Receiving feedback from your manager can help you align your development with the goals of your organization and team, as well as provide an opportunity to increase awareness of your strengths and opportunities for growth.
BetterUp has developed a simple process for involving your manager in coaching that allows you to get input on where to focus as well as feedback on your growth and performance. Manager feedback is collected in a way that ensures your coaching conversations remain confidential and that you have the freedom to focus on what you care about most, ensuring you remain the driver of your own coaching journey.
During your BetterUp onboarding and at the time of your Reflection Point(s) you will be asked if you would like to receive feedback from your manager. You also have the ability to request your manager’s input at any point during your coaching journey via the "Grow with Feedback" section of your BetterUp homepage.
Your coaching will remain confidential and you, your manager, and your coach will be able to view your Manager Feedback Report.
Manager Feedback Process
During Onboarding, and at the time of your Reflection Point(s), you’ll be asked if you would like to invite your manager to provide you with their feedback. If you opt-in, you will be asked to enter your manager's email address. Upon entering this information and clicking Continue, your manager will be notified via email of your request for feedback.
Once your manager completes their assessment, this will generate the Manager Feedback Report. We will email you, your coach, and your manager the Manager Feedback Report to review. The email you will receive will have the Subject Line, "Your Manager Feedback Report is Ready", and you can simply click View the report to view it.
After ~3-4 months (at the time of your Reflection Point), your manager will receive an email to provide additional feedback to you as a follow-up. Upon the manager’s completion, this will generate a new Manager Feedback Report.
If you have not invited your manager to provide you with feedback, you are welcome to manually add a manager to your account at any point in your coaching journey.
You will be able to easily access our Manager Feeback feature directly from the BetterUp homepage. Simply scroll down to the "Grow with Feedback" section. If you are connected with a manager, you will see their name there. If your account isn't connected with your manager, you will see "Request Manager Feedback".
Read this resource on how to leverage your manager’s feedback if you are interested in learning more.
Manually Adding Your Manager(s)
During onboarding and at the time of your Reflection Point(s), you will be asked if you would like to receive your manager’s feedback during your BetterUp journey. If you have selected "No" on those occasions, but would now like to participate in the Manager Feedback process, you are welcome to manually add your manager or multiple managers by following these steps:
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Log into BetterUp and scroll down to “Grow with Feedback”
- Click Request Manager Feedback
- Enter your manager's email and click Next
- You will see a message sharing, "Your manager has been invited!"
- Click Continue
- Your manager will be notified via email of your request for feedback and you will now see your manager added under the "Grow with Feedback from your Manager" card
- If you would like to add additional managers, you can do so by following steps 1-5
Updating/Changing Your Manager
If your account is already connected to a manager and you would like to change your manager, you can update your manager easily at any time. Please note that if you choose to change your current manager, you can still view their past Manager Feedback Reports by clicking View Reports and Requests under the "Grow with Feedback > Reflect on Past Feedback" section of your homepage.
To update or change your manager, follow these steps:
-
Log into BetterUp and scroll down to “Grow with Feedback”
- Click Request Manager Feedback
- Enter your manager's email and click Next
- You will see a message sharing, "Your manager has been invited!" click Continue
- Your manager will be notified via email of your request for feedback and you will now see your manager added under the "Grow with Feedback from your Manager" card
Accessing Your Manager’s Reports
To view the reports of your existing manager, please follow these steps:
-
Navigate to "Reflect on Past Feedback" under the "Grow with Feedback" section on your BetterUp homepage. Click View Reports and Requests
- Click Feedback received
- Click View next to the report
If you would like to access a report from a manager that has been previously connected to your account, you can still access their past feedback. Please follow these steps:
- Log into BetterUp and click Insights
- Scroll down to "Access your results from all completed assessments" and click View all reports
- Click View next to the applicable report (Manager Feedback Report or Manager Recommendation Report)
Manager Hasn’t Completed Feedback
The most effective way to encourage your manager to submit feedback is to reach out directly to your manager.
Here is a sample script you may use:
- "As you know, I am participating in BetterUp coaching to increase my impact at work. I really value your perspective, and it would mean a lot to me to get your feedback on my strengths and areas for improvement. BetterUp has sent you an invitation to participate in my coaching by providing some lightweight feedback. Is this something you are able to do in the next week? If not, is there a better time?"
