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This article explains why managers should refrain from attending TeamHealth retrospectives and highlights the importance of maintaining psychological safety for the team.

Manager Participation in TeamHealth Retrospectives

AgilityHealth is a powerful platform that helps teams reflect on their maturity and performance through a process of assessments and strategic retrospectives. For these retrospectives to be effective, it is crucial that managers do not attend with the teams. That is not to say that managers’ opinions are not important and valued – they are, which is why we have managers provide feedback through stakeholder surveys. Manager feedback is provided to the teams as input into their discussion during the strategic retrospective while still offering the team members the opportunity to discuss issues candidly with each other, without the audience of the people responsible for their performance evaluations.

Note: In cases where managers have a deep understanding of the working dynamics of the team, managers can complete the full survey to provide detailed feedback as part of each section to have their voice included at a more detailed level.

The Impact of Power Differentials

One of the primary reasons managers should not participate in team retrospectives is the inherent power differential between managers and team members. When someone who has control over a job and career is present, it is natural for individuals to act differently. They may censor their thoughts, control their speech, and avoid discussing certain issues. This behavior stems from a desire to protect their position and career prospects, leading to a lack of honest and open communication.

Psychological Safety and Honest Feedback

Retrospectives are meant to be a safe space for team members to share their true thoughts and feelings. The presence of a manager can significantly undermine this psychological safety. Even if a manager is well-liked and respected, team members may hesitate to speak openly. They may fear offending the manager or worry about potential repercussions from voicing their opinions.

The Importance of True Transparency

For a retrospective to be truly effective, it should uncover the absolute truth about the team's dynamics, challenges, and successes. This level of transparency is hard to achieve when team members need to edit themselves due to the manager's presence. Without honest feedback, the retrospective loses its value, and the team misses out on opportunities for genuine improvement. Team members must be able to openly discuss their challenges and impediments and be able to brainstorm possible solutions together without fear or concern.

Real-World Observations

AgilityHealth Facilitators have vocalized the stark difference in team behavior when a manager is present versus when they are not. When present, team members often resort to superficial agreements and avoid discussing real issues. However, once the manager leaves, the floodgates open, and honest, productive discussions occur. This phenomenon is not limited to teams with strained relationships with their managers; it happens even in teams with positive manager-team dynamics.

Ultimately, to foster a culture of honesty, psychological safety, and continuous improvement, managers need to refrain from attending TeamHealth retrospectives.

Note: In the very rare occasion where the team wishes to have a retrospective with the manager present who works daily with the team (for example: the tech lead or another lead role within the team), we highly advise leaders to find another way to participate unless attendance is strongly requested by the team.

By using stakeholder surveys to provide candid feedback, managers can still contribute valuable insights without compromising the psychological safety of the team or the outputs of the retrospective. If an organization wants to truly improve its processes and practices, the outputs of the strategic retrospectives must be meaningful to the teams. Limiting attendance to team members only (meaning no direct reporting relationships), ensures that retrospectives remain a safe space for open and honest communication, ultimately leading to more effective and mature teams.