Essential Upward Feedback Questions: Enable Managerial Excellence

Collecting upward feedback is a crucial aspect of performance management, allowing employees to evaluate their managers.

By asking the right questions in managerial performance appraisals, you identify your managers’ strengths and areas for improvement, fostering a culture of continuous development and open communication.

We curated 40+ qualitative and quantitative upward feedback sample questions that cover various aspects of managerial performance. Select the most relevant ones to gather comprehensive and actionable feedback.

Upward feedback survey questions for your manager evaluations

Upward feedback is essential for gaining insights into managers’ performance from their direct reports. Cover diverse areas of managerial responsibilities and behaviors to ensure comprehensive and constructive employee feedback.

Here are some common upward feedback questions grouped by theme. We added both qualitative and quantitative questions so you can gather comprehensive and actionable feedback that reflects various aspects of managerial performance.

Communication

Effective communication is vital for successful management. Questions in this category should assess how well managers convey information, listen to their team, and foster open dialogue.

Qualitative questions:

1. Clarity of communication: How clear and understandable are the instructions and information provided by your manager?
2. Active listening: Does your manager actively listen to your concerns and ideas?
3. Frequency and effectiveness of communication: How regularly does your manager communicate with you, and is it effective?

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Clarity of communication: The manager communicates clear goals for the team.
2. Active listening: The manager listens to my concerns and ideas.
3. Frequency and effectiveness of communication: The manager regularly shares relevant information from their manager and upper leadership.

Management style

How a manager leads and interacts with their team can significantly impact the work environment and team performance. Questions should evaluate their leadership approach, decision-making, and ability to support, motivate, and inspire the team.

Qualitative questions:

1. Leadership approach: How would you describe your manager’s leadership style?
2. Decision-making: How effective is your manager at making decisions and involving the team?
3. Motivation and inspiration: How does your manager motivate and inspire you to achieve your best work?
4. Autonomy: How much autonomy does your manager give you in your work?
5. Supportiveness: How is your manager helping you overcome challenges?

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Decision-making: The manager effectively collaborates with me and my fellow teammates.
2. Motivation and inspiration: The manager consistently shows consideration for me as a person.
3. Autonomy: The manager offers the autonomy I need to do my job.
4. Supportiveness: The manager provides the necessary support to help me overcome challenges.

Team collaboration and support

A manager’s ability to foster a collaborative and supportive team environment is essential for productivity and job satisfaction. Questions should evaluate how well the manager encourages teamwork and supports their team members.

Qualitative questions:

1. Encouragement of teamwork: How does your manager promote teamwork and collaboration within our team?
2. Supportiveness: How does your manager provide the necessary support and resources for you to perform your job?
3. Conflict resolution: How does your manager resolve conflicts within the team?
4. Building work relationships: How effectively does your manager foster positive working relationships within the team?

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Encouragement of teamwork: The manager promotes teamwork and collaboration within our team.
2. Supportiveness: The manager provides the necessary support and resources for me to perform my job effectively.
3. Conflict resolution: The manager effectively handles conflicts within the team.
4. Building work relationships: The manager effectively fosters positive working relationships within the team.

Support for professional development

Managers play a crucial role in the growth and development of their team members. This category should assess the manager’s commitment to employee development and the resources they provide.

Qualitative questions:

1. Career development support: How often does your manager engage in meaningful discussions about your career development?
2. Training and development opportunities: Does your manager provide opportunities for training and development?
3. Feedback and coaching: How effective is your manager at providing constructive feedback and coaching?
4. Employee engagement: How does your manager keep you motivated and engaged in your work?

Quantitative questions(Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Career development support: The manager has had meaningful discussions with me about my career development in the past six months.
2. Training and development opportunities: The manager provides training opportunities that allow me to develop my skillset.
3. Feedback and coaching: The manager gives you actionable feedback regularly.
4. Employee engagement: The manager keeps me motivated and engaged in my work.

Recognition and appreciation

Recognizing and appreciating employees’ efforts and achievements can boost morale and motivation. Questions in this category should gauge how well managers acknowledge and reward their team members.

Qualitative questions:

1. Acknowledgment of efforts: How often does your manager recognize and appreciate your contributions?
2. Fairness in recognition: Do you feel that your manager acknowledges the efforts of all team members fairly?
3. Encouragement: How does your manager encourage you to achieve your best work?

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Acknowledgment of efforts: The manager regularly recognizes and appreciates my contributions.
2. Fairness in recognition: The manager fairly acknowledges the efforts of all team members.
3. Encouragement: The manager encourages me to achieve my best work.

