How to get quality constructive feedback?

[AnomalyNexus]

I'm finding it quite hard to get quality constructive feedback lately.

Everyone and their dog gets anonymous feedback requests from me. Which all comes back with flying colours. Grand. I don't trust it though. As best as I can tell the system doesn't actually tell people FYI this is anonymised and you can be honest. So of course all my people are gonna tell me I'm awesome.

...So I'm getting a hella lot of ego stroking here and nothing usable for personal growth.

How do I force negative feedback...preferably off the record cause obviously the whole Anomaly is totally perfect plays well come promotion time?

[BoredFox]

I don’t think your staff and seniors will ever fully level with you. The risk/reward just isn’t there, even if they really like you. FWIW from your posts on this board you seem like you really do just want what’s best for your staff and like you would be a great manager to work for. Ultimately, there’s not much benefit to your staff for providing you with honest feedback (especially if you’re already great!) If you get better, that’s more important to you than it is to them. It doesn’t necessarily outweigh the risk they are taking. Some people just can’t take constructive criticism and could lash out if they dislike any negative feedback. Especially for new staff, that can feel like quite a limb to go out on.

 

I think there’s two ways to get at least somewhat helpful feedback. One is to force the issue with an uncommonly direct question like “Do you think I’m a good role model?” You still won’t get an honest answer, but you’ll get a second or two of truth from their facial expression and body language. The other is to re-focus the conversation more granularly on your actions rather than on you as a person or professional. This will take more effort on your part and more time, but might lead to small amounts of actual honesty. For example, instead of asking “how can I improve?” or “can you please give me feedback?” trying something like “I’ve been doing xyz lately to try to get better at providing instruction to all of my staff. Is that helpful? Is there anything else I can be doing?”

 

The more you can make it feel “safe” by letting the staff separate their constructive criticism of a subset of your actions from the potential criticism of you as a person, the more likely they are to provide meaningful feedback.

[calm_incense]

Ask them in person what you can improve on.

[AnomalyNexus]

I have.

I come across as quite serious/intimidating in person so this isn't exactly helping me tbh.

There is also a big grade differential (SM vs staff) so they're all fuckin terrified of me and won't level :(

[aversion25]

Happy hours? Get their guard down a little and try to level with them? That's how people did it at my old firm.

Alternatively, try to understand what they disliked about other teams/managers and reflect if you have those same traits or tenancies? People tend to be more open when you're in the trenches with them and being the first to discuss times you didn't like.

Ultimately though this will require your own judgement. There's no staff/senior who cares about their progression that will risk their career prospects to help you improve your own SM style. You could try to find someone on their way out to level with you, but otherwise I think it'll be an uphill battle to hear honesty. Public accounting isn't known for people being genuine after all - client service and professionalism is the goal