---
title: "Slack polls for managers and team leads"
url: "https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/managers-and-team-leads/"
description: "The polls a team lead runs in Slack, from upward feedback and meeting audits to quick decisions and agenda topics, with /poll text and cadence for each."
---

# Slack polls for managers and team leads

For: Managers and team leads

A team lead's job is mostly two things: deciding, and finding out what you do not know. Both
get easier with a handful of well-timed polls. The point is not to vote on everything. It is
to stop spending a meeting on questions a poll answers in an hour, and to hear the things
your team would not say to your face.

These are the polls worth having in your rotation, from weekly to once a quarter.

## Example polls

Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.

```text
/poll "Feedback on how I lead the team" "Anonymous. I will share what I heard at the next team meeting." anonymous close after 7 days --- "I get what I need from my manager to do my job well" "Strongly disagree" "Disagree" "Neutral" "Agree" "Strongly agree" scale --- "One thing I should keep doing" short text --- "One thing I should change" short text
```

Quarterly upward feedback in one anonymous survey. *Premium: surveys (several questions), closing automatically.*

```text
/poll "Our Wednesday status meeting: what should we do with it?" "Keep as is" "Shorten to 15 minutes" "Make it async" "Cancel it" limit 1 anonymous close after 2 days
```

A twice-yearly audit of one recurring meeting. *Premium: vote limits, closing automatically.*

```text
/poll "Topics for Thursday team meeting" "Q4 hiring plan" "On-call rotation" allow-options order-results-by-votes
```

The team adds and votes on agenda topics; the list sorts itself. *Free.*

## Ask for feedback on yourself

Once a quarter, ask your team how you are doing, anonymously. Three questions is enough:
a scale on whether they get what they need from you, one thing to keep, one thing to
change. Tell them you will share what you heard, then do it in the next team meeting,
including the uncomfortable part. The first round is awkward; the second one is where it
gets useful, because people have seen you act on it. See the
[manager feedback template](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/manager-feedback/).

## Audit your recurring meetings

Every recurring meeting should have to justify itself twice a year. Ask the attendees,
anonymously: keep as is, shorten it, make it async, or cancel. If most say async, try it
for a month and ask again. The [meeting feedback template](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/meeting-feedback/)
has a quick and a longer version, and a
[no-meeting day](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/no-meeting-day/) poll is the natural follow-up.

## Small decisions, with a deadline

For the team decisions that do not need you to decide alone (which day the team sync
moves to, which of two process changes to try), post a poll with `limit 1` and
`close after` (both Premium) and say up front that the result stands. Then honour it. A
poll you overrule teaches the team to stop voting.

## Let the team build the agenda

Before a team meeting, post an `allow-options` poll for agenda topics and let people add
and vote. Cover the top items in vote order and drop the rest to the next meeting. It
takes thirty seconds and stops the meeting being about whatever you thought mattered on
the way in. The [agenda topics template](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/meeting-agenda-topics/) has the setup.

## Watch the load, not just the output

During a hard stretch, an anonymous [workload check](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/workload-check/) every
week or two tells you who is close to the edge before it shows up as missed work. Ask the
same question each time so the trend means something.

## Templates for Managers and team leads

### [Anonymous manager feedback survey for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/manager-feedback/)

When a manager wants to know how they're doing from the people who report to them, and wants answers more honest than a one-to-one will get.

```text
/poll "Feedback for your manager" "Anonymous. About two minutes." anonymous show results to creator close after 7 days remind 1 day before closing --- "My manager makes priorities and expectations clear" "Strongly disagree" "Disagree" "Neutral" "Agree" "Strongly agree" scale --- "My manager gives me useful feedback on my work" "Strongly disagree" "Disagree" "Neutral" "Agree" "Strongly agree" scale --- "My manager helps when I am stuck" "Strongly disagree" "Disagree" "Neutral" "Agree" "Strongly agree" scale --- "My manager supports my development" "Strongly disagree" "Disagree" "Neutral" "Agree" "Strongly agree" scale --- "What should your manager keep doing?" short text optional --- "What should your manager change?" short text optional
```

The full upward feedback survey, results visible only to whoever creates it. *Premium: surveys (several questions), closing automatically, reminders, results for the creator only.*

### [Meeting feedback poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/meeting-feedback/)

When a recurring meeting has been running for a while and you aren't sure it still earns its slot in everyone's calendar.

```text
/poll "Was this meeting a good use of your time?" "Yes" :white_check_mark: "Partly" :neutral_face: "No" :x: anonymous limit 1
```

The one-tap version. Post it in the channel straight after the meeting. *Premium: vote limits.*

### [Meeting agenda topics poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/meeting-agenda-topics/)

A day or two before a team meeting, planning session or one-to-one series, so the agenda reflects what people need to discuss rather than what the organiser remembered.

```text
/poll "Topics for Thursday team meeting. Add yours, upvote the ones you want covered." short text :thumbsup:
```

Open topic collection with upvotes. Works on Free. *Free.*

### [Workload check poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/workload-check/)

Before planning the next sprint or quarter, during a crunch, or any time you suspect some of the team is carrying more than they say.

```text
/poll "How was your workload over the last two weeks?" "Way too much" "A bit too much" "About right" "Room for more" anonymous limit 1
```

The anonymous check. One answer per person, nobody named. *Premium: vote limits.*

### [No-meeting day poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/no-meeting-day/)

When calendars are full of meetings and people say they can't get focused work done, and you want the team to choose and own a meeting-free day.

```text
/poll "Which day should be our no-meeting day?" "Tuesday" "Wednesday" "Thursday" close after 2 days
```

Pick the day. People choose every day that works, so the most supported day wins. *Premium: closing automatically.*

## FAQ

### Will my team be honest in an anonymous poll about me?

Usually more honest than face to face, and more so each time they see you act on what they say.
On a team of three or four, people may still feel identifiable, so consider asking your
own manager or HR to run it across a larger group.

### How many polls is too many for one team?

If response rates drop, you are past it. A weekly check-in, a monthly decision or two and
a quarterly feedback survey is a sustainable load for most teams. See
[survey fatigue](https://simplepoll.rocks/glossary/survey-fatigue/).

## Related

- [Anonymous manager feedback survey for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/manager-feedback/): When a manager wants to know how they're doing from the people who report to them, and wants answers more honest than a one-to-one will get.
- [Meeting feedback poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/meeting-feedback/): When a recurring meeting has been running for a while and you aren't sure it still earns its slot in everyone's calendar.
- [What is psychological safety?](https://simplepoll.rocks/glossary/psychological-safety/): Psychological safety is "a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking", as Amy Edmondson defined it in 1999. In practice: people can ask, disagree, admit mistakes and raise problems without fear of embarrassment or punishment.
- [What is survey fatigue?](https://simplepoll.rocks/glossary/survey-fatigue/): Survey fatigue is when people are asked for feedback so often, or at such length, that they stop answering or start answering carelessly.
- [Slack polls for HR and People teams](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/hr-and-people-teams/): People teams ask the whole company for input more than anyone else, which makes them the first to burn out a channel with surveys. The fix is a small, predictable calendar: a few polls with a clear job each, sent at the same rhythm, with results that go somewhere.

---

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