Manager Feedback Examples: 20 Lines a Manager Gives and 12 a Manager Should Hear

By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT

Most pages of manager feedback examples run in one direction. Here is what to say to your team. Fewer run the other way, and almost none admit the obvious: a manager who cannot take feedback cannot give it either, because the team has already learned that honesty costs them.

This page runs both ways. Twenty lines a manager gives, in the format that makes them land. The 12 lines a manager should be hearing from their team, and the one question that gets them said.

I run Leaders ADAPT and wrote the 5-Minute Leader. The SBED format and the 24/48 Rule below are from its 1:1 Protocol, and the question at the end of that protocol's first week is the one I still ask my own team: what is one thing I do that makes your job harder.

The shape every example uses

A manager feedback example is a sentence with four parts, the situation, the observable behavior, its effect and the change or continuation requested, delivered within 24 hours of the moment it describes. The format is SBED, and it works identically whether the feedback goes down or up.

Gallup's performance review research found that nearly half of employees get feedback from their manager a few times a year or less. The examples below are built for the other cadence: weekly in the 1:1, and in thirty second doses between.

20 manager feedback examples a manager gives

Grouped by what the feedback is for. The first eight are the thirty second kind, which I teach as micro-feedback, because the big conversation becomes rare when the small ones happen daily.

Micro-feedback, in the moment

1. "You are speeding up. Slow down so they can follow."
2. "Strong close. Next time, get a commitment before you hang up."
3. "Report was solid. Add a one paragraph summary at the top next time."
4. "You answered before she finished the question. Let it land, then answer."
5. "That was the right call on the refund. Say it that plainly to the customer next time too."
6. "You said 'I think I can' twice in that meeting. Commit or tell me you cannot."
7. "Good catch on the rate card. Write down how you spotted it so the new hire can."
8. "The update was four paragraphs. Number, risk, ask. Three lines."

SBED, in the 1:1, within 24 hours

9. "In yesterday's client meeting you interrupted three times while they explained their concerns. They shut down and ended early, and I spent an hour rebuilding trust afterward. Going forward, let them finish completely before you respond."
10. "In the Tuesday stand up you went into solving the inventory issue for six minutes. The other five people waited. Surface it, then take it offline with the one person who needs it."
11. "The onboarding draft was due Friday and reached me Tuesday with no message in between. I planned the review around Friday. If a date will slip, tell me before the date."
12. "In the pricing review you pushed back on the finance lead's model and you were right. The team saw someone disagree with the loudest voice in the room. Do that again."
13. "The three client emails in August waited more than two days each, and two of the clients escalated to me. Same day acknowledgement from now on, even when the answer takes a week."
14. "When the migration slipped you told customer success on the Monday, before any customer noticed. That is the order it should happen in. Keep doing it."
15. "In the planning session all three of your proposals were execution items. Next quarter, bring one that answers what we should stop doing."
16. "You ran the stand up for six weeks while I was out and it started at 9:15 every day. The team did not notice I was gone, which is the compliment. You run it from January."

Warm but firm, the pattern conversation

17. "I am invested in your success, which is why I need to be direct. I have noticed a pattern. When things do not happen, there are explanations instead of ownership. Reasons are not results. Starting now, if something blocks you, escalate the day it happens. Can you commit to that?"
18. "You came to today's meeting without the pre read and asked two questions it answered. That costs everyone twenty minutes. From the next meeting, no pre work, no voice in the decision. What do you need from me to make that work?"
19. "You have raised three problems this week and proposed zero solutions. From now on, a problem comes with at least one option. Complainers identify issues. Leaders solve them. Which do you want to be?"
20. "This is landing hard, I can see it. Take a moment. This conversation is happening because I believe in what you can do here, not to make you feel bad. And the standard does not move."

Example 20 is the one managers get wrong most. When someone gets emotional, acknowledge it, and do not retreat from the demand.

12 examples of feedback for a manager, from their team

These are the lines a manager should be hearing. If you have not heard any of them in a quarter, the problem is not that your team has nothing to say.

