinion-based) and sets the employee up for a chance to improve, grow, and succeed. 

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Check out our comprehensive guide to employee feedback to learn everything you need to know about this critical managerial skill.

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Challenges in giving and receiving constructive feedback 

Understanding the benefits of continuous feedback is the first step toward fostering a healthier workplace, but the practicalities of integrating feedback into a corporate culture can be a challenge. Some people struggle with effectively communicating feedback without causing offense or demotivation, while others find it challenging to receive feedback without feeling defensive or demotivated. 

A whole lot can be going on that impacts a productive feedback loop. If you’re struggling with maintaining a positive feedback culture, the following realities might be at play: 

• Fear of offending the receiver and causing conflict 
• Taking feedback personally due to projection  
• Cultural differences that influence communication style 
• Power dynamics affecting feedback exchange 
• Past experiences with negative feedback  
• Lack of clarity or balance in positive and negative feedback 
• Picking the wrong time where the conversation is rushed 
• Not creating a safe environment for honest dialogue 
• Difficulty with managing emotions and self-regulation 

Overcoming feedback challenges is part of the commitment to create a culture of open communication and continuous improvement.  

How to build a feedback-oriented workplace culture 

Just like Rome wasn’t built in one day, an office culture is built collectively — one action at a time. So how can managers start nurturing a strong feedback culture? With effective communication and using feedback tools to their advantage! 

Clear communication tips: Make feedback specific and actionable 

One of the keys to effective feedback is making sure it’s specific and actionable. Vague or general comments don’t allow the receiver to have a clear understanding of which behaviors need to be targeted and addressed.  

So what does clear, specific, and actionable feedback look like? 

“I noticed your late attendance lately, such as with [X, Y, and Z instances]. Everyone needs to show up to meetings on time so we can all make the most out of them and be as productive as possible. If we can get a plan in place to help you, like blocking out 10 min before every meeting so you have wiggle room, I’d like to start seeing improvement starting next week. How does that sound?” 

By offering specific examples of what needs to be improved, suggestions for improvement, and expected outcomes, the receiver can see a clear path forward.  

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Future framing: When delivering feedback try focusing on the future instead of dwelling on past mistakes. What’s done is done, and it’s important to maintain a positive outlook on what can be fixed and what’s ahead. This framing ensures the feedback is constructive — not criticizing.

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Constructive feedback tools and techniques for managers 

People may be reluctant to provide feedback to their superiors out of fear of repercussions or the belief that their input will remain unheard. It’s crucial to encourage communication without repercussions, both from employees and managers.  

Anonymous surveys are an excellent place to start. They can show employees that the company is ready to listen while also allowing managers to identify systemic issues in the organization. 

One useful tip is to customize surveys. By asking employees specific or open-ended questions, managers might get more valuable and actionable feedback than generic questions with a scaling system. Personalized questions give employees a safe space to share their honest thoughts and spark conversations that probably wouldn’t happen otherwise. 

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Gain your team’s confidence with Officevibe’s employee feedback tool: a conversation starter with examples of constructive feedback for employees to provide their own insights and perspectives. This tool enables managers to gather honest thoughts through surveys, follow-up questions, and a free feedback section — all with the option for anonymity. 

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Constructive feedback: A boost to everyone’s performance 

Clearly, constructive feedback is the key to enhancing a team’s overall performance, improving morale, and even strengthening relationships in the workplace. Sure, having these types of conversations may feel awkward or unnatural at first, but the constructive feedback examples listed in this article are a great place to start. 

Ever find yourself in the managerial maze, wondering how to boost your team's performance — and where to even start? You're not alone.

Performance goals are the place to start for effective management. They're the building blocks of any good performance management strategy and act as the stepping stones that lead employee performance in the right direction.

You could start with a blank canvas, but you don't have to go at it alone. So let's navigate through the what, why, and how of these goals — with 50 examples for managers to use for their employee management strategies!

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What are performance goals, and why are they essential for managers to master?

Performance goals make up the foundation of good management. They're clear, specific objectives that set performance expectations and map out milestones for employees to succeed.

From productivity to development goals, they're strategically designed to measure progress and help every team member succeed. For performance goals to be effective, they must be designed as SMART goals that are realistic and aligned with broader company objectives. There are many goal-setting techniques out there; OKRs are a useful framework for managers to build results-oriented performance plans that are measurable and trackable using key metrics.

Performance goals provide direction, clarity, and a roadmap for professional achievement.

How can performance goals promote employee engagement and motivation?

Performance goals aren't just about hitting performance targets — they're also powerful tools for boosting team morale and motivation. They help employees better understand their role in achieving broader company objectives, which boosts engagement and motivation. When everyone is clear on their purpose, it's that much easier to walk ahead confidently.

By aligning individual performance goals with broader company objectives, managers better understand employees' roles in contributing to organizational success. This clarity of purpose fosters a sense of engagement and motivation as team members feel more connected to the overarching mission.

Performance goals for managers also serve as a framework for delivering constructive feedback, and facilitating productive discussions on areas of improvement and areas of success. This feedback loop empowers employees by providing guidance on progressing while offering support for their personal development goals. Effective performance management hinges on this balance of constructive feedback and developmental support.

When properly set up, performance goals create a dynamic, motivating work culture because they foster employee development and fuel important feedback systems.

Examples of performance goals for managers and their benefits

The performance spectrum is a wide one, and there are many types of goals for managers to set for team success. From improving time management to optimizing processes, find below 50 different performance goals and their benefits to get inspired.

1) Crank team collaboration up a notch

Increasing team collaboration gets peers involved in supporting each other's success. It enhances collective problem-solving, fosters a culture of innovation, and strengthens team dynamics.

{highlight}Example: Schedule weekly brainstorming sessions where team members can freely share ideas, providing a platform for creative and collaborative thinking.{highlight}

2) Turn employees into communication pros

Great performance stems from great communication. Improving communication efficiency by reducing email response times or being clearer with one another increases team responsiveness, minimizes misunderstandings, and enhances overall communication flow.

{highlight}Example: Try implementing a policy to respond to emails within 24 hours and encourage using communication tools like instant messaging for urgent matters.{highlight}

3) Foster more creativity and innovation

Innovative ideas fuel progress, and fostering a culture of innovation elevates performance and boosts engagement by recognizing creative contributions.

{highlight}Example: Organize a company-wide monthly "Idea Day" for team members across different teams and departments to share and explore creative solutions together.{highlight}

4) Help everyone master time management

Enhancing time management skills increases individual and team productivity, reduces procrastination, and fosters a sense of accomplishment. There are many techniques and tools that help with time management and task focus to choose from!

{highlight}Example: Implement the Pomodoro Technique, which encourages team members to break work into focused intervals (e.g., 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break) for better concentration and time utilization.{highlight}

5) Brush up on leadership skills

Everyone can sharpen their leadership skills, not just managers! By setting leadership goals, employees can help motivate each other and set a positive example for their peers.

{highlight}Example: Enroll in a leadership training program or attend a leadership seminar to gain insights and strategies for effective leadership.{highlight}

6) Increase productivity across teams

Setting a clear productivity increase goal — say a 10% increase over the next month — improves overall team efficiency, reduces time waste, and contributes to higher outputs (which stakeholders love).

{highlight}Example: Plan activities that thoroughly review existing workflows, identify inefficiencies, and implement changes to streamline processes. This can be easily delegated across multiple team members.{highlight}

7) Improve employee morale without compromise

When you improve employee morale, it enhances motivation and job satisfaction, ultimately benefiting performance. There are many ways to elevate individual and team spirit, from recognizing achievements to making time for human moments.

{highlight}Example: Encourage using peer-to-peer recognition tools where employees can celebrate their colleagues meaningfully.{highlight}

8) Enhance decision-making abilities

Improving decision-making skills helps increase initiative and decision quality. It also fosters a sense of ownership amongst employees.

{highlight}Example: Create a forum for team members to provide input on significant decisions, encouraging open discussion and inviting diverse viewpoints. Try to involve everyone throughout the process so they can learn from each other.{highlight}

9) Prioritize the necessary employee training

Learning is a lifelong journey. When you address skills gaps and enhance employee capabilities, you're ensuring a more well-rounded team is ready and nurturing career development for each employee.

{highlight}Example: Training can be ad hoc and dependent on needs, but you can also design a training calendar that includes workshops, webinars, and courses that everyone can benefit from and do together.{highlight}

10) Make project milestones achievement a breeze

Performance goals can be project goals. Ensure timely task accomplishments by setting and achieving clear milestones and maintaining timelines. This, of course, contributes to overall project success but also boosts team confidence with a job well done.

{highlight}Example: Use software to break down project timelines into specific milestones, track progress, share timely feedback, and celebrate achievements as milestones are reached.{highlight}

11) Champion problem-solving

Cultivate the team's ability to tackle challenges head-on by encouraging active participation in proposing and implementing solutions. The better a team is at problem-solving, the more confident and agile they become.

{highlight}Example: Set up a regular problem-solving forum, like a weekly "Problem Clinic," where team members can bring up blockers and collaboratively address challenges in real-time.{highlight}

12) Acknowledge, recognize, and celebrate

Positive feedback goes a long way, and increasing employee recognition improves morale, enhances job satisfaction, and fosters a positive work environment. Create a structured program for celebrating individual and team accomplishments.

{highlight}Example: Create a culture of appreciation by encouraging employees to shout out to their colleagues, privately or publicly.{highlight}

13) Encourage cross-functional work

Facilitate collaboration between different departments to leverage diverse skills and perspectives for comprehensive problem-solving. This not only breaks down silos but also promotes a holistic approach to organizational challenges.

{highlight}Example: Work with other managers to identify cross-functional project opportunities that require employees from different departments to collaborate and contribute their expertise.{highlight}

14) Improve everyone's delegation skills

Assigning tasks effectively empowers team members to be accountable for their work, aligns with reaching leadership goals, and increases overall team efficiency by sharing the workload.

{highlight}Example: Delegate a recurrent task to a team member, but make sure to provide guidance and support as they take on this new task. Next time, entrust them with the responsibility of delegating it to a peer and supporting them.{highlight}

15) Stand firm in regulatory compliance

Establishing and maintaining processes guarantees adherence to industry regulations and standards, which is crucial for a company as it mitigates legal risks and fosters a culture of responsibility.

