New platforms have recently emerged to give voice to the anonymous opinions of those who have something to say, embracing both good and not so good feedback.
This tool has already been widely used in other areas such as marketing departments, where consumer opinions help to improve the quality of the products or services offered. This has a double advantage: on one hand, if you offer better products the number of consumers will increase and your company will prosper and, on the other hand, making your customers feel that their opinions matter and that they are taken in consideration is something that they really appreciate, building a stronger loyalty.
When it comes to managing people, these types of tools can be very useful for leaders and managers, if you know how and when to implement them.
Anonymous feedback offers employees an opportunity to express their concerns, give advice and new ideas on how to improve productivity and provide feedback, in a transparent and open way.
Does any tool work?
Many companies choose to conduct surveys internally using Google Forms, Typeform or SurveyMonkey.
These online tools offer the possibility of creating questionnaires in various formats: from questions answered using a Likert scale (numerical scale) to open questions where employees have a small text space to write whatever they consider important.
These are perfectly valid resources, as they are easy to use, flexible and free of charge.
However, they present a major disadvantage: the anonymity of employees cannot be guaranteed, especially if the organization is small.
Employees need safe spaces where they can transmit and communicate their opinions without feeling judged by others. So the best way to achieve this is through tools that guarantee confidentiality, making sure that their answers are 100% anonymous.
Advantages of anonymous reviews
These anonymous opinions or feedbacks play a key role in the creation of better leaderships and decisions, as it allows managers to obtain honest and real information about the experience of their collaborators.
With Team Insights, all participants who respond to the pulse surveys can offer their feedback and give their opinions on aspects that they consider relevant, always guaranteeing the confidentiality and anonymity, as their responses cannot be delimited specifically.
These are five advantages of having anonymous opinions.
1. Nothing but the truth.
By guaranteeing anonymity, employees feel free and comfortable to give information that managers need to know about the situation and status of their teams, without any fear or scepticism.
When workers feel that they can speak up freely, they bring about valuable information that allows companies to understand how the workflow works, the relationships between colleagues and what kinds of problems affect the workforce.
With this data, leaders can help their employees improve their work experience.
2. Treat everybody equitable
Sometimes senior managers need to hear constructive criticism to improve the management system or to realize that the strategic decisions that have been made haven’t been the most appropriate. With anonymous feedback, employees can be critical of C-level members of the organizational hierarchy, without fear of retaliation.
Anonymity ensures fair treatment for all staff members: the opinions of all employees, regardless of their rank or position within the company, matters equally and it ensures that all opinions are heard.
This system avoids bias decisions when analysing the data, since all groups will be evaluated.
3. No pending topics
Informal conversations in the hallways are fine, but surely the message will not go beyond mere circumstantial opinion.
Offering a platform to your team where they can transmit their opinions in an honest, safe and reliable way is the correct step in getting the message across to those who can actually provide solutions that will improve the well-being of employees and contribute to the success of the company.
4. Encourage participation
People want to be heard, but not everyone is comfortable sharing their opinions, sometimes because they are scared of being judged.
Anonymous conversations invite less self-confident employees to participate and contribute in the growth of the company, which is an essential part in generating a feeling of loyalty and talent retention.
This also helps to uncover and point out important aspects that nobody talks about. The more people participate, the more different points of view there will be and the more likely that problems will be shared that maybe management wasn’t able to detect before, thus being able to find new solutions before they actually affect the organization.
5. Focus on information
The anonymous feedback allows companies to focus on what really matters: the content of that data and not on who has written it, especially when it comes to negative reviews. Let’s focus on the “what “, not the “who”.
This allows you to take real measures and focus on what is being done well or needs to be improved, and not on a specific person, avoiding pointing out on someone or trying to find a culprit.
Some managers may feel insecure when asking “how are my employees?” for fear of knowing how these answers will be, but not doing this is a complete mistake, as this exercise of communication between leader and collaborator helps retain talent, increase productivity, helping to improve the leadership system and make better decisions.
