Who gives managers feedback on their own performance?

Managers spend a lot of time evaluating other people's performance. They give feedback, discuss progress, identify development opportunities, and help employees figure out where they need to improve. They're used to delivering feedback, but what about receiving feedback themselves?

A manager might think their team has clear priorities, only to learn that employees are unsure what's expected of them. They might consider their 1:1s productive, while employees leave feeling that their concerns went unheard. These disconnects can go unnoticed for months if managers get few opportunities to hear how their employees feel about their leadership.

Most managers want to help their people do their best, and many have invested time in learning how to coach and develop employees. But if they're not getting feedback on how those skills are working in practice, it's easy to fall back into familiar, unhelpful habits.

The manager feedback gap

Most HR teams are tracking the basics of performance management — whether managers complete each performance review, hold regular 1:1s, and attend leadership training. But getting a clear picture of how well they're actually managing their teams is considerably harder.

Betterworks' 2026 performance management survey found a disconnect between how HR and business leaders assess managers' abilities. While 77% of HR leaders rated managers as very or extremely effective at coaching employees to improve performance, only 71% of business leaders agreed. And 81% of HR leaders rated managers highly effective at turning business strategy into clear direction for employees, compared to just 66% of business leaders — an even wider gap.

That difference suggests HR may have a more optimistic view of manager abilities than business leaders themselves. And with 46% of business leaders identifying coaching for improved performance as an area where they need more support, there's clearly room to close that gap.

Managers themselves recognize there's room to improve, but they may not always know where to focus. Someone who consistently holds weekly 1:1s, for example, might have no idea that their employees leave those conversations with more questions than answers. Without hearing that feedback, there's no way to know they need to change their approach.

Managers need to understand how their leadership is landing

Managers aren't always the best judges of how their own behavior affects their teams. They know what they're trying to accomplish in a conversation, but they don't necessarily know what the employee took away from it.

Take a manager who prides themselves on giving employees plenty of independence. They see it as a sign of trust, but an employee who's struggling with a new responsibility might see that same approach as a lack of support. Neither person may realize they're seeing the situation differently until something goes wrong.

In Coaching that sticks, our ebook developed with leadership coach LeAnne Lagasse, we explore three types of awareness that help managers become better coaches: self-awareness, other-awareness, and impact-awareness. Each helps managers understand a different part of their relationship with employees.

Self-awareness: Recognizing your own habits

Most managers develop a leadership style over time, shaped by the managers they've worked for and their own career experiences. Some are naturally hands-on, while others prefer to give employees more freedom. Neither approach is always better, but managers need to recognize their own habits and when those habits might cause problems.

For example, a manager who's used to having all the answers might jump in with solutions whenever an employee encounters a problem. It's a quick way to keep work moving, but if it happens every time, employees miss opportunities to build their own judgment and problem-solving skills.

Self-awareness means recognizing those patterns, especially under pressure. A manager who knows they're quick to offer solutions can make an effort to ask employees what they've already considered before offering advice. That small change gives employees more room to work through challenges on their own.

The same applies to how managers handle negative feedback. Someone who tends to avoid difficult conversations may need to pay closer attention to when they're holding back important information. Another manager might be too quick to point out mistakes without recognizing what employees are doing well.

Other-awareness: Understanding what employees need

Even when they do understand their own leadership style, feedback for managers helps if they struggle to recognize how much their employees' needs differ.

An experienced team member who's confident in their role might appreciate a manager who checks in occasionally and otherwise stays out of the way. Someone who's new to the organization or taking on unfamiliar work may need more guidance, reassurance, and opportunities to ask questions.

Those needs can also change. An employee who's usually independent might need more support when priorities shift, or they're dealing with a difficult project. A manager who makes assumptions about what that employee typically needs could easily miss the signs.

Other-awareness requires managers to pay attention to the individual, rather than treating every employee or conversation the same way. Regular check-ins can help, especially when managers ask about workload, obstacles, and what kind of support would be useful.

These conversations also give managers a chance to understand how employees feel about their day-to-day work and their work relationship with their manager. An employee who feels comfortable asking questions may be more willing to raise a problem early, while someone who's worried about being judged may stay quiet until the issue gets worse.

Impact-awareness: Knowing whether your approach is working

This is where employee feedback becomes especially valuable.

A manager can understand their own habits and make a real effort to support employees, but still misjudge how their leadership is being received. They may think they're providing clear direction because they've explained the team's priorities in several meetings. Meanwhile, employees might understand the overall goals but remain unsure about which tasks should come first.

Impact-awareness helps managers recognize these differences between what they intended and what employees actually experienced.

Consider a manager who makes an effort to recognize good work. They regularly thank employees during a team meeting and acknowledge their contributions. But some employees may find public recognition uncomfortable, or feel that the positive feedback is too general to help them understand what they're doing well.

Without hearing that perspective, the manager has little reason to reconsider an approach they believe is encouraging.

This applies to constructive criticism, too. A manager may believe they're being clear and helpful when pointing out a mistake, while an employee leaves the conversation unsure how to improve.