{highlight}Example: Conduct mandatory compliance audits and training sessions regularly to ensure all team members are up-to-date, well-informed, and compliant with procedures.{highlight}

16) Show that well-being matters

Implementing initiatives prioritizing team members' physical and mental well-being is proven to increase job satisfaction, reduce burnout, and create a more positive work environment.

{highlight}Example: Start by passing around a wellness survey to gauge what would better impact employees — this could be flexible work schedules or mental health resources.{highlight}

17) Make employees fall in love with their jobs

When job satisfaction is high, productivity soars! Actively seek feedback, address concerns, and implement changes to increase overall job satisfaction.

{highlight}Example: Conduct regular pulse surveys, analyze the feedback you get, and implement changes based on the results.{highlight}

18) Place customer satisfaction at the center

Performance goals can also be customer-related. Elevating customer satisfaction builds customer loyalty, increases repeat business, and strengthens the organization's reputation.

{highlight}Example: You can implement a customer satisfaction feedback system and use insights to improve customer service performance.{highlight}

19) Leverage cross-training benefits

Like cross-collaboration, increasing cross-training makes teams more flexible and puts less pressure on individual roles. This also promotes curiosity and continuous learning.

{highlight}Example: Arrange cross-training sessions where team members can learn tasks outside their usual responsibilities and diversify their skill set.{highlight}

20) Streamline onboarding processes

The onboarding experience can be painfully long and costly, especially when manual! By reducing the time it takes for new hires to become fully productive, teams can achieve success faster.

{highlight}Example: Try onboarding software to automate administrative processes for a smoother and more interactive onboarding experience.{highlight}

21) Reduce tensions and enhance conflict resolution

Strengthen conflict resolution skills to improve team dynamics, reduce workplace tension, and nurture a collaborative and harmonious work environment.

{highlight}Example: Invite a conflict resolution expert to run a company-wide workshop to teach employees active listening skills and mediation techniques.{highlight}

22) Cross project finish lines even faster

Optimizing workflows, improving communication, and enhancing resource allocation all help decrease project turnaround time, which enhances overall project success and profitability.

{highlight}Example: Use agile project management tools to streamline processes and improve project delivery efficiency.{highlight}

23) Build a team of professionals who show up

Enhancing punctuality improves team productivity, sets a positive work ethic example amongst everyone, and contributes to a more organized work environment.

{highlight}Example: Introduce a flexible work hours policy that accommodates individual preferences while maintaining operational needs. It's all about balance!{highlight}

24) Put empowerment back in employees' hands

There are many ways to increase employee empowerment, like involving them in decision-making processes, seeking their input, and providing more autonomy in their roles. This not only improves job satisfaction but also fosters ownership in their success.

{highlight}Example: Establish cross-functional teams where employees have the autonomy to make decisions related to their projects.{highlight}

25) Tighten up data security

Performance goals can be linked to operational goals like this one. Strengthening data security measures ensures the protection of sensitive information and maintains trust with stakeholders.

{highlight}Example: Conduct regular cybersecurity training for employees. Implementing mandatory encryption protocols for sensitive data too.{highlight}

26) Lean into employee retention

Become HR's best friend by reducing employee turnover and increasing retention rates. These are great operational and performance goals as they reduce recruitment costs, maintain institutional knowledge, and secure a stable and committed workforce.

{highlight}Example: Take action before employees quit. Stay interviews help managers understand employee needs and concerns so they can implement changes before it's too late.{highlight}

27) Optimize meeting efficiency

Improve meeting efficiency by setting clear agendas and time limits and ensuring active participation. This increases productivity, reduces time wastage, and fosters a culture of punctuality and respect for everyone's time.

{highlight}Example: Use online collaboration tools to your advantage! Share meeting agendas in advance, and track how well you adhere to the topics at hand in the allotted time.{highlight}

28) Celebrate diversity and inclusion

Everyone has something valuable to contribute. Fostering diversity and inclusion enhances creativity, improves team dynamics, and contributes to a healthier work environment.

{highlight}Example: Help create a DEIB program that includes diversity training programs, reviews recruitment processes for inclusivity, and establishes employee resource groups.{highlight}

29) Encourage employees to participate

Performance goals on employee participation could be related to training and mentorship or even the organizational culture. By increasing employee participation, skills, performance, and relationships are fortified.

{highlight}Example: Offer various training options, including e-learning modules, workshops, and seminars, to cater to different learning preferences. An incentivized program could further sweeten the deal.{highlight}

30) Invest in employee recognition programs

Enhancing existing employee recognition programs is a surefire way to boost morale, achieve performance goals, and foster a culture of appreciation.

{highlight}Example: Listen to your employees and leverage feedback through surveys or focus groups to understand what forms of recognition employees value the most.{highlight}

31) Enhance interpersonal communication

Improve interpersonal communication skills within the team to strengthen relationships, reduce misunderstandings, and foster a more positive team culture.

{highlight}Example: Hosting regular communication workshops carves time to address common communication challenges and provide practical exercises for improving interpersonal skills.{highlight}

32) Nurture initiative-taking

Encourage employees to take initiative whenever possible. This boosts confidence, empowers employees in their abilities, and leads to more creative problem-solving.

{highlight}Example: A monthly brainstorming session for process improvement could be a great forum where employees exercise presenting and discussing their ideas.{highlight}

33) Keep it organized and documented

Enhancing project documentation practices ensures clarity and ease of knowledge transfer, like with handovers, and minimizes knowledge gaps.

{highlight}Example: Implement standardized project documentation templates and guidelines, ensuring project details are consistently recorded and accessible.{highlight}

34) Optimize workflows

Streamline workflows to reduce bottlenecks and increase efficiency in project execution and task completion.

{highlight}Example: Conduct a workflow analysis to identify areas of inefficiency, implement changes, and monitor the impact on task completion times.{highlight}

35) Track and utilize time better

Implement better time-tracking mechanisms to accurately measure productivity and resource allocation. Insights into time utilization — be it individual or team-wide — improve planning and overall time management.

{highlight}Example: Encourage using time-tracking tools or software to log employees' working hours and activities, ideally with granular reporting features.{highlight}

36) Up the standard on training evaluation

Training is a proven investment — you want to maximize its impact. Enhancing the evaluation of employee training programs ensures their effectiveness and addresses specific skill development needs.

{highlight}Example: Implement post-training assessments and surveys to gather feedback on the relevance and effectiveness of training programs. This is something you could automate with the right software!{highlight}

37) Leverage employee cross-training

When employees are encouraged to acquire skills outside their core responsibilities, this creates a well-rounded team and increases flexibility in task assignments.

{highlight}Example: Initiate cross-training opportunities where team members share their expertise in different areas, such as periodic "Lunch and Learn" sessions.{highlight}

38) Allocate resources more effectively

Improving resource allocation enhances project efficiency, minimizes resource shortages, and contributes to overall project outcomes.

{highlight}Example: Regularly assess team members' skills and availability to allocate resources effectively, avoiding overloads or underutilization.{highlight}

39) Finetune recognition programs through feedback

Collect feedback on employee recognition programs and make improvements accordingly to ensure that recognition efforts align with employee preferences and that morale remains high.

{highlight}Example: Use pulse surveys or feedback sessions to understand how employees prefer to be recognized and adjust recognition activities accordingly.{highlight}

40) Help build adaptability in employees

The more adaptable employees are, the more resilient and prepared for new challenges your workforce is. Exposure to different work challenges provides a lot of learning!

{highlight}Example: Training sessions are great, but think outside the box when there could be opportunities to expose team members to diverse experiences, whether for active participation or mere observation.{highlight}

41) Set better goals for team members

Performance goals should essentially help employees set and achieve personal and professional development goals, increasing motivation and engagement.

{highlight}Example: Goal-setting workshops can help employees define their short-term and long-term goals with support and guidance from their managers.{highlight}

42) Level up with employee feedback

Encourage regular feedback from employees on their experiences and suggestions for improvement to foster a culture of open communication and strengthen employee-manager relationships.

{highlight}Example: Implementing regular feedback sessions or anonymous suggestion boxes to collect employee insights are great ways to collect honest and detailed feedback.{highlight}

43) Ensure employee training is accessible

Make training programs more accessible to employees to facilitate equal learning opportunities, accommodate various learning styles, and promote a culture of continuous learning.

{highlight}Example: Offer training materials in various formats (written, visual, interactive) and provide options for flexible learning schedules because everyone learns differently.{highlight}

44) Connect the dots with employee goals

Improving goal alignment so they better align with company objectives enhances team cohesion and provides a greater sense of purpose for everyone.

{highlight}Example: Conduct regular goal alignment sessions where team members can align (and re-align) their goals with the overarching organizational performance goals.{highlight}

45) Cross over to other departments

Cross-departmental collaboration is similar to but different from cross-functional collaboration. It provides an opportunity for employees in totally different fields to contribute to problem-solving more holistically.

{highlight}Example: Facilitating cross-departmental workshops or team-building activities might not be possible to do often, but a year-end "Company Day" is a great place to start!{highlight}

46) Make everyone accountable

Foster a culture of accountability by setting clear expectations and consequences for tasks and projects. This increases responsibility and contributes to a culture of reliability.

{highlight}Example: Clearly define roles and responsibilities, establish deadlines, and hold regular meetings to track progress and address challenges. Use hard data and feedback for added accountability.{highlight}

47) Apply hindsight to make the future better

Enhancing the evaluation process of completed projects (also called post-mortem evaluations) improves how teams can learn from past experiences to perform better in the future.

{highlight}Example: Process improvement is an ongoing quest! Review current post-project evaluations routinely and involve team members for additional insights.{highlight}

48) Boost resilience in the face of adversity

By boosting employee resilience in the face of challenges and setbacks, employees are better equipped with coping mechanisms, which reduces stress and contributes to overall employee well-being.

{highlight}Example: Provide resources and support such as stress management courses or setting up a Buddy System at work.{highlight}

49) Play up mentorship opportunities

Mentorship programs enhance employee development, promote collaboration, and contribute to succession planning. They also foster relationships between senior management and employees at all levels.

{highlight}Example: Update your mentorship program so that experienced employees are invited to mentor newer hires, guide less experienced talent, and share insights with other managers.{highlight}

50) Transform employees into advocates

Employees who are happy with their jobs become advocates for their company. This raises a company's employer value and helps attract sought-after talent for future hires.

