How to Give Feedback to Your Remote Manager

How to Give Feedback to Your Remote Manager

Giving your boss feedback—even when they invite you to do so—can be uncomfortable. In a remote setting, it can be especially tricky to give feedback.

Here’s a look at tactful, effective ways to give feedback to a remote manager:

Give a heads-up.

Whether you’ve been asked to provide feedback to your remote manager or decide you’d like to do so on your own, don’t just dive into matters without preparation. Schedule a time to talk, or alert the person that written feedback will be arriving on a certain day. Such actions allow the person to focus on your comments rather than be caught off guard or interrupted.

Consider the medium.

An email may be fine for general comments or words of praise, but information that’s sensitive or likely to generate debate may require a different form of delivery. Try video chats to mimic a face-to-face encounter when you give feedback.

“When the manager is remote, it is more difficult to see reactions to our facts and stories—to what we are saying,” says David Maxfield, vice president of research at VitalSmarts. “This is especially true when we’re using a phone call, rather than a video link. We may miss their frowns, hurt feelings, and anger. If we aren’t careful, we’ll plow along stating our perspective, without noticing that they’ve already turned us off.”

Begin with common ground.

While you may not physically be together, remember that you and your manager are on the same team. Starting the conversation with a nod to a broader purpose you both share shows respect and limits defensiveness. Consider statements such as, “Since we’re always looking for ways to improve communication, I thought now might be a good time to mention . . .” or, “I know time management is important to both of us, so I was thinking it might be helpful if . . . .”

Avoid generalities.

Your perception of situations or intentions may be much different than your manager’s. Thus, keep comments as observable or measurable as possible rather than making blanket statements or jumping to judgements.

“When the manager is remote, it is even more important to put feedback into context,” Maxfield says. “There is a good chance that you don’t share the same fact base. Your data streams might be very different, and this will lead to different priorities and conclusions. Take extra time to ensure that you share the same situational awareness.”

Encourage discussion.

Finally, think of feedback as a springboard for conversation, not as a presentation of grievances. Forgo monologues in favor of asking for your manager’s perspective.

And while everyone’s in the mood for improving the new year, make a resolution to converse more often. As Maxfield notes, “When the manager is remote, we may only talk to them when we’ve got a problem with them. If this is the case, they will begin to dread every phone call. When a manager is on-site, we are more likely to have a wide range of conversations. We need to make sure we have a similarly wide range of conversations with our remote managers.”

Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com


By Beth Braccio Hering | Categories: Work Remotely


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