How To Build Confident Feedback Leaders
I've hired and worked with dozens of new managers, and there's a pattern I see repeatedly: they know they should give feedback, but fear holds them back. The data confirms this isn't isolated. You've probably seen it too, since about 70% of managers struggle with giving direct feedback, primarily due to fear of hurting feelings (radical candor).
This fear creates a serious business problem. Employees are starving for feedback–63% want more "in the moment" guidance–yet nearly half only receive feedback during annual reviews. This gap between employees' desires and their reality is crucial. When employees frequently receive meaningful feedback, engagement gets a huge boost. Gallup found that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback within the past week are fully engaged [1].
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The Cost Of The Feedback Barrier
When managers suffer from the feedback barrier, everyone loses. Organizations with highly engaged workforces outperform their peers with 23% higher profitability [2]. I've seen this play out countless times: teams where feedback is not only the norm but the expectation consistently outperform those where managers stay silent.
When feedback is part of the culture, it shows up everywhere, from full-team project retrospectives to weekly one-on-ones. For instance, after a major product launch, many effective managers gather their team to discuss what worked and what didn't. They make it safe to share concerns and suggestions. This feeling of security grows from trust, which often develops through regular check-ins between managers and their reports, where they can provide specific feedback on recent work. Managers that make feedback normal build better performing teams.
Breaking Through Fear
For talent leaders, the challenge is clear: how do we help managers overcome the feedback barrier? Many companies are finding the answer through a renewed focus on activity-based training, where skills can be practiced in the flow of work to develop habits and drive behavior change. Pushing further, the results of activities, personalized for each learner, can be measured for their effect on level 3 and 4 metrics in the business. Here are the basics of what's working:
1. Practice In The Real World
Traditional classroom training isn't enough. Since 70% of learning happens on the job, managers need to practice giving feedback in real situations [3]. This means providing managers with specific activities they can try during their actual workday. For example, a manager could receive a training activity with the following steps:
- Approach a team member you've recently given feedback to.
- Discuss whether they've implemented your feedback or found opportunities to leverage the strength you highlighted.
- Work together to set a small, specific goal for the upcoming weeks based on their progress so far, agreeing to check in again in two weeks. Make it clear you're available to help and support them along the way.
Not only does an activity like this provide a growth opportunity for the new or reluctant manager, it's also part of doing their job well. No need to stop working to accomplish training. The training happens in the flow of work.
2. Personalized Development Paths
That particular activity may be more or less challenging, depending on the manager. Every manager starts from a different place. Some are naturally direct but need help with empathy. Others are empathetic but struggle with clarity. I've found that personalizing training to each manager's style dramatically improves results. In my own business, we use AI to create customized learning pathways, but you can start by simply creating different content tracks for new versus experienced managers.
3. Measure What Matters
A major challenge talent leaders face is proving the effectiveness of their training, and the ROI on their L&D investments. To address this longstanding problem, some companies are introducing A/B testing to measure the effectiveness of their training initiatives. Rather than implementing a new training program for all managers, you could take a more scientific approach. Provide that training to just one group of managers, and either hold out the other group from training or provide them a different program. Then track how each training approach affected team engagement scores or retention rates over time. This approach introduces statistically significant metrics for the business impact of L&D initiatives.
Conclusion
Through the practice of feedback in the flow of work, new and reluctant managers can break through the barrier of fear and start building an engaged team to strengthen the overall business. For talent leaders, there's an emerging path to help these new and feedback hesitant managers: implement activity-based feedback training that happens in the flow of work. This gives managers the practice time they need to build confidence and competence, and most importantly change their habits and behavior. Finally, don't forget to measure the impact of your training initiatives on business outcomes. After all, the goal isn't just better feedback, it's better business results.
References:
[1] A Great Manager's Most Important Habit