{highlight}Example: Conduct routine surveys or feedback sessions to gauge employee satisfaction, address concerns, and implement changes to improve the overall work experience for the better!{highlight}

A tool for managers: Performance goals to reach company objectives and achieve organizational success

Mastering performance goals for managers is a way to lead teams toward better engagement, productivity, and successful employee development. It shapes performance management into a continuous exercise of feedback, alignment, improvement, and recognition.

When tailored to individual managers, performance goals can unlock their potential within their roles. Whether focusing on enhancing team leadership, strategic planning, or fostering innovation — performance goals empower managers to contribute to their organization's achievements. And the right tools can make all the difference.

While performance management software like Workleap Officevibe provides a streamlined approach to goal setting and progress tracking, remember that performance goals are only one part of the entire performance journey equation. Ensure you read up on the benefits of recognition, review, and reporting features — all helpful for mastering performance management.

Happy goal setting!

Related content

• Performance Management5M
• Start driving alignment with Workleap Performance

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There are loads of benefits to having engaged employees. When people are engaged at work, managers see better performance, increased productivity, and lower turnover. That said, only 32% of employees (full and part-time) reported feeling engaged at work. Maintaining high engagement is a manager’s priority — so how does one gauge their team’s engagement levels?

Employee engagement surveys are the answer. They’re a great way to measure employee engagement, going straight to the source for answers and providing objective clarity on whether any steps need to be taken to drive engagement. But while managers can prepare and send out the best engagement survey imaginable, collecting data is only one part of the equation. Employee survey results are only effective if you analyze them properly — because then you'll know what are the right actions to take!

If you’ve ever thought to yourself: Hey, I know how to create a great survey. But how do I analyze employee data properly? Well — this article is for you. Here, we focus on analyzing employee engagement survey results — how to interpret results, communicate them to the right stakeholders, and prepare an action plan to boost engagement.

Engagement surveys: A tool for employee feedback analysis

Before diving deeper into employee engagement analysis, let’s first understand the importance of employee engagement surveys and how their insights can serve managers. 

Engagement surveys are tools to measure employees' engagement, satisfaction, and overall happiness at work. They can take the shape of online surveys, self-evaluations, or even open-ended questions during one-on-one. Their purpose is to gather feedback from employees and their own perspectives regarding work — about their experiences in their role, with their colleagues, and within the office culture. 

A crucial asset to continuous performance management, they also generally drive more honest, open communication between managers and employees. 

How can employee engagement survey results benefit managers?

The collected employee survey responses can help managers see (or uncover) what’s going well or needs improvement, so managers can make better-informed decisions to improve engagement and job satisfaction. 

There are infinite ways engagement survey results can provide clarity. Here are seven important benefits:

• Help with trend identification

Seeing the trends is a cornerstone for understanding how employee engagement levels are moving. If an employee engagement data analysis is done routinely, results can also reveal patterns across individuals, teams, or departments over a period of time. Are we seeing peaks or lows? Is this new or recurrent? Are there any events or circumstances that correlate with trends?

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Hot tip: Here, technology comes in handy! Did you know you can use AI-powered analysis tools to make uncovering feedback or topic trends much easier?

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Reveal participation rates

Sometimes, the answers employees provide — or lack of — reveal an understanding of engagement levels. Happy and committed employees fill out engagement surveys. If there’s low participation, this might indicate disengagement from employees. A lack of survey results can provide indirect answers to the broader engagement question.

Provide an objective lens via statistical analysis

Data, when well dissected, is clear and objective. Even if an organization thinks its employees are highly engaged, numbers might show otherwise. An employee engagement survey statistical analysis helps provide managers with a factual understanding of engagement levels across their employees so they can make decisions based on facts, not assumptions.

Provide a subjective lens via sentiment analysis

The results from open-ended questions or in-person discussions that are part of engagement surveys allow managers to evaluate the emotional layer of feedback. By understanding the sentiments, positive or negative, the right interventions can be tailored.

Create a strengths and weaknesses assessment

No company gets everything perfect all the time. Employee feedback helps build a case for what is effective for sustaining employee engagement and what is possibly hindering it. Managers can then better prioritize the biggest strengths to capitalize on and the biggest weaknesses to address.

Enable departmental comparisons and correlation analysis

When engagement survey data is collected and analyzed over time across several teams, comparisons can be made to better understand if there are any department-specific trends and factors that influence engagement levels. Managers can take a cue from teams with higher engagement levels.

Help HR finetune demographic breakdowns

Breaking down engagement survey results by demographic variables such as age, gender, race, or tenure can provide deeper insights into employees’ unique experiences and perspectives — which is a great asset for HR, helping design engagement strategies that address diversity and inclusion issues.

Survey data interpretation: How to make sense of results

Now, to the crux of the matter: understanding employee engagement survey results isn’t as simple as reading a one-layered score. To really get the most out of engagement data, managers should consider the scores of both metrics and sub-metrics to assess any fluctuations or trends.

Numbers need to be contextualized as certain factors can impact results. Managers should always consider the following before landing on their interpretation:

Employee survey data interpretation: Five considerations

1. Timing

The timing of employee engagement surveys can majorly impact the results. One primary timing factor is frequency. An annual or quarterly survey feedback analysis provides a less targeted understanding of engagement trends over time. This gets even trickier if the employee survey questions are different each time. The lack of consistency will make it harder to directly cross-compare what drives engagement (and what doesn’t).

Seasonality can also play into survey results. Managers might see a higher alignment score earlier in the year when business strategies are fresh in everyone's minds. Or, motivation could trend down toward the end of the year, when employees are finishing up projects and looking forward to the holiday season. 

Managers can arrive at a more accurate understanding of engagement levels by trying to be proactive in how often engagement surveys are planned and considering timing when looking at engagement survey results.

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When timing could skew results

Imagine sending an engagement survey during the peak of summer, when many employees are out of the office on vacation. The absence of key employees’ answers might impact the accuracy of survey results, making it harder to determine how engaged employees actually are.

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2. Industry

Like so many business metrics, there are industry benchmarks for employee engagement. A high engagement score in one industry can be significantly lower in another. So, when interpreting survey results, it’s important to consider what engagement scores similar organizations in the same industry typically see before making a judgment. Knowing the appropriate employee engagement benchmarks from an industry perspective will help managers better interpret their own employee engagement survey results.

3. Business size

Like industry factors, employee engagement benchmarks can also vary based on business size. After all, comparing employee engagement survey results for a business with a dozen employees to one with a workforce of a thousand employees would be unreasonable. Whether measuring engagement within a startup or a large corporation, comparing employee engagement scores of a business to ones of a similar size helps managers know if they’re within the norm of competitors.

4. Company context

What’s happening within a company at any moment can also heavily influence engagement survey results, as the workplace climate directly influences how employees feel about their work. When teams succeed and hit targets during a high sales season, employees are more likely to be engaged. On the flip side, engagement might naturally take a hit if a lot of pressure is going on, be it due to a structural shift or change of administration.

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Consider the timeline of events 

Let’s say an engagement survey is sent out amid a company high (like bonus season). Results might show high engagement. A few months later, another survey is sent out — but this time during a company low (for example, a failed product launch just occurred). Results might be lower. It’s important to consider workplace events, as they can influence employee engagement, and might not reflect the validity of ongoing engagement strategies.

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Beyond company context, community or global events can also impact engagement. Gallup's State of the Global Workplace Report found that employee engagement dropped by 2% from 2019 to 2020 worldwide, correlating to events relating to the pandemic.

5. The highest and lowest engagement level metrics

Sometimes, less is more. When conducting an engagement survey analysis, dissecting every single comment, response, or data point would be inefficient — this is both a time-consuming and unfocused approach. By prioritizing selected employee engagement metrics, managers keep their attention where it should be and avoid getting lost in the noise. 

Within those selected metrics, the highest and lowest metrics and the areas of most rapid shifts should be looked at first. Those usually indicate the biggest opportunities for improvement. Good data is about quality, not quantity.

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Engagement surveys are not managerial impact assessments

When analyzing employee engagement survey results, it can be hard not to take some things personally — particularly if the results are less than stellar. Managers need to remember that their team’s engagement scores do not automatically reflect their skills. Rather, they’re benchmarks acting as a jumping-off point to build effective action plans.

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How to build an action plan from employee survey results

A proper employee engagement survey data analysis provides managers with key insights into the current state of employee engagement within their organizations. But the work doesn’t stop there! The next step of the process is to build an action plan based on your survey results. 

Here’s the step-by-step to building an engagement-boosting action plan:

Step 1: Communicate the survey results

Once an employee engagement survey results analysis has been conducted, managers should share the results with their team. This is crucial for building a culture of trust and transparency.

Tip #1: Be selective and specific. Select a few key data points to share to avoid overwhelming employees with information. This keeps everyone’s attention on the right things and the presentation focused. Highlight only the scores or fluctuations that should be prioritized and their interpretations.

Tip #2: Start a conversation. Sharing survey results is an opportunity to drive engagement within a team — so seize it! Make room for questions or comments, so employees can share additional perspectives on what might be contributing to the results. They might contribute to ideas for improvement that weren’t thought about before.

Step 2: Create new goals based on survey insights

Once managers have had a chance to review the survey results with their team (and hopefully have great discussions), the next step is to create action items. These take the shape of engagement goals, which will steer the engagement tactics part of the action plan. Some good questions to ask for setting engagement goals:

• What pain points and blockers are the team facing?
• What are some concrete ways we can improve in those areas?
• What's enabling our success?
• How can we encourage and promote those factors?

Tip: Don’t try to do everything all at once. Decide on one to three key areas or metrics to prioritize setting goals as a starting point. Otherwise, you’ll dilute your efforts.

Step 3: Involve employees in building the action plan

Employee engagement action plans will only be successful if managers can get their teams on board. One of the best ways to get their buy-in is to involve them in the building process. Invite employees to help set the next steps. Brainstorm ideas and collaborate on setting the engagement goals everyone can work towards. Encourage team members to take ownership in co-creating more engagement and check in regularly on how they're progressing.

Step 4: Activate the plan and its recommendations for improvement

Once you share and discuss the survey results with your team and set engagement goals together —  it’s time to formalize the plan and implement it! Here’s how:

1. Assign responsibilities: Define who’s responsible for each action item (engagement goal). For example, an HR manager could set up the calendar with engagement activities, like workshops, and an IT lead could set up new feedback tools to improve engagement survey data collection in the future.
   