Feedback from employees can help uncover these blind spots, but managers also need a chance to discuss what they're hearing and understand the context. A low survey score might suggest a problem, but a conversation about what's happening in the team can help identify what needs to change.

Developing these three types of awareness takes practice, particularly when managers are busy and used to working in certain ways. HR can help by making reflection and feedback a regular part of manager development, rather than something that happens only during formal evaluations.

Why annual surveys aren't enough

Annual engagement surveys and 360-degree feedback can give managers valuable insight into how employees experience their leadership. The problem with annual feedback is just that — by the time managers get the results, they may be responding to situations that happened months ago.

If a manager only learns at the end of the year that their team has struggled with unclear priorities, they've missed plenty of opportunities to address the issue. The feedback might help them improve going forward, but it doesn't do much for employees who already spent months working without the direction they needed.

Our 2026 manager effectiveness survey found that 40% of organizations provide managers with periodic training but limited ongoing support. Just 24% offer real-time coaching and enablement.

Those findings aren't specifically about employee feedback, but they point to a similar problem with how organizations support managers. Too often, development happens at scheduled times. Then, when managers are dealing with real situations, there's little guidance available.

That doesn't mean HR needs to send out weekly feedback surveys. A short pulse question, feedback gathered during check-ins that are already happening, or a conversation about recurring challenges can help managers understand how things are going while they still have a chance to make changes.

There's also value in keeping track of what comes out of those conversations. When employees and managers can build on past discussions instead of starting from scratch each time, it's easier to see whether problems are being resolved. We explore this further in our article on turning 1:1s into useful performance insights.

How HR can make manager feedback more useful

Giving managers more feedback is a good start, but HR also needs to consider what they're asking, how the information gets shared, and whether managers can do anything useful with it.

1. ASK: Ask about specific behaviors. 

A general question about manager satisfaction might reveal that something is wrong, but it doesn't offer much direction for improvement. Asking whether employees understand their priorities, receive useful guidance, or feel comfortable raising concerns gives managers a clearer idea of what they might need to work on.

It's also worth giving employees opportunities to explain their answers. Two employees who both report receiving insufficient feedback might mean very different things. One may want more recognition for good work, while another needs clearer guidance when they're struggling. Understanding the type of feedback employees need can help managers adjust their approach.

2. CONNECT: Look at feedback alongside what's happening in the team.

Employee responses can be especially helpful when considered alongside goal progress, recurring roadblocks, and the topics coming up in performance conversations. If employees keep asking for clarification or projects get delayed by the same issues, that context can help a manager understand where their approach needs attention.

HR can also look for patterns over time. A single missed goal or difficult conversation doesn't necessarily point to a management problem, but repeated feedback about unclear expectations may be worth exploring.

3. ACT: Help managers put the feedback to use. 

There's little value in collecting employee opinions if the results sit in a dashboard until the next review cycle. Managers need time to reflect on what they're hearing, discuss it with their own leaders, and decide what they'll do differently.

For example, rather than asking a manager to improve their communication in general, HR could encourage them to focus on one behavior, like confirming priorities and next steps at the end of each 1:1. Employee responses over the following weeks can help them see whether that adjustment is making a difference.

Managers also need to know how to respond when employees offer constructive feedback. Listening without getting defensive, asking questions, and following through on concerns can make future conversations more productive. Effective feedback should give someone a clear idea of what they can change, whether it comes from a manager or an employee.

HR should also be thoughtful about how feedback is collected and shared, particularly when employees are commenting on their direct managers. For many employees, giving feedback to your boss can feel risky, especially if they worry that speaking up could affect their career.

Building psychological safety is important here. Employees need to trust that they can share honest feedback without facing negative consequences. HR should protect confidentiality where possible and make sure managers understand how to respond to criticism.

Even a difficult feedback conversation can be useful when both people feel heard, and there's a clear plan for what happens next.

The goal is to make this manageable for everyone involved. Building a few well-timed opportunities for feedback into existing processes is more sustainable than creating a separate program that managers and employees have to keep up with.

Better managers need a better feedback loop

Managers are expected to help employees understand their strengths, recognize where they need to improve, and build new skills over time. They deserve that same level of support in their own professional development.

That support makes a difference. Betterworks' 2026 manager effectiveness survey found that organizations providing real-time enablement or treating manager effectiveness as a strategic priority reported a 92% manager effectiveness rating, compared with 76% among organizations relying on periodic training or leaving managers to figure things out.

Feedback is one part of that ongoing support. When managers better understand how their leadership affects employees, they can make more informed decisions about where to focus their development and which habits might need to change.

But what happens after the feedback matters just as much. Managers need opportunities to practice new approaches, see whether they're working, and keep building on them over time.

As we explore in our article on why managers need less friction, not more expectations, HR also needs to consider whether managers have the time, tools, and support to put these changes into practice.

Our ebook, Coaching that sticks: How HR leaders can help managers build lasting habits, developed in partnership with LeAnne Lagasse, explores how HR can help managers turn coaching skills into habits they use consistently, even when work gets busy.