Areas of Improvement for Managers: 30 Real Examples
30 specific areas of improvement for managers — copy-paste phrases for upward feedback, 360 reviews, and manager evaluation surveys without burning bridges.
Your company is running upward reviews. You have real feedback to give — and you’re staring at the survey wondering how to phrase it without sounding ungrateful or ungenerous.
Below are 30 ready-to-use examples of areas of improvement for managers, organized by leadership competency. Each is phrased the way you’d actually write it in a 360 review or upward feedback survey — honest, specific, and constructive. For broader feedback that applies to all employees, see our list of areas of improvement examples for performance reviews. For the questions to ask in a leadership 360, see our leadership 360 feedback questions and upward feedback questions guide.
Effective upward feedback names a specific behavior, describes its impact, and suggests what would help — without diagnosing personality. Labels like “micromanages” or “indecisive” are conclusions, not feedback. Replace each one with the underlying behavior you actually observed.
Delegation and trust
Delegation is the most common area of improvement managers receive in upward feedback. Issues fall into two patterns: holding work too tightly, or delegating without enough context.
- “Holding fewer technical decisions at the manager level would give the team more ownership and free up your time for strategic work.”
- “When delegating projects, sharing the context behind ‘why this matters’ would help me make better trade-off decisions independently.”
- “Following up on delegated work with check-ins rather than re-asking for status would make me feel trusted to own outcomes.”
Coaching and developing direct reports
Managers are responsible for their team’s growth, but coaching often gets crowded out by execution. This category covers career development, stretch opportunities, and how your manager invests in people.
- “Connecting my current work to longer-term career growth more often would help me see how this role builds toward what’s next.”
- “More direct coaching on the skills you see me struggling with — not just praise on what’s going well — would accelerate my development.”
- “Advocating for me visibly in senior forums would help me build the reputation I need for promotion.”
- “Setting aside dedicated time for career conversations, separate from project-status 1:1s, would help me think more strategically about my growth.”
Communication and context-setting
Managers see information direct reports don’t — strategic shifts, cross-team dependencies, leadership decisions. Translating that context downstream is one of the highest-leverage leadership behaviors and one of the most common gaps.
- “More transparency on the ‘why’ behind sudden priority changes would help me adapt faster instead of feeling whiplashed.”
- “Sharing what’s happening in skip-level meetings — even at a summary level — would help me understand how my work fits.”
- “Closing the loop after I raise concerns in 1:1s would help me know whether the feedback was heard and acted on.”
- “Communicating decisions in writing, not just verbally in meetings, would keep the team aligned when not everyone is in the room.”
Decision-making and prioritization
Direct reports feel decision-making gaps acutely. Unclear priorities mean wasted work; slow decisions mean blocked projects.
- “Naming the top one or two priorities for the quarter (rather than treating everything as urgent) would help me sequence work better.”
- “Making decisions faster on questions I’ve escalated would unblock the team — even a ‘not yet, here’s why’ is more helpful than silence.”
- “When you change direction mid-project, briefly explaining what new information drove the change would make the pivots feel less arbitrary.”
- “Holding firm on prioritization when stakeholders push back would protect the team’s focus on the work we agreed mattered most.”
Feedback delivery and recognition
Managers who default to constant praise or rare critique both create problems. Direct reports want calibrated, timely, specific feedback in both directions.
- “Giving more specific feedback in the moment, rather than saving it for performance reviews, would help me course-correct sooner.”
- “When delivering critical feedback, sharing it directly rather than through hints or rhetorical questions would make it easier to act on.”
- “Recognizing contributions publicly, not just in 1:1s, would help reinforce what good work looks like for the rest of the team.”
- “Balancing praise with development feedback more evenly would make both more credible.”
Accountability and follow-through
Trust between a manager and their team is built on small commitments kept.
- “Following through on commitments made in 1:1s — especially around removing blockers — would build more trust on the team.”
- “Holding others on the team accountable to the same standards you hold me to would make expectations feel fairer.”