2. Set timelines: An effective goal is time-bound, so each action item should have a realistic timeline. Deadlines also set a sense of importance and urgency. For example, the aim could be to select the new feedback tool within a month, followed by a two-month implementation period.
   
3. Allocate resources: Budgets, resources, tools, or even training might be required to achieve the action items. Are the engagement workshops going to require more time from HR? Is there a cost to acquiring a new feedback tool? Managers need to have eyes on this.
   
4. Communication progress: Keeping employees informed by sharing milestones, blockers, and general progress is crucial for transparency. Open communication is also key for ongoing feedback, which feeds into monitoring progress. An employee could have valuable insights that might spark a really useful engagement strategy adjustment.
   

Monitor progress and adjust: All good plans must be flexible and ready to be adjusted depending on what’s working and what’s not showing to be as effective as initially anticipated. Tracking tools, team feedback, and ongoing review conversations are all great ways to monitor progress.

Tip #1: Select the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to track improvement: Choose KPIs that align with your engagement goals — metrics like employee satisfaction scores, retention rates, productivity levels, and feedback from Custom Surveys.
Tip #2: Create a routine for benchmarking results over time: The more regularly managers measure and benchmark engagement levels over time, the more precise are progress insights. Make routine building super easy with Automated Pulse Surveys.

Employee engagement survey results: More than a score

Employee engagement survey results don't just help managers know how engaged their employees are — they provide key insights into what contributes and detracts from that engagement. 

Hopefully, this article has provided insights to help you in your engagement analysis (from current employee engagement survey results to future ones). Remember, feedback can be a gold mine for engagement when properly leveraged. Collecting data is one thing, but building engagement plans becomes a breeze once you know how to properly analyze them and communicate your findings.

And that's how you drive a happier, more engaged, and all-around more productive team.

Effectively communicating feedback to employees is one of the clearest tell-tale signs of good leadership. Not only does feedback help employees develop professionally, but it also allows entire teams to succeed and achieve collective goals.

Employee feedback can be a part of a more formal structure — like during planned performance review meetings or one-on-one sessions with a manager. That said, some of the most impactful employee feedback occurs spontaneously.

So, when exactly should feedback be given? And how can managers ensure feedback is as constructive and helpful as possible? Read on to find out!

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Why employee feedback matters

Giving employee feedback is critical for team success; it makes effective communication come to life and is at the core of continuous performance management. Gallup reports that 80% of employees who receive weekly feedback feel more engaged. 

But why is employee feedback so impactful? Approach feedback as a management tool to lead teams in the right direction. Feedback is a means for managers to intervene, focus attention, and guide employees in their performance. It shows care and dedication toward their teams. Of course, feedback doesn’t just serve managers — it’s a great employee asset, too. When employees share their own thoughts and experiences, it helps their leaders and peers better understand what’s working well for them and see areas of improvement they may have missed.

Like with all forms of communication, feedback is an art. But it’s possible to navigate the intricate feedback process with ease. In this article, we outline the steps to giving great feedback and provide important tips with real-life positive and negative feedback scenarios to help you master delivery. 

But first, let’s ensure we’re clear on the three types of feedback.

Types of employee feedback

Feedback lives on a spectrum! It comes in different forms — from encouraging positivity through constructive feedback to the insightful guidance of constructive feedback. By understanding the different types of employee feedback, managers can more effectively steer conversations with their teams in the right direction.

Positive feedback

Let’s start with the most pragmatic type of feedback — positive feedback. Providing positive feedback is crucial in maintaining healthy relationships with team members. Positive feedback acknowledges stellar employee performance and strong contributions to team efforts, showcasing major technical and soft skills improvements. Positive feedback can also celebrate employee achievements and milestones, like work anniversaries. Not all feedback conversations need to be tough for them to be impactful.

While there is no limit to how frequently you can communicate positive employee feedback (because who doesn’t love hearing that they’ve done something well), there should definitely be a minimum of it. Reinforcing real-time positive feedback is a great way to connect with your employees and deepen engagement.

Constructive feedback

Unlike positive feeding, providing constructive feedback (sometimes called negative feedback) can feel a little bit trickier. The approach must be more delicate, thoughtful, and practical. Managers and employees both need to remember that the aim of constructive feedback is not to discourage but to support professional development, including:

• Address performance issues
• Sharpen skills and knowledge
• Improve interpersonal communication
• Boost team collaboration

Delivering constructive feedback might feel harsh, but it is ultimately solution-driven, and it’s possible to do so without demoralizing teams. As a leader, it's crucial to guide employees in improving for future opportunities, whether about new projects or team collaboration. This type of feedback is necessary to foster an accountable work environment and empowered employee experience.

Continuous feedback

Sometimes, neither positive nor negative situations require feedback. Routine feedback can be a means to nurture support and understanding and build a bond between employees and managers alike, between moments of praise and constructive criticism.

Regular feedback involves consistent communication, creating dialogue, reflection, and improvement opportunities. Regular feedback helps employees stay aligned with expectations, gain clarity, and track their progress over time. It’s more than just about “checking in” — it’s part of building a culture of continuous feedback and open communication, cultivating a supportive and development-focused environment where employees feel valued, seen, and encouraged to succeed.

Now, let’s dive into our 26 positive and constructive feedback examples!

Positive feedback examples: Highlighting and reinforcing success

Letting employees know they’ve done an excellent job, whether completing a spectacular report or a presentation, can be a rewarding experience. Who doesn’t love to give or receive praise?

However, how managers give employee feedback is important. Positive feedback should be genuine and personal. If positive feedback is vague without referring to specifics, employees might feel like managers aren’t paying attention or are trying to hit a compliment quota.

Employee feedback examples for acknowledgment of effort

Example 1: Positive reinforcement when an employee takes the initiative

“Thank you for your extra efforts on [name a specific project or task]. You did an amazing job, and your commitment has not gone unnoticed. Keep up the good work, and let me know how I can continue to support you on future projects.”

This positive feedback is effective because it’s specific and lets employees know that their efforts are being recognized.

Example 2: Positive reinforcement when an employee contributes to meetings

“I really liked the comment you made during yesterday’s team meeting. It was a great contribution to the discussion. Your positive attitude is felt throughout the department!”

This example lets employees know that their thoughts and opinions are valued and that they are actively contributing to a creative and dynamic work culture.

Employee feedback examples that recognize improvement

Example 3: Recognizing when an employee improves on specific skills

“I wanted to let you know that I have noticed how much you have developed your [name the specific skills]. I know it can be challenging to overcome or master [name the skill], but we can feel your drive to succeed.”

This positive feedback recognizes an employee’s commitment to sharpening their skills. It reinforces positive behavior and can boost morale.

Example 4: Recognizing when an employee demonstrates increased productivity

“We’ve noticed how focused you are lately and how well you manage your time. You’re producing tremendous work; keep it up!”

This positive feedback reinforces performance. Employees who feel their hard work is being recognized will be more motivated to keep up the pace.

Employee feedback examples that celebrate achievements

Example 5: Celebrating when an employee reaches a significant milestone

“We just wanted to congratulate you on hitting your first-year ‘workaversary’! We’re lucky to have had you on the team for the last 12 months.”

Positive feedback isn’t only about recognizing when an employee hits their targets. Recognizing years of service and expressing gratitude for everything they’ve contributed to the company thus far is extremely important.

Example 6: Goal achievement recognition when an employee exceeds expectations

“Thank you for your extra efforts on [name a specific project or task]. You did an amazing job, and your commitment has not gone unnoticed. Keep up the good work, and let me know how I can continue to support you on future projects.”

These types of positive employee feedback examples let team members know that their extra efforts are appreciated and contribute to the collective well-being and success of the company.

Employee feedback examples for recognition of teamwork

Example 7: Providing great peer collaboration acknowledgment 

“I just want to say that the team feels your collaborative spirit and willingness to support your peers. Thank you for making working as a group that much easier. We’re lucky to have you as a colleague!”

Acknowledging when employees work well with their peers encourages teamwork and reinforces the importance of supporting one another through the ups and downs.

Example 8: Providing positive cross-functional collaboration feedback 

“I got feedback from the other department on the success of the project you were part of. You made the best out of the opportunity to work with teams we don’t always have the opportunity to work with. You represented our department so well.”

Recognizing positive cross-functional collaboration reinforces the value of interdepartmental teamwork. It’s an important reminder that every employee in the company is part of the same wider team.

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Need more inspiration to empower your team members? Browse these 16 positive team feedback examples for even more ideas for reinforcing success.

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Constructive feedback examples: Specific performance feedback and improvement suggestions

Impeccable communication skills are crucial to providing constructive employee feedback. These conversations may be challenging but ultimately lead to a happier, more inclusive company culture.

The more you dwell on an issue, the trickier it will be to overcome it. Resentments may arise, leading to decreased peer collaboration and dips in employee engagement. Managers allow employees to review their actions by nipping the issue in the bud.

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Pro-tip for remote teams: While providing in-person constructive feedback might not be an option for distributed teams, tricky conversations are best had through a video call over an email so that your employees can read your body language and tone. The less that is left up to interpretation, the better.

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Employee feedback examples addressing performance issues

Example 9: Providing constructive criticism when an employee fails to meet deadlines

“I want to talk to you about your work on this last project because your delay impacted the team. I know you worked hard to complete your part on time, and looking back now, we can spot the roadblocks more easily. I’d love to see you be more proactive in spotting them before they impact your delivery next time. How can we make it easier for you to raise the flag on these things?”

This constructive feedback doesn’t blame the employee for failing to meet the deadline. Instead, the managers take it upon themselves to see how they can help them.

Example 10: Providing an employee with time management suggestions

"I've noticed that you’ve been having some challenges meeting deadlines or replying to clients promptly lately. I know we've been in a bit of a crunch these past few weeks, but my door is always open if you need help reprioritizing certain tasks. The team is always here if you need a hand.”

This example doesn’t judge the employee for struggling with time management. Here, the manager offers the support of other team members to help reach broader goals.

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Psst! Make dealing with underperforming employees easier with concrete steps to address poor performance.

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Employee feedback examples to enhance skills and knowledge

Example 11: Providing feedback when an employee is missing a critical skill

“You excel in so many areas of this job, and your contributions are invaluable. However, we notice that you could benefit from further developing your [name of skill]. We would happily provide you with additional resources to master this skill.”

