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Most leadership experts emphasize the importance of feedback from company employees, but incorporating it into business operations is easier said than done.

Feedback is crucial to get a sense of how effective the decisions and goals of management are. Moreover, seeking feedback regularly helps to create greater trust between management and workers, as well as improving employee engagement and productivity.

Cognitive bias

Often, however, management has a mindset that prevents seeking and getting accurate feedback from workers. Leaders are sometimes the victim of their own cognitive bias, which leads to errors in judgment.

One example of cognitive bias is known as the false consensus effect. This leads people to mistakenly think that others share their beliefs. So, management may think that their employees are on board with company actions and policies, but workers may not necessarily share the managers’ beliefs.

Another judgment error is called the status quo bias, which is the belief that things are fine just as they are, and there is no need for change.

There is also confirmation bias, which is the tendency people have to only recognize information that confirms the beliefs they already hold and to ignore information that may contradict their beliefs.

Leaders need to be aware of these cognitive biases so that they can engage in a genuine way with their workforce.

Ways to get feedback

Active

One way to get feedback from workers is by actively pursuing it. This involves asking specific questions to get focused answers. There are specific questions you can ask to get a more comprehensive picture of employee attitudes and beliefs.

For example, you can ask them how they feel about a certain issue to get a sense of their emotional state and reaction. You can ask them about their thoughts on management directives to get a sense of their beliefs about certain issues.

You can also talk to them about how their personal experiences match up with management policies. And you can develop other questions that are focused on particular issues to get an idea of what they are thinking.

Passive

There is also a more passive way to gather feedback from your workers. This involves taking the time to listen and observe their behavior and their communication with you and each other. How they communicate with each other about company policies can give you insight into their perspective. You can also look at their comments on social media and blogs to get an idea of what they are thinking and feeling about the work environment.

Winston Resources is here to provide your company with the talent you need to make your business the best it can be. We have the knowledge and experience to help your business. Give us a call today.


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