One of the factors for employee satisfaction is the relationship between manager and worker. Bosses who are competent, fair, supportive can create a sense of trust and loyalty in their employees. To evaluate managers performance can be difficult. But there are many ways you can do it without them knowing. You can notice how often they make decisions, figure out how much feedback they provide, how the boss motivates and collaborates with employees, or how much time they spend with each team member daily.
Why Should you Evaluate your Manager Performance?
A manager’s performance has a major impact on you, your colleagues, and the company in general. The way a boss performs can negatively affect your job satisfaction. It can affect your confidence, morale, and your career development.
So, if you are unhappy in your job, it could be possible your boss is the culprit. Evaluating your manager performance can show you whether or not this might be the case and if they need to improve.
How to Evaluate Managers Performances
You need to evaluate your manager performance on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest for every category that applies to them including, reliability, effective communication, loyalty, fairness, support, and people management skills.
So, here are 10 examples of questions for employees to evaluate managers:
1. Does your Boss Check in With you to see How Things are Going?
Checking in with your employees can be a sign of interest, or it may just be routine. Managers are responsible for overseeing their employees and ensuring that they are working to the best of their abilities.
To do so, a boss needs to be checking in with them regularly, but how often should they check in on you? The frequency of your boss checking in with you is an indicator of how they feel about your work.
If they are constantly asking for updates, it might be because they are interested in what you are working on and want to make sure everything is going smoothly.
When your boss checks on you too much, that could be micromanaging or overbearing. If not enough, it may seem like he does not care about what is going on at work.
The check-in must yield positive results. So, establish the true intentions of your manager based on the outcomes of that check-in.
2. Does your Manager Provide you with Clear Instructions?
Not all managers give their employees detailed instructions about how to do their jobs. Many leave it up to them to figure things out or do not tell them at all. It can lead to confusion and frustration for everyone concerned.
Your boss must provide all details of what they are requesting from you. It ensures that you both understand what their expectations are, and there won’t be any ambiguity as to where you should be focusing your time.
Letting people know what needs doing doesn’t just make things easier for everyone. It also helps increase productivity because employees are less likely to spend time guessing what to do.
Related article: 8 Examples of What to Tell Your Manager to Improve On
3. How Often Do You Have a Performance Review with Your Manager?
Does your boss just mention it now and then, or is there a formal process that takes place at least once per year? If the latter, how does this affect your feelings about work?
The formal review process is a critical component of the employee-manager relationship. It includes a meeting with you and your boss to provide feedback and an opportunity for each party to assess performance and set goals for the following months or year.
It is a great way to know that you are on the right track. It also ensures that your manager knows where they can provide more support and if there’s anything that needs improvement to be successful, so it should happen at least once per year.
4. Does your Boss seem Interested in Getting Feedback?
Does your boss seem interested in getting feedback from you about their performance? Your manager should be interested to hear from you about their performance, especially if they want to know how they could improve.
Ideally, a good manager will want to know how well they are doing with their employees.
If your boss is not asking for feedback or listening to your thoughts on what could work better and what is going well, then it may be that they don’t value your opinion.
Some bosses are reluctant to hear what employees have to say because they don’t want negative feedback.
However, the benefit of receiving feedback from employees outweighs any negatives as it helps managers to understand why people do certain things in the workplace.
Letting employees voice their opinions may have its challenges, but it can help create positive change in the workplace and make everyone happy.
5. Do they Take Responsibility for Mistakes?
Many people get frustrated with their bosses, and it is not just because they have to work extra hard to get the job done. Bosses and employees can make mistakes that affect everyone in the company.
When something goes wrong, there are usually two ways a manager reacts: they take responsibility for the mistakes others who report to them make or blame employees.
The best managers know how to balance the two to make employees feel empowered, proud of their work, and supported by their manager.
6. Does your Manager Give you Guidelines at the Start of a Review Conversation?
Managers often give their employees a vague list of things they could improve in their performance.
It can be challenging knowing what your boss wants you to improve or fix when they do not give you specific guidelines. You can’t tell someone what they need to work on if you don’t know where they stand.
So, your manager should give you a list of things or topics at the beginning of every review conversation. This way, both parties can move forward with the improvements in mind and avoid any potential issues. You need to understand the expectations of your manager so you can meet them.
Read also: 14 Key Areas of Improvement for Managers
7. Do you Feel like your Voice Heard at Work?
You deserve a voice. Does your manager allow employees to provide input on decisions, or does your manager just tell you what they want without asking for your opinion?
It’s essential that you feel valued and included. You may be surprised that some managers don’t seek any input from their employees. They think they know best and don’t need help from their people.
When managers do not allow employees to have a voice in decision-making, it leads to low morale and disengagement.
8. Does your Manager Compensate you Fairly?
If you notice your workload is increasing and your pay hasn’t increased proportionately, it might be time to evaluate if you are being compensated fairly.
Many people don’t think about their salaries until they have been working for a while. But it’s essential to be compensated fairly for the level of responsibility.
When you look at all aspects of compensation including, base salary and bonuses, you may find yourself significantly earn less than your peers.
Because some managers compensate employees based on their salary grade, which is not always fair when considering how much work some individuals do.
It can be difficult to ask for a raise without having some idea of what other employees in similar positions are making.
Do an anonymous salary survey with coworkers and see how they compare — are other people who do similar work get paid more than you.
Determine if you’re being compensated fairly for the level of responsibility by comparing your current salary with those who hold similar positions or roles in other organizations.
Read more: 10 Ways How to Be Attentive to Details
9. Does the Manager Communicate Well?
Managers must communicate effectively with their teams. To be a good communicator, the manager must speak in a way that resonates with the employees.
A key part of being an effective communicator is knowing what not to say and when not to say it. In addition, your boss must be willing to listen and keep communication channels open between them and employees.
Effective communication is critical in any work environment, especially when managing people because there are many different personalities in the workplace.
When managers give clear instructions on how they want things done, employees feel more confident of doing the right job and do it better. It removes confusion and unclear communications.
The problem with vague communication is that it usually leads to misunderstandings among employees and the manager.
10. Do you Feel your Boss Listens to what you Say?
Do you find yourself getting upset and frustrated when they do not take time to hear out your concerns? Many employees experience daily the feeling of being ignored by their boss.
It can be very frustrating and leads to negative emotions such as anger, frustration, or sadness. How do you know if your boss is listening to what you are saying?
Some signs can indicate your manager is not listening. These include cutting off the conversation, changing the subject or topic without being prompted to do so.
Your boss might have a different opinion about something than you and refuse to listen to why their point of view could be wrong.
When you tell your manager something, they can dismiss it as untrue and disregard any evidence that supports the claim.
And finally, when an employee suggests improvement, the manager often responds by telling them how things work instead of taking time to discuss your ideas and see how they could be implemented.
If your manager listens to you, they will always take time to understand what is you are saying before replying or making decisions about something.
Conclusion:
For most people, it’s easy to tell if a manager is doing their job well. A good manager will lead by example and show that he cares about the people who work for them.
Your boss must ensure that every team member has all of the resources you need to complete to do the job effectively and efficiently.
In addition, your manager must praise people who deserve it, offer constructive criticism in private as needed, and address any complaint privately as soon as possible. Finally, your boss needs to strive to improve themselves to become a better leader.
What works for you? Let us know how you evaluate managers performance in the comments below