This constructive feedback example is supportive and solution-oriented. The onus doesn’t fall on the employee for not mastering the skill. Instead, it becomes a collaborative goal between the employee and their manager.

Example 12: Providing continuous improvement suggestions to an employee

"We are so impressed with your employee profile and level of proficiency when it comes to [name of skills]. We have noticed, though, that the industry standard for your role is to be more familiar with [name of software]. With a little additional training, we know you can be an expert quickly. We would be happy to sign you up for a  training session.”

This feedback example is helpful because it’s specific and allows your employee to grow professionally within the industry. It shows that the organization is willing to invest in their future.

Employee feedback examples to encourage better communication

Example 13: Providing an employee with feedback on communication style

“I appreciate your autonomous work style. But it could be valuable to provide more visibility to the rest of the team so that they can adjust their tasks and schedules accordingly.”

Feedback conversations like this one let employees know that while they may work well on their own, no person is an island, and other team members need to be made aware of deadlines and updates (without being judgmental of their personal work style).

Example 14: Providing an employee with feedback on collaboration

“While I appreciate your dedication to [name the project], it might be helpful to check in with the rest of the team more frequently so that we can adjust deadlines if you need more time. We would be happy to assist you on the project if you feel like you need additional support or resources. Your colleagues have valuable insights to contribute to this project.”

This example piece of employee feedback gently lets a direct report know that they can always rely on their team members for support and that their colleagues are there to provide their expertise.

Professional feedback examples: Goal setting and skill development recommendations

One of the best ways to keep your team members around for the long haul is to help them set goals and nurture their career development plans. As a leader, it’s your role to ensure your employees’ goals align with broader company objectives to be able to grow together.

Two main goal-setting frameworks help encourage personal and professional development:

1. OKRs (objectives and key results): This framework offers a great way to tie employee goals directly to company objectives. The key results component makes tracking the employee's progress over time easy.
2. SMART goals: This framework is most useful when setting personal development goals — like working towards a new hard or soft skill — that help employees constantly improve and grow in their roles. Its descriptive nature allows employees to set detailed, relevant, measurable goals to drive them and their team forward.

Like positive or constructive feedback, you can provide feedback on goal setting and professional development shortly after a situation or challenge arises. If you work remotely, book a quick sync to let your colleague know that while you appreciate their work ethic, you feel there is room for improvement in a particular area.

It’s important to note that goal setting and professional development feedback should be realistic, achievable, and tailored to the employee’s skills and motivations.

Employee feedback examples to align individual goals with company objectives

Example 15: Offering guidance when employee goals are misaligned

“I would like to review your tasks and priorities. I have noticed that you are excelling at [Projects 2 and 3], but [Project 1] is a top priority for the organization. Do you feel like you have all the tools and resources to work on [Project 1]? Do you think there is work you could delegate to stay more aligned with what has to be done first?”

This piece of constructive feedback is direct but still highlights the employee’s strong performance on other tasks. It provides guidance and clarity on organizational values and goals.

Example 16: Offering guidance when employees should focus on key performance indicators (KPIs)

"We have just learned from the executive team that we will be shifting gears on some of our KPIs this quarter. We will need you to refocus on certain projects that are aligned with current company goals. I know that in the past, these types of tasks have been more challenging for you, so please let me know how I can best support you."

Employee feedback examples like this can be tougher to deliver but are necessary to keep the organization running smoothly. This message is firm but supportive and lets the employees know they have a team backing them if they need extra support.

Employee feedback examples to help set SMART goals

Example 17: Offering guidance to help employees improve their goals

“I noticed that you set a new SMART goal in our dedicated platform. I have some ideas on how we can help you achieve it. Let’s book some time to review where you are with this goal and where you can dedicate more of your time and energy.”

These types of constructive employee feedback examples acknowledge a person's work toward achieving their long- and short-term goals. It’s supportive and lets employees know the company is dedicated to seeing them succeed.

Example 18: Offering guidance when employee goals are vague

“I really like the initiative you took to review this goal. Acknowledging what is realistically achievable within our established time frame is important. Let’s work together to reach this part of the goal and see how we can further develop it in the future.”

Employee feedback examples like this show your team members that adaptability is an asset. Just because the goal can’t be achieved within a specific time frame due to external factors doesn’t mean they can’t achieve it in the future with a little support.

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Looking to supercharge your goal-setting approach? Check out our best SMART employee goal-setting examples for more inspiration.

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Employee feedback examples that encourage professional development

Example 19: Suggesting employees pursue professional development opportunities

“I noticed that you expressed interest in taking on a more senior role and the responsibilities that come along with it. I love the initiative and would be happy to help you work on some key skills necessary to succeed in the role.”

It’s important to help employees reach their goals. A leader should nurture employees' drive to succeed and give them the tools to do so. This type of example exemplifies the supportive nature of a good leader.

Example 20: Encouraging employees to consider networking and mentorship

“Based on our previous conversations where you expressed interest in being paired with a leader in the industry to shadow their work, we would be happy to enroll you in the upcoming mentorship program offered by the company. This is a great networking opportunity to learn more about the field.”

This example is helpful for employee development because it showcases to your direct report that you have been listening to them and taking their opinions to heart. It shows your employee that their growth is important to you.

Simple feedback examples: Supporting employees through challenges

Challenges will arise in any and every industry. Some of these challenges may be out of a manager’s control, but a good leader always puts the interests of their employees first and works diligently to ensure these roadblocks can be overcome. During tough times, a leader must be able to deliver feedback that offers support and guidance and helps identify potential roadblocks. It's equally important, however, to recognize employee efforts at overcoming adversity through creative problem solving and perseverance.

The best way to address challenges with your team members is to provide feedback as swiftly as possible when the situation is fresh in everyone’s minds. Deliver your thoughts and feedback in a genuine but supportive way to not discourage your employees from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Employee feedback examples identifying roadblocks

Example 21: Supporting an employee facing obstacles in completing a task

“Thank you for all the work you've already done on this project. I could tell you’ve hit a bit of a wall trying to complete the next part. How can I help you overcome this roadblock? Are there any specific resources I can offer you?”

Constructive employee feedback examples like this do not diminish a person's work on a project but offer a supportive hand on crossing the finish line. In this example, the employee is being empowered to reach their goals with extra guidance.

Example 22: Supporting employees through teamwork challenges

“I sensed the tension in our planning meeting yesterday, and I want to be sure that we address it before it impacts our productivity or happiness. We’re all working towards [name a shared goal] here, and it’s okay if we have different ideas than your colleagues on how to get there. What were you feeling in the meeting? What are your main concerns? Let’s meet with [name of colleague] to work towards a collaborative resolution.”

This example acknowledges and validates the employee's feelings while collaboratively searching for a way to reach common ground with other team members.

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It's normal to hit a roadblock occasionally, but there are ways to overcome them and even prevent them altogether. Read about the four most common roadblocks for high-performing teams and how to circumvent them.

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Employee feedback examples offering general support and guidance

Example 23: Providing resources to help the employee

“I know this project has evolved rapidly since we first drafted the brief. You’ve been doing a great job, but I just wanted to send you a few resources and documents that may help in the last leg of the project.”

This example is effective because it recognizes all the work the employee has already done on the project but offers assistance in a supportive and non-condescending tone.

Example 24: Providing coaching or mentoring to assist the employee

“Your skills have grown exponentially since your last performance review. You have really taken our feedback to heart, and we see tremendous potential for a senior role. If you're interested, I would happily serve as your mentor to help get you there.”

Employee feedback examples like this one reference specific actions and offer additional guidance without imposing on the employee.

Employee feedback examples that celebrate resiliency and problem-solving

Example 25: Providing employee adaptability and flexibility recognition

"I know this project has been more challenging than anticipated due to external delays. Your willingness to complete it on time does not go unnoticed. I admire your resiliency."

While it's important to celebrate the big wins, acknowledging employee resiliency is crucial in keeping engagement high. The desired outcome may not always be achieved, but this type of feedback recognizes valiant efforts.

Example 26: Providing employee initiative and proactivity recognition

"You really thought outside the box to ensure we delivered this campaign on time. I would not have devised this strategy, and I commend your creativity. Keep it up!"

This piece of feedback is effective because it celebrates the employee's creativity and problem-solving abilities. It can go a long way in boosting employee motivation and engagement.

Best practices for delivering employee feedback

Feedback shouldn’t be arbitrary. For it to be useful and impactful, it has to be focused on what a person did (as opposed to who they are) and the outcome of their actions. Read on for our best practices for delivering employee feedback.

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Numbers don’t lie! According to Workleap Officevibe Pulse Survey data, 17% of employees say that the feedback they receive isn’t specific enough. Let’s fix that.

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Focus on specific patterns of behavior and actions

It can be easy to overlook the actionable steps following a feedback conversation, but employee feedback must be applicable in the future for it to be worth sharing. The goal of giving employee feedback should always be to help the other person improve. Managers should remember the 3 essential components of effective feedback:

• Behavior: What the employee did and how they did it.
• Outcome: Results from the employee’s behavior and the impact.
• Next steps: Suggestions on moving towards improvement.

Providing feedback is an ongoing process that helps direct reports thrive in the workplace, but knowing how to give feedback can be challenging — especially when it’s negative or constructive criticism that has to be shared. A great feedback framework is the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) model, which suggests giving context to the situation, identifying the behavior to be discussed, and sharing the impact that this behavior may have had.

Provide frequent and effective employee feedback

In the fast-paced modern workforce, managers must create a feedback system with their teams that goes beyond their annual performance review. Frequent check-ins and coaching have proven to be a game-changer for intrinsic motivation, employee engagement, and improved employee experience. We suggest reading more about the feedback loop method.

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Officevibe Pulse Survey data shows that 25% of employees feel that the frequency of feedback they receive is not enough to help them understand how they can improve. Clearly, there’s room to improve!

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Don’t be too one-sided: Make feedback a collaborative opportunity

Feedback should be a two-way conversation where managers and employees work collaboratively to uncover and apply learnings to future projects. This is where leadership can shine — as the role of a manager can transform into that of a coach and mentor, creating a culture of ongoing employee development and mutual support.