- “Closing out action items from team meetings, rather than letting them drift, would help us see whether decisions turn into outcomes.”
1:1s, team meetings, and rituals
The cadence and quality of 1:1s and team meetings shape how the team actually runs. Specific feedback about meeting structure and follow-through is highly actionable.
- “Treating 1:1s as coaching conversations rather than status updates (which I can send async) would make the time more valuable.”
- “Coming to 1:1s with topics you want to discuss — not just running my agenda — would help me see what’s on your mind.”
- “Holding 1:1s consistently and rescheduling rather than canceling when conflicts arise would signal that they’re a priority.”
- “Running team meetings with a clearer agenda and tighter facilitation would make them feel like a better use of everyone’s time.”
Quick reference by competency
| Competency | Common improvement pattern | Example phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Delegation | Holding work too tightly | ”Holding fewer technical decisions at the manager level would give the team more ownership” |
| Coaching | Status over development | ”Setting aside dedicated time for career conversations would help me grow” |
| Communication | Missing context | ”More transparency on the ‘why’ behind priority changes would help me adapt faster” |
| Decision-making | Slow or unclear | ”Naming the top one or two priorities would help me sequence work better” |
| Feedback | Imbalanced delivery | ”Giving more specific feedback in the moment would help me course-correct sooner” |
| Accountability | Drifting commitments | ”Following through on 1:1 commitments would build more trust on the team” |
| Meetings & 1:1s | Generic structure | ”Treating 1:1s as coaching, not status updates, would make the time more valuable” |
How to give upward feedback without burning a bridge
If my manager sees this, will they hold it against me? Most managers won’t — but how you write the feedback matters as much as what you write.
Lead with strengths. Even when the form only asks about improvement areas, a one-line acknowledgment of what your manager does well makes critical feedback feel like input rather than attack.
Stay specific to behaviors. “Sometimes feels indecisive” is a personality verdict. “Decisions on cross-team escalations often take two or three weeks, which has delayed [project]” is feedback your manager can act on.
Limit to one or two improvement areas. A laundry list reads as a grievance. Pick the one or two changes that would make the biggest difference to how you work.
Tools like Windmill help HR teams run upward feedback cycles where employees give specific input on their managers — and managers get aggregated themes they can act on, not a wall of anonymous one-liners.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are good areas of improvement to write for a manager?
The best areas of improvement for managers are specific to leadership behaviors: delegation, coaching, decision-making clarity, prioritization, feedback delivery, and context-setting. Avoid personality critiques — focus on observable patterns and the impact on you or the team. Strong examples describe a behavior, its effect on your work, and a suggestion.
How do you give honest upward feedback without getting in trouble?
Focus on behaviors and their impact, not personality. Frame each improvement area around a specific situation rather than a sweeping judgment. Avoid loaded words like 'micromanages,' 'plays favorites,' or 'doesn't trust the team' — substitute the underlying behavior you actually observed. If feedback is anonymous, write as if it weren't — you should be able to stand behind every word.
What are common areas of improvement for new managers?
First-time managers most often need development in delegation (still doing IC work themselves), giving difficult feedback (defaulting to praise), running effective 1:1s (status updates rather than coaching conversations), and managing up (failing to advocate for the team). Most new managers were promoted for IC excellence and haven't been formally trained in any of these.
What's the difference between feedback for managers and feedback for individual contributors?
ICs are evaluated on their own output. Managers are evaluated on their team's output, plus the leadership behaviors that produce it: coaching, prioritization, decision-making, feedback delivery, and team-building. Areas of improvement for managers should target leadership competencies, not the technical work they used to do as an IC.
Should I include positive feedback alongside areas of improvement in an upward review?
Yes. Balanced feedback is more credible and more likely to be acted on. Most upward feedback surveys have separate fields for strengths and improvement areas — fill in both. Even when the form only asks about improvement, leading with what your manager does well and then naming one or two specific development areas reads as honest rather than hostile.