1. "When the priorities changed on Wednesday I heard it from the client first, and I had already promised the old date. Can changes reach me before they reach customers?"
2. "You took the client call on Thursday instead of forwarding it, and I got the afternoon back and shipped the report. That cover is what makes the deadlines possible."
3. "The last three 1:1s were cancelled the morning of. I had the vendor decision queued for two weeks. Can we move it to a slot that holds?"
4. "You gave me the budget at level one and then asked to see the spreadsheet before each spend. Which level is it?"
5. "In Monday's meeting you answered the question that was asked of me. I had the answer. Let me take it next time."
6. "You told the team the launch was on track on Friday and told me on Monday it was not. I would rather hear the real version first."
7. "The feedback on the proposal came three weeks after I sent it. By then I had sent two more the same way. Sooner, even if rougher."
8. "When I raised the staffing gap in June you said noted and nothing changed. Is it a no, or is it not yet? Either is fine, I just need to know which."
9. "You said this was mine and then rewrote it before it went out. If it is mine, let it go out my way at 70 percent. If it is yours, say so."
10. "The energy question in the 1:1 is the only time anyone asks. Keep asking it."
11. "You introduced me to the board as the person who built the model. That is the first time I have been named for it. Thank you."
12. "One thing that makes my job harder: I find out what you think of my work in the review, not in the week. I would take the thirty second version every time."

Number 12 is what the question at the end of this page produces, more or less verbatim, the first time you ask it.

The one question that gets upward feedback said

"What is one thing I do that makes your job harder?"

Not "any feedback for me?", which is answered with no. Not an anonymous survey, which is answered with a score. The question assumes there is something, which removes the pressure to say nothing, and it asks for one thing, which removes the pressure to be thorough.

Ask it in the 1:1. Then say nothing until they answer, and when they do, say thank you and nothing else in that moment. Act on the first answer visibly within a week. The second answer, next month, will be the honest one.

If the 1:1 is where this lives, the rest of the structure is on one on one meeting questions, and the full method for the downward direction is on how to give feedback to employees. For the person two levels down, the skip level meeting questions page has the version that bypasses the manager in between.

Manager feedback examples FAQ

What are good examples of feedback for a manager?

Good upward feedback names a specific moment and its effect, then asks for one change. "When the priorities changed on Wednesday I heard it from the client first, and I had already promised the old date. Can changes reach me before they reach customers?" Vague versions such as "communication could be better" give the manager nothing to fix.

What is an example of positive feedback for a manager?

"When you took the client call on Thursday instead of forwarding it, I got the afternoon back and shipped the report. That is the kind of cover that makes the deadlines possible." Positive feedback for a manager works the same way as any feedback: a situation, a behavior, an effect. "You are a great boss" is kind and useless.

How should a manager give feedback to an employee?

Inside 24 hours, in SBED form: the situation, the observable behavior, the effect, and what changes or continues. "In yesterday's client meeting you interrupted three times while they explained their concerns. They shut down and ended early. Going forward, let them finish before you respond." Most feedback should be thirty seconds, in the moment, not saved for a review.

How do you ask your team for feedback as a manager?

Ask one specific question and then say nothing. "What is one thing I do that makes your job harder?" works because it assumes there is something, which removes the pressure to say nothing. Ask it in the 1:1, not in a survey, and act on the first answer visibly so the second answer is honest.

What is micro-feedback?

Micro-feedback is a thirty second correction or reinforcement given in the moment, with no formal setup. "You are speeding up. Slow down so they can follow." "Strong close. Next time, get a commitment before you hang up." Managers who use it daily find the big formal feedback conversations become rare, because behavior moves in small steps.

What is the 24/48 Rule for feedback?

Give feedback within 24 hours of seeing the behavior. After 48 hours do not deliver it late, wait for the next occurrence, because by then the detail has faded on both sides and the conversation turns into an argument about memory. The rule also means feedback is never saved for a 1:1 that is five days away.

Give one, ask for one, this week

Pick one line from the first twenty and say it inside 24 hours of the next time you see the behavior. Then, in your next 1:1, ask the question and stay quiet. Manager feedback examples are only useful in the week they get said, and both directions have to happen for either to be trusted.

When did someone on your team last tell you something you did not want to hear, and what did you do with it?

Run the 1:1 that makes both directions normal.