Managers may gain even more insights on the best way forward by being open to an employee’s take on the situation and willing to hear them out. How can one ensure that? Always follow feedback delivery with an open-ended question and allow time for dialogue.

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Discover positive feedback loop examples! It’s a great mechanism to facilitate continuous improvement at work and spark healthy two-way conversations that give managers and employees the feedback they need to succeed.

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Encourage employees to ask for manager feedback regularly

While it’s crucial to provide employees with feedback, it’s equally important to receive employee feedback in return so that everyone can feel that their ideas, opinions, and concerns are equally valued.

Managers should encourage employees to speak up and share their perspectives. A great way to do this is by ensuring employees can reflect on situations and come back with things to share. Pulse Surveys are also great ways to ask employees for feedback safely and anonymously.

Using technology to create a better feedback culture at work

Delivering employee feedback, whether it's positive, constructive, or continuous, should always aim to nurture employee growth. When offered in a genuine and timely manner, feedback can help identify and overcome blockers, ultimately improving employee engagement and boosting job satisfaction.

At the end of the day, it's important to remember that a true feedback culture is a two-way street. Employee feedback tools like Workleap Officevibe help managers establish open lines of communication between employees and leadership, allowing employees to share their thoughts and suggestions in a safe, judgment-free space.

By taking cues from good feedback examples to tailor your own messages and making feedback a part of your company culture, you too can foster a happier and more positive employee experience for the entire organization!

If you want your employee engagement and performance to grow, your team needs to feel seen, appreciated, and recognized for their efforts. And, as a manager, that means letting them know you see, appreciate, and recognize them.

In other words, it's vital to make employee recognition a priority. We know you're busy, so we put together some words of appreciation and examples for common situations that call for recognition.

Use the employee recognition examples in this article as inspiration for expressing gratitude and showing your entire team they're valued.

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Key takeaways:

• Recognition is at the heart of employee engagement. When managers, peers, and leaders show appreciation for good performance, efforts, and participation, employees are more motivated to excel.
• Managers can use the employee recognition examples provided in this article as inspiration to customize and create their own messages of appreciation.
• There are additional ways to create a culture of recognition at work — from company-wide acknowledgments, employee awards, moments of celebration, and professional development opportunities.

Employee recognition messages examples

As a manager, we get that you might not have extra time in your day to plan elaborate employee recognition ideas. However, quick words of appreciation can have a huge and positive impact. The employee appreciation messages listed here are meant to serve as inspiration. We recommend adding your own personal touch rather than copying and pasting generic recognition messages.

Messages for top performance

Giving a nod to great work makes employees feel seen and valued, and helps keep them motivated. If they put in the notable effort, or go the extra mile to get results, showing appreciation is always warranted. Whether you’re continually impressed or an employee has started to really stand out, giving them the shoutout they deserve is never a bad shout.

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💡 Here are a few employee recognition examples you could share with someone on your team whose performance calls for some shine:

• “Your outstanding performance is an inspiration to us all. Keep up the amazing work!”
• “Thank you for always putting your best foot forward! Your performance is always top-notch, even when you take on more work.”
• “You’ve really raised the bar this quarter. A performance like yours is a huge asset to the whole team.”

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Messages for reaching goals

Employee goal-setting is an important part of helping your entire team reach their full potential. But setting goals is only one part of the process. If you want to keep your employees motivated, you need to recognize (and celebrate!) when they achieve those goals.

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💡 Here are a few employee recognition examples you might use after they hit one of their goals:

• “There was never a doubt in my mind you'd accomplish this, but now that you have, I just want to say congratulations on hitting your goal!”
• “Incredible job hitting this goal! You really knocked it out of the park.”
• “You consistently impress me with your ability to not only set ambitious goals but to achieve them.”

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Messages for teamwork

For an entire team to function, every member has to do their part to contribute to the company’s success. But for some team members, simply showing up and doing their job isn't enough. They go above and beyond what their role calls for while supporting their coworkers and elevating the team.

And those team members deserve some serious recognition.

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💡 Here are examples of messages that recognize team members who exceed expectations and contribute to the team above and beyond their roles:

• “Thanks for your contribution today. You went above and beyond and the team really appreciates you!”
• “Thanks for being a great team player. Your efforts make our team stronger!”
• “I just want you to know that your commitment to this team and your willingness to step up and do what needs to be done – even if it falls outside of your job title – don't go unnoticed.”

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Messages for outstanding dedication

Exemplary work ethic always deserves to be recognized since these employees can serve as an inspiration to the whole team. Dedicated employees are the backbone of the organization and should be valued by everyone. The success your team achieves together is thanks to their consistency and commitment. Help keep up the momentum by sending a message of appreciation.

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💡 Here are a few employee appreciation quotes to recognize a great employee for their consistent dedication:

• “No matter the situation, you always rise to the occasion! Thank you for your unwavering dedication; it doesn’t go unnoticed.”
• “Thank you for being such a reliable member of this team. We appreciate your work ethic so much!”
• You always put in 100% and we see it. Thank you for helping us all succeed.

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Messages for growth and improvement

As a manager, your role is to empower your team members to be their best selves at work. If your employees soak up feedback and constantly work towards improving their skill sets, kudos should definitely be served.

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💡 Here are a few employee appreciation messages to show your team you notice and celebrate their improvements:

• “You accept feedback like no other and it’s a pleasure to see you flourish in your role!”
• “Your drive for constant improvement is contagious. Thank you for inspiring the team to be the best they can be.”
• “Over the last few months, we’ve noticed a huge improvement in X skillset. Your effort does not go unnoticed and we’re proud to see you grow.”

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Messages for unique expertise

A great team is one that’s made up of diverse skill sets and perspectives. Leveraging your employees’ strengths not only gives them the chance to show what they’re capable of but is also beneficial to the whole team by helping them achieve goals together. Drop an appreciation note the next time someone on your team steps up to bring their unique skills to the table.

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💡 Here are some of the best employee appreciation quotes to recognize someone’s standout skills:

• “Your expertise on X really gave us valuable insights. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all!”
• “We’re so impressed with your expertise on X. You’re awesome at what you do and you bring great value to the team.”
• “Thank you for bringing your unique perspective to the table. Your expertise is impressive and inspiring.”

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Messages for a work anniversary

You want to keep top performers on your team for as long as possible. And one way to do that? Acknowledge when they've put in a full year on your team or reached other milestones. Celebrating work anniversaries is a great way to show employees you appreciate their hard work and dedication. And hopefully, keep them committed to your team through their next anniversary.

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💡 Here are a few examples of employee appreciation quotes to share with your team when they're celebrating a milestone anniversary with your team/organization:

• “Happy work anniversary! You make this company a better place to work every year you're here.”
• “Another work anniversary, another year. I'm grateful to work with you!”
• “Over the past year, you've shown up, you've worked hard, you've supported your team, and you've knocked your goals out of the park. Happy work anniversary. We're so lucky to have you! Can't wait to see what's coming in the year ahead.”

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Messages of appreciation for a noteworthy attitude

An employee who shows up to work with a great attitude can completely change the vibe of the team. They're easier to work with, they're fun to be around, and they make for a more positive, supportive work environment. Good energy goes a long way in the workplace, so why not pay the employee happiness forward?

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💡 Here are a few employee appreciation messages you can pass along to help keep the good energy flowing:

• “Working hard is important. But working kindly is just as important, and you've nailed both! Thanks for being such a pleasure to work with.”
• “Your upbeat attitude is contagious, and it makes our team (and our organization!) better. Thanks for bringing positivity to work every day!”
• “Your optimism, happiness, and overall positive attitude is an asset to this team. Thank you for being you!”

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Messages of recognition for efforts during hard times

All the examples we've covered so far have been about recognizing employees when things are going well. And while it's important to recognize your team when things are on the up and up, it's just as important to recognize them when things aren't going so well.

Motivation has a tendency to dip when times are hard. For example, during a challenging project, when a key team member leaves, during times of transition or change. 

If you want to keep your team moving forward during challenging times, a little employee appreciation and recognition go a long way.

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💡 Here are a few employee appreciation messages you can use to recognize your team's efforts when work is more challenging, hard, or uncertain:

• “I know things haven't been easy. But I just wanted to thank you for always showing up and supporting this team, even when it's hard.”
• “Things have been tough, but every day you show up, roll up your sleeves, and make things happen. Thanks for pushing through, we appreciate you!”
• “It's easy to show up with a smile on your face when things are going well. But you've continued to show up with a smile on your face, even when things have been tough. Thanks for all you do!”

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Additional words of appreciation for employee engagement

Recognition is a key tool to motivate and inspire employees. By being generous with employee appreciation messages, managers can ensure everyone in the team feels acknowledged, recognized, celebrated, and inspired to do their best work. 

But are employee appreciation messages a responsibility that falls solely on managers? Appreciation can come from everywhere — from peers to leaders. And it should! 

Peer-to-peer recognition examples

Colleagues have the unique ability to provide kudos to one another, especially when it comes to highlighting day-to-day collaboration wins. They notice the small efforts, like helping out with a task or providing advice, that might not always make their back to managers.

It’s important to encourage peer-to-peer recognition among team members. Not everyone has a way around words, so managers can provide a few examples to help break the ice of employee appreciation messages between colleagues.

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💡 Here are a few peer-to-peer recognition examples for employees to use as inspiration to show appreciation for their colleagues:

• “Thanks so much for your help earlier on X. I was stuck and your advice was very useful. You really know what you’re doing!”
• “I appreciate every time you offer to get us coffee before a meeting. We get so caught up in the stress of the day that these little moments of consideration mean a lot!”
• “I admired the way you delivered that presentation to the client earlier. You spoke confidently and helped deliver the message clearly. I was impressed!”

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Leadership message to employees examples

Leadership recognition can be powerful. For one, these messages can feel more special because they are from members of the company that employees might look up to and aspire to. A message of appreciation shows an employee’s efforts don’t go unnoticed by decision-makers — which can be extremely encouraging, especially if that employee is vying for a promotion.

But leadership messages to employees also signal to employees that members at the top of the company pyramid are taking an active interest and involvement. Leaders don’t always have the same opportunities to interact with everyone day-to-day. This type of recognition shows a level of attention and care from leadership that can sometimes go unnoticed. 

