Your team’s thoughts and insights can be incredibly useful in figuring out how to improve your workplace.
However, for employee reflection to have a meaningful impact, the business must put things in place that encourage honest and thoughtful insights.
Here are a few ways to encourage your team to reflect:
Have open lines of communication.
It’s important to encourage employees to communicate openly and make it a norm to give and receive feedback. Make sure to incorporate reflection questions into your regular reviews or KRA’s. Listen closely, ask for details, and then do your best to implement necessary changes and follow up with them. As you welcome and respond well to feedback, you build trust with your team and have a better chance of gaining honest and valuable insights.
Lead by example.
Show your employees how. Openly reflect on your own performance and the company/team performance from your perspective. Show them how you do it in a genuine and honest way and explain how important this process is.
Make professional growth as important as results.
As you reflect on the year, don’t exclusively reflect on the business bottom line and operations. Take the time to also reflect on employee skills/development and ask meaningful questions about team culture.
Use a strengths-based tool.
When a leader focuses on where individuals thrive, employees feel seen, valued, and motivated. This creates more trust and safety to reflect on areas where improvement is needed. Two of our favorite strength-based tools are DISC and Working Genius.
Use a SWOT analysis.
Utilizing a SWOT analysis — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats — is a good way to get interesting feedback. SWOT analysis works so well because employees do not immediately start by complaining about what is wrong with the company, instead, it challenges them to look at the company from all sides.
Keep it simple.
Sometimes the best reflection is simple and repeatable. Ask your team to help you list wins and losses from the past year. Be prepared to share a few meaningful highs and a few honest challenges. Get your team’s perspective and ask clarifying questions.
As Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” The first step to change is reflecting on what went well, what was difficult, and where improvement is needed. This can provide the foundational insights needed for intentional improvement and growth.
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Great content Matt!