Perhaps you’ve been asked to complete a 360 feedback survey for a coworker. They’re a lot of work. Too many questions.
I’ve got a new idea. One question you answer for each of your teammates before leaving work each day.
It would automatically pop up on your screen toward the end of your shift. It would show you a list of coworkers and ask you to make a simple judgment for each person.
The question would read, “For each of your coworkers, rate whether their behavior on this day made the workplace better or worse. If they were gone or you didn’t interact with them, mark NA.”
| Better | Worse | NA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bob | |||
| Mary | |||
| Jean | |||
| Sue | |||
| Ted | |||
| Jeff | |||
| Lyle |
Chances are we’d all have the occasional bad day. Those are expected. For most of us there would likely be a pattern that quickly develops in the responses. So on most days how would your coworkers rate you?
If you don’t know, it might be time to find out. And if you believe they think you generally make it worse, then I would ask, “What are you doing about it?” In these cases it’s so easy to blame bad behavior on someone else or the situation. You can do that, but it doesn’t make things better. And so I ask again, “What are you doing about it?”
A healthy and respectful workplace results when everyone does his or her best to make it better. It only takes a few people behaving badly to mess things up. You either make things better or worse.
You can make it better. Let that be your goal.