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💡 Here are some key messages leaders can use to show their recognition to their workforce:

• “I want to express my sincere appreciation for your hard work. Your efforts haven’t gone unnoticed and were acknowledged at our last leadership meeting!”
• “X told me it was your idea to suggest an improvement of our processes. I am impressed by your problem-solving mindset and encourage you to keep sharing your great ideas!”
• “I’ve noticed consistent feedback from your peers that your team-oriented attitude has made a positive impact on everyone. Thank you for being a part of what makes this company great to work at!”

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Recognition at work examples that go beyond words

No two people are made the same, and every employee has a different ideal when it comes to appreciation. Public recognition might be great for the extroverts on your team, for example, while some may lean more towards actions beyond words. Here are a few positive recognition examples that come to life outside of the standard written message format:

Employee of the Month awards

This one might seem old school, but Employee of the Month awards are a time-honored tradition in many workplaces! They’re a way to publicly recognize star employees and celebrate outstanding performance across an organization. They create moments of praise that boost morale, motivate employees, and nurture a positive company culture.

Of course, employee award programs don’t have to be confined to the once-a-month formula. Spot bonuses to incentivize a sales quarter or weekly digital recognition boards populated by peers are examples of employee award programs. Whatever aligns with your company practices and culture!

Moments of celebration at work

Team celebrations or work anniversary celebrations are opportunities to acknowledge milestones, achievements, and special occasions together. Whether it’s a team lunch, cake to celebrate a colleague’s workiversary, or after-work team drinks to acknowledge a special project completed — moments of celebration shared together instil pride within employees and strengthen bonds between team members.

Professional development opportunities

When a company invests in its employees’ professional development, it’s a powerful demonstration of recognition. It communicates: We see how hard you work, we believe in your success, and we’re here to help you strive. Offering development opportunities like training, skill development, or career advancement lets employees know they are worth being bet on. 

Professional opportunities come in all shapes and forms. They can be access to online learning, mentorship programs, or even sponsored attendances to industry conferences your employees would love to be a part of.

Flexible work options

Now, this one might not be an obvious team member recognition tactic — so allow us to explain! While flexible work options are more commonplace these days, they aren’t necessarily a given. But if managers want to boost appreciation and recognition, they might want to consider this creative work scheme. How so?

When employees are offered the option to adjust their work schedule, it shows that they are trusted to complete their tasks even outside of normal hours. It tells them that their level of responsibility, commitment, and autonomy is recognized. This can be a great reward system that gives an allowance for employees to use for personal events or projects that require them to adjust their work hours.

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Looking to transform your company culture? Click here for some essential employee recognition tips that are sure to help motivate your modern workforce and contribute to a culture of recognition!

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Making sure your recognition program is right for your team

Your company values its employees, so it’s important to tell them. A recognition program can be beneficial to any company or organization. In fact, research by Bersin suggests that engaging your employees through recognition tactics will reduce turnover by 31%. 

So how can you tell if your recognition program is effective for your team? It can be as simple as getting them involved from the start. Using Pulse Surveys is an easy way to invite employee feedback so that you can continuously improve your work culture and recognition efforts. If you’re still unsure where to start, Good Vibes by Workleap Officevibe can help with its simple, human way to recognize team members. Rather than public recognition like praise walls, Good Vibes prompts team members to send employee appreciation messages spontaneously, encouraging peer-to-peer recognition. It’s a feature that provides team recognition examples that can be personalized. Employees can simply pick a card, adjust it in their own words, tag a peer, and let them know how great they are.

To be leaders in their industry, modern organizations recognize the need for a workforce representing today's society and its clientele. This is more than just about creating a feel-good story — it's a fundamental prerequisite for businesses to succeed.

As highlighted by Forbes, 80% of workers expect DEIB initiatives (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) from their employers. The payoff moves beyond meeting moral standards, demonstrating that those who do are 35% more likely to see their teams outperform.

But creating a sense of inclusion and unity can be tricky, as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building diverse teams. Even the most progressive companies are constantly improving their systems and processes.

In this article, we'll explore what DEIB means today, why it matters, how managers and leaders can create a culture of belonging and inclusion, as well as practical strategies to build stronger, more connected teams.

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The new meaning of DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging)

DEIB is the acronym for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The concept was previously referred to as "diversity and inclusion" but expanded to better reflect a more comprehensive understanding of modern, inclusive workplaces. The addition of equity and belonging acknowledges that representation alone isn't necessarily enough to address systemic inequalities and create true unity within a diverse workplace.

DEIB strategies — and their diversity and inclusion activities — all work together to ensure every team member feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute in their own unique ways.

Diversity, inside and out

A team's diversity is more than just what's visible — like race, ethnicity, gender identity, and age. It's also about diversity of thought, personal background, and experience. Employers tap into the infinite ideas and perspectives unique individuals can bring by fostering diversity.

A single parent, for example, might have a creative solution to a problem at work thanks to how they've surmounted past challenges. There is so much value in pooling from different cultures and backgrounds.

Equity: Is it the same thing as equality?

Equity is often used interchangeably with equality, but it's not quite the same thing. Equality provides everyone the same support, while equity recognizes that diverse employees might require different levels of support or resources to have the possibility of achieving the same outcomes.

An access ramp would help an employee using a wheelchair get to the same floor level as stairs might for differently-abled team members. Of course, equity isn't just about physical support. This is why disability awareness training is beneficial for everyone.

Inclusion: Beyond representation

Today's understanding of inclusion is more than just passive representation. Inclusion activities proactively ensure every team member is heard, valued, and respected to feel supported in bringing their authentic selves to work.

Inclusion activities and efforts are more than just giving a seat at the leadership table to women of color, for example. It's about ensuring they get as much time to speak and share as anyone else, and their opinions are given the same weight within decision-making processes.

Belonging: More than just about inclusion

At the core, belonging is more than just about being included. Belonging is when employees feel a deeper sense of connection, acceptance, and camaraderie with their peers — fueling pride, engagement, and collaboration.

Celebrating diverse holidays and observances like LGBTQ+ Pride Month, or creating spaces for prayer, show intentional efforts to ensure all team members feel welcomed and increase cultural knowledge.

Meeting today's DEIB standards begins with the company culture. While many companies put their best efforts into recruiting a more diverse workforce, it’s the experiences created for employees that will ultimately drive their success. Workplace inclusion and diversity activities are essential to a company's continuous learning and improvement commitments.

There is no endpoint to improving DEIB — there is always more to learn and more to do.

Why are DEIB activities important for teams?

DEIB strategies are essential to keep employee engagement levels high. By creating an inclusive and respectful team culture, team members experience more fruitful collaboration, share their ideas more confidently, and benefit from stronger team bonding.

Taking a look at some insights from Workleap Officevibe's Pulse Surveys, we can observe a strong positive correlation between a company culture with strong DEIB values and:

• Honest and transparent communication between peers
• Involvement and collaboration opportunities
• Teamwork and manager support
• Responsibility and autonomy
• Work satisfaction

Clearly, diversity and inclusion are inextricably linked to employee engagement, which directly impacts team performance. And to keep employees from diverse personal and cultural backgrounds engaged, there must be a sense of belonging for all.

That's why it’s so essential for organizations to be intentional in developing company cultures that not only value but actively embrace diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and approaches.

Keep reading for strategies and activities that help make that happen!

Who's responsible for promoting DEIB at work?

Ultimately, every individual in the workforce is responsible for making the people around them feel safe, included, and valued. This includes managers, team members, colleagues from other departments, upper leadership — everyone.

That said, values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging need to be firmly established and ingrained within the work culture so that each employee feels compelled and responsible for upholding them.

The question is then: Who sets the standards on DEIB at work?

Setting a culture of DEIB from the top-down

A mistake that’s commonly made across all industries is that organizations leave it up to HR to foster an inclusive work environment. While that's partially true, it is up to all members in leadership roles to support DEIB strategies and be the gatekeepers of their application.

Business leaders need to play an active role in diverse team-building activities and strategies and not just delegate them, as this can inadvertently send the message that it isn’t a personal priority for them. HR members, managers, department leads, and executives should all actively be a part of and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Managers, in particular, play a critical role in fostering inclusion within their teams. By leading by example, actively listening to employee concerns, and addressing bias and discrimination, managers can create a culture of trust, respect, and psychological safety where all employees feel valued and empowered to succeed. Managers directly impact the employee experience, so they must prioritize inclusion and demonstrate fairness in their management style.

A culture of DEIB starts top-down. Employees look up to leadership, not just for guidance on meeting organizational goals but also on values and ethics. It's up to the leaders to make diversity and inclusion activities central to both the operations and direction of their business and embody these values themselves.

Improving DEIB strategies from the bottom-up

While a company's DEIB values, policies, and structures are set by leadership members, culture comes alive through its employees. It takes effort from both the organizational and the team levels.

By fostering collaborative team dynamics, managers can enlist the ideas and support of their teams to ensure the success of DEIB strategies.

There exist incredible co-creation opportunities to improve DEIB strategies that leverage the perspectives of everyone. Collecting and listening to feedback, hosting diversity and inclusion workshops, creating open discussion forums, and having an internal DEIB committee are some of the ways leaders can leverage bottom-up planning.

Plus, including employees in culture-building efforts makes individuals feel even more respected and valued at work.

Fostering an inclusive environment for remote teams

As most organizations apply some form of remote work structure, be it having virtual teams across timezones or a hybrid work scheme, it's important not to take for granted the impact that DEIB still has on employees who aren't in a physical environment. Virtual diversity and inclusion are crucial for positive employee experiences all around.

While working remotely provides new opportunities to create work-life balance and well-being, it can also reinforce barriers to collaboration and connection if we’re not mindful. Managers must be proactive in addressing these challenges and creating a supportive atmosphere virtually where all team members feel included and engaged.

For example, employees who live alone might benefit from their ability to focus and be productive — but those who are less tech-savvy can end up spending more time navigating new tools, affecting their productivity. Equity in technology access can look different for everyone.

Tips for promoting inclusion and employee engagement across remote team members:

• Remember that even if employees work from home, it's still important to make space to speak out about how they’re feeling and thinking.
• Be mindful that remote team settings impact everyone differently. Offer support, mental health resources, and flexibility with schedules and workloads.
• Keep check-ins regular, even if virtual. Treat these as you would in-person meetings, setting enough time aside and keeping these meeting commitments.
• Encourage team members to check in with each other. Introduce employees to newcomers, and facilitate virtual inclusion team-building activities like social hours so everyone stays connected on a human level.
• Use technology to your advantage! Video conferencing platform features like shared whiteboards and quizzes are ways to amp up virtual diversity and inclusion activities and make screen-to-screen interactions more interesting.