Goal setting

Clear and achievable goals are crucial for guiding team efforts and measuring success. Questions in this category should assess the manager’s ability to set, communicate, and support achieving goals.

Qualitative questions:

1. Clarity of goals: How clear and understandable are the goals set by your manager?
2. Support for achieving goals: Does your manager provide adequate support and resources to help you achieve your goals?
3. Alignment with organizational objectives: How well do your manager’s goals align with the organization’s overall objectives?

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Clarity of goals: The manager sets clear and understandable goals.
2. Support for achieving goals: The manager provides adequate support and resources to help me achieve my goals.
3. Alignment with organizational objectives: The manager’s goals align well with the organization’s objectives.

Organizational alignment and vision

A manager’s ability to align their team with the organization’s goals and vision is critical for cohesive and focused work. Questions should evaluate how well the manager communicates and embodies the company’s mission and values.

Qualitative questions:

1. Alignment with organizational goals: How does your manager communicate the organization’s goals and how your work contributes to them?
2. Representation of company culture and values: How does your manager embody and promote the company’s values and mission?
3. Alignment of team objectives: How does your manager align team objectives with the organization’s strategic goals?

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Alignment with organizational goals: The manager communicates the organization’s goals and how my work contributes to them.
2. Representation of company culture and values: The manager embodies and promotes the company’s values and mission.
3. Alignment of team objectives: The manager aligns team objectives with the organization’s strategic goals.

By covering these key areas, upward feedback can provide a holistic view of a manager’s performance, highlighting strengths and areas for improvement that contribute to the overall success of the team and organization.

Work-life balance and well-being

Managers can influence their team members’ work-life balance and overall well-being. This category should assess how well managers support their team’s work-life balance and mental health.

Qualitative questions:

1. Support for work-life balance: How supportive is your manager of maintaining a healthy work-life balance?
2. Well-being initiatives: Describe an initiative your manager promotes to support your well-being and mental health.

Quantitative questions (Scale: 1-5, where 1 = Strongly disagree and 5 = Strongly agree):

1. Support for work-life balance: The manager supports maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
2. Well-being initiatives: The manager actively promotes initiatives that support my well-being and mental health.

Best practices for designing effective upward feedback questions

Carefully designing questions is essential to ensuring constructive and unbiased feedback. Here are the best practices for formulating effective upward feedback questions that will yield meaningful insights and drive positive change.

Include a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions

A balanced approach using both types of questions can provide a comprehensive view of the manager’s performance.

Ask goal-specific and open-ended questions

Focus on specific and measurable criteria for the manager’s role rather than subjective factors like personality. Use open-ended phrasing to get deeper insights rather than yes-or-no responses.

Avoid suggesting answers

Ask questions that require employees to provide specific examples of behavior or actions rather than leading questions that may influence their responses.

Maintain a consistent format

Keep the format of feedback questions consistent for all managers, ensuring equal grounds for assessment and transparency in the evaluation process.

Use clear and objective language

Avoid using subjective or open-to-interpretation terms such as lazy, difficult to work with, or smart. Instead, use specific and objective language that subtly probes into behavior or actions.

Use inclusive language

Ensure your questions are inclusive, and avoid using language that may exclude specific individuals or groups.

Focus on behaviors and outcomes

Center your questions around observable behaviors and outcomes rather than personal traits or characteristics. This approach minimizes subjective judgments and enhances the accuracy of the feedback.

Encourage specificity and examples

Specific feedback supported by examples is more constructive and less likely to be influenced by personal biases.

Regularly review and update questions

Review and update the questions based on feedback and organizational changes to ensure that they remain relevant and effective over time.

By incorporating these best practices into your upward feedback process, you can create a more objective, fair, and constructive evaluation system that benefits both managers and the organization.

Collect upward feedback in just a few clicks with Deel Engage

Incorporating thoughtful upward feedback questions into performance review cycles can significantly enhance managerial performance and overall organizational success.

To increase efficiency, automate your peer review cycles. Here is how Deel Engage will help you:

• Deel Engage’s 360 feedback software makes it incredibly easy to create comprehensive feedback cycles
• The platform is intuitive and flexible—you can decide whether the feedback is anonymous and set up automated feedback cycles for new hires
• With learning scientists on board to support implementation with best practices, you can launch your review cycles in no time

Additionally, Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free.

Book a demo to see how our solutions will help you build a high-performance workforce.