Additionally, you can resend the feedback request to your manager. The following steps will trigger a new email to your manager:
- Log in to the BetterUp and scroll down to the “Grow with Feedback” section
- Click Request Manager Feedback
- Enter your manager's email and click Next
- You will see a message sharing, "Your manager has been invited!" Click Continue
- Your manager will be notified via email of your request for feedback
Is your manager unable to locate the email? We recommend that they search their inbox and spam folder for the following Subject Line: "Help [Your Name] grow professionally by providing constructive feedback now".
If you are manager a manager who is part of an SSO-enabled organization and are having difficulty logging in to your BetterUp account, please contact our Support team for assistance.
8 Focus Areas
Your manager will provide you with suggestions on eight focus areas. These 8 focus areas are both common areas of focus for members and key areas that managers care about. We limited the report to only 8 areas because we know managers’ time is limited.
The eight areas include:
- Strategic thinking and planning for the future
- Ability to adapt to change
- Executing against objectives
- Innovating products and/or processes
- Motivating and inspiring others
- Aligning others around a clear strategy
- Building relationships and internal partnerships
- Creating an inclusive work environment
The 8 focus area rating questions are required in the Contributor Feedback Assessment that your manager completes. Please note that what you work on in coaching is completely up to you and confidential. You can choose to focus on what you think will have the greatest positive impact on your life.
Confidentiality
Your coaching remains completely confidential. Only you, your manager, and your BetterUp Coach will receive a copy of the Manager Feedback Report. Here is a sample report which highlights the manager's suggested focus areas for their direct report, as well as their top three Whole Person Strengths, in addition to actionable feedback verbatims they have shared.
We take confidentiality very seriously and do not release personal information to your employer, even if they are paying for the service. The employer knows our confidentiality policy and knows that coaching is a safe space that helps foster real, meaningful growth. No personally identifiable information will be shared with your employer, meaning they won’t know what skills you're working on, what you've shared with your coach(es), or what kind of progress you are personally making. We will only share basic usage statistics with your employer related to whether or not your account is active for billing purposes.
Only aggregated data is sent out to the partner for all programs on the BetterUp platform. Data is never displayed at an individual level and is completely anonymous. Please note that aggregated information is only shared if there is enough data recorded to ensure the anonymity of each individual. Here is a link to our Privacy Policy for additional information.
Please note that your coach is able to see your scores.
Difference Between Manager Feedback & the 360
The Manager Feedback takes ~8+ minutes for the manager to complete. The manager is informed that their feedback will help to measure the progress that the member has made through their work with BetterUp and it also helps measure the growth of the manager's team as a whole.
The Whole Personal 360 assessment is a bit more time-intensive and provides members with the ability to garner feedback from manager(s) and peers. A manager's response is required for this report to generate.
For the Whole Person 360 assessment, questions include 60 Whole Person Model (Inspiring) questions, open-ended questions, and subjective team performance questions for the manager and peers (co-workers, direct reports) to answer.
| Whole Person 360 | Manager Feedback | |
|
Method of Soliciting Feedback |
Members request feedback through 360 tool | Member requests feedback through BetterUp homepage, onboarding, or at time of Reflection Point(s) |
|
Voluntary participation |
Participation is voluntary | Participation is voluntary |
|
Time required for feedback |
20+ minutes Progress is automatically saved as the assessment is taken. |
8+ minutes |
|
Extent of Manager Feedback |
Two-open ended questions +60 multiple choice questions (more extensive) | Four open-ended questions and ~50 single-select questions. |
|
Timing |
360 is generally initiated midway through the coach journey | Initiated by the Member if opting in at onboarding, Reflection Points, or self-initiation via the homepage. |
|
Member access |
Limited to certain cohorts (not all Members have access) | Available to all Members that have it enabled within their program/partner org. |
|
Eligible contributors |
Feedback requested from Manager + at least 2 colleagues and/or direct reports. | Feedback requested from Manager only |
|
Report access |
Member and coach only | Member, Primary Coach, and Manager |