7 DEIB activities to promote diversity and inclusion across teams

Inclusion must exist from beginning to end in an employee lifecycle — from when someone sees your recruiter brand to when they leave your company. After all, DEIB strategies are only as good as their real-life application.

Indeed, it takes proactive efforts to create better understanding, empathy, and appreciation between members of the entire team. Here are diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging activities specially designed to build stronger, more inclusive teams where conversation is at the core:

1. Learn about what's shaped each member of your team

When a safe space to learn about each other is created, managers and peers get a chance to learn more about each other, build trust, and, ultimately, foster deeper collaboration.

Making the time to know more about what's been vital in shaping who they are — be it their backgrounds, defining moments, or other unique experiences — gives an opportunity for employees to share who they are. The act of being open, honest, and vulnerable is a great way to create meaningful connections, increase empathy, and improve professional relationships.

How managers can run a team building activity centered on learning about each other:

• Ask everyone to think about the three defining personal or professional moments in their lives in separate post-its (remote teams can try a virtual whiteboard like Miro).
• Go around the "table" and have each employee present these moments to the rest of the team, sharing their story to the degree to which they feel comfortable.
• Create engagement by encouraging questions, and asking the team to share what their takeaways are from the exercise at the end of the activity.

Every day is an opportunity to learn more about our colleagues — and managers don't have to wait for diversity team-building activities to promote this. For example, taking five minutes before a weekly status to ask team members to share anything special they did could have a similar impact.

2. Foster understanding through perspective-taking

A team's collective differences are often what makes its strength. Recognizing that every employee's life experiences inform how they show up to work, and acknowledging the beauty in this, lets diverse team members know they can feel comfortable being themselves.

By incorporating diversity team-building activities built around sharing and receiving a variety of perspectives, team members are exposed to different ways to look at a situation. Perspective-taking exercises breed understanding, allowing colleagues to learn how to work better with each other and learn from one another.

Here's how managers can prompt perspective sharing:

• Pair team members from different backgrounds and ask them to write about the challenges they believe the other person might face and why. This could also work in small groups.
• Have members share these assumptions, and allow time for everyone to respond by sharing their perspectives.
• Discussing these insights and how different they might be. As a team, encourage everyone to express what they learned that was surprising or eye-opening and how that may help the way they work together in the future.

It's easy to forget to take a beat and take perspective in the shuffle of the day-to-day hustle. When managers plan for moments that encourage everyone to consider other people's truths, they help unlock more knowledge than meets the eye.

Workleap Officevibe's one-on-one meeting templates contain great conversation prompts around challenges, diverse talents, and personal motivations.

3. Confront stereotypes head-on

Sometimes, the best approach is a straightforward one. The "I Am, But I Am Not" is an activity suggested by MIT and a great way to break down misconceptions by giving people a chance to self-identify while also addressing the stereotypes that can accompany these identifying factors.

Here's how to structure an “I Am, But I am Not” activity:

• Have each employee fold a piece of paper in half to create two separate columns. This can be done on a virtual notepad.
• In the first column, they write “I Am,” and in the second column, they write “I Am Not.” In between these two columns, write the word “But.”
• Have the participants write common identifiers, such as gender, race, religion, or age, in the first column. Next to each statement and in the second column, have them write a false stereotype about each identifier (whether the stereotype is positive or negative). The final statement will read, “I am _____, but I am not _____.” which challenges common stereotypes associated with their identities.
• Have every employee take turns sharing their statements with the rest of the team and have open and respectful discussions around stereotypes.

By sharing and discussing how everyone lives with labels, good or bad, teams confront unconscious biases together, challenge stereotypes, and promote a deeper understanding of each other's experiences.

4. Walk in someone else’s shoes

There is no better way to create empathy and understanding than to mentally walk in someone else’s shoes. Diversity team building activities that have employees role play with one another help consider different challenges others face and unlock deeper appreciation.

How managers can lead a team building activity where team members walk in each others' shoes:

• Have team members share the different ways their personal identifiers or diverse backgrounds differentiate them.
• Pair up team members who have contrasting profiles. For example, an employee who is native to the country could be paired with an employee who has immigrated.
• Have everyone write a few lines on the distinct obstacles they believe the person they've been paired with could face. Then, have the pairs discuss these assumptions.
• One by one, invite employees to share and discuss what they learned about the colleague they were paired with. Invite others to ask questions and engage to build on the conversation.

By promoting active reflection in group discussions, managers can guide their teams towards a more empathic mindset, foster positive behaviors between peers, and create a healthier, more inclusive environment for all.

5. Bring bias to the forefront

Hosting unconscious bias training should be made a standard as, whether we like it or not, we all have biases — positive or negative. This is normal and should be framed as an opportunity to learn about each other rather than as a divide.

One way to confront bias and reduce the use of non-inclusive language or behavior is to call it out and encourage others to do the same. And there are ways to frame this positively, without blame.

Managers can create a bias jar for team members:

• Whenever bias is identified, have the individual who noticed it call it openly, either in person or on a team chat. For example, someone used gendered language when discussing a profession.
• The company adds a dollar to the bias jar in the name of the employee who made the call out. The jar can be a virtual one.
• At the end of the month, share the total submissions to the jar with the team. Make it an opportunity for a retrospective discussion on the learnings of the past month.
• Use the funds collected to organize either a fun diversity team-building activity or donate to a diversity-focused organization.

Activities around biases encourage self-awareness, accountability, and ongoing conversations about bias in the workplace. Making these activities feel like a game with a reward also incentivizes participation.

Different employees have different needs. Distributing resources and support among team members in a way that provides fair opportunities for everyone helps employees feel they belong, regardless of their differences.

Here's how managers can promote equity within their teams:

• Initiating discussions about workload distribution, access to development opportunities, and recognition for contributions is a must. This is essential to create a feedback loop of what works and doesn't work for some.
• Encourage open dialogue about resource allocation during team meetings or one-on-one sessions to address concerns. Leverage anonymous surveys for unfiltered suggestions or valuable insights.
• Based on feedback, adjust! This helps formulate the right strategies, as even the best managers may have unconscious biases influencing resource allocation decisions.

When managers adapt to their team's needs, it creates an environment where all employees are empowered to succeed.

Of course, transparency and fairness in resource allocation processes are key to promoting inclusivity. It's important to keep the conversation going and it shows employees' perspectives weigh in the decision-making process.

7. Cultivate a sense of belonging through team-building activities

Building a strong sense of belonging is the glue for teams. When employees feel strongly connected to their peers, it generates camaraderie and better collaboration.

Diversity team-building activities focused on community are a great way to enhance team bonding and remind everyone why working at their company is so much more than just "a job."

Here are ideas to cultivate belonging between team members:

• Virtual social events, team days offsite, or casual gatherings after work encourage diverse team members to build relationships and share moments outside of work tasks.
• Encourage team members who share similar backgrounds or interests to meet up and chat. This could be structured as formal internal groups or committees and gives colleagues a chance to help each other out.
• Get everyone involved in working together on projects or ideas. This builds teamwork and reminds everyone that their contributions matter.
• Give team members a chance to talk about their own experiences, stories, and cultural traditions. This helps us all learn from each other, celebrate diversity, and participate in team bonding moments. For example, employees can take turns each month the organize a special themed day.

By making team bonding activities as much of a priority as work-related activities, managers promote mutual appreciation and respect. The stronger team members feel about each other, the stronger teamwork and results become.

Expert tips for leaders to build an inclusive workplace

Leaders play a pivotal role in keeping everyone connected and giving everyone an equal say. Inclusive managers listen empathetically to their employees, advocate for them, and break down barriers when needed.

Michelle Kim, CEO of Awaken, a professional coaching and training service, is passionate about changing the face of diversity and inclusion efforts within organizations. Here are her three tips for leaders to build inclusivity and promote diversity in the workplace:

1. See employees as people, not just workers

There’s a tendency to think that an employee's identity in and out of the workplace are separate, but they’re not. Leaders need to demonstrate through words and actions that they acknowledge their employees as people, not just workers, to signal true appreciation for everyone's unique value.

By asking questions, showing keen interest, and providing support for employees' personal needs show that their happiness and safety at work are important to the company.

Tip: Use a survey to find out what religious and cultural days or holidays are significant to your employees from different backgrounds and offer them the time off! Make this a part of company policy.

2. Lead through tension

Remember that a workplace does not exist separately from the world, and world events affect your employees. Whether it touches on race, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or other identity-based issues, it’s key for managers to check in with their teams, for leadership members to make formal company statements, and for HR members to create a safe space to hold discussions or offer support.

Tip: Keep your pulse on local and global news. When major events targeting specific communities occur, gather your team and let them know that you recognize the impact. Ask if anyone needs some time off, and remind them you have an open-door policy should they need to talk.

3. Use your power to level the playing field

People look to their leaders to set the norm, demonstrated through decision-making processes, policies, and practices. Managers can model inclusive behavior by addressing non-inclusive language, enlisting in unconscious bias training, listening to and amplifying underrepresented voices, giving credit where credit is due, and delegating work equitably to give everyone the chance to shine.

Tip: There's always room to learn, so annual diversity or disability awareness training sessions are great ways to show that leadership is equally invested in growing with their teams and the world.

Meeting today's DEIB standards: Assessing where your strategies stand with Pulse Surveys

Inclusive and diverse teams are more innovative and adaptable and more engaged, committed, and productive. Investing in DEIB initiatives is a no-brainer. So, how can managers assess their strategies to know whether or not there is room to improve?

Feedback tools like safe, anonymous Pulse Surveys gather insights from employees to help inform action plans. Workleap Officevibe's DEIB Survey & Report is specially designed to help calibrate how your team members feel about representation and inclusivity at work.

It's a comprehensive questionnaire with questions like:

• Do you think everyone gets fair treatment within our organization?
• How would you rate our company's inclusive culture on a scale from 1 to 10?
• Do managers offer equal opportunities to people of all different backgrounds?

That said, you can build your own DEIB survey. The secret is to make it a group effort and part of ongoing improvement. When leaders, managers, and employees are all on the same page about prioritizing DEIB, individuals and organizations thrive.