Most people tend to avoid conflict.
As a manager, this means the inputs you’re getting may be skewed, typically towards the best possible interpretation.
This is especially true for personal inputs – how people perceive you and your leadership.
A few tools to help mitigate this:
1. Give less weight to positive feedback/news. “We have it working” may mean only the first test is passing. “Overall, our company is great” may mean the person has specific points in mind where it is not.
2. Give more weight to negative feedback/news. “I think we may have a problem in my feature X, still investigating” may imply there’s already a significant concern this is a big issue. “There’s something small that’s troubling me” typically means it’s already large enough to warrant an uncomfortable discussion with one’s manager.
3. Build trust. More than anything else, people will provide more accurate information the safer they feel. you, as a manager, have their best interest at heart. That will allow them to move from trying to present themselves in the best possible light, to sharing their most honest feedback.
4. Dig deeper. Make sure you understand the feedback given to you in detail by asking for details and examples. This will help you create an informed opinion about how great/no-so-great things actually are.
Cheers,
Yair
Keep doing what did as leader before; it felt genuine and right to me! Best wishes in your future. When possible, I might tune into your blogging/comments or comments on social media once in a while. 🙂