Going Above and Beyond: Meaningful Gestures from a Manager

How to build trust, happiness, success, and growth within your team.

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Your manager has such a huge impact on your work experience and happiness. I’ve never been a manager, although I strive to be one in the future—but I have put significant thought into the things I would make a point to do once I am afforded the opportunity.

Managers have a lot of responsibility in addition to being an individual contributor themselves. They are responsible for leading others—and being a “leader” is no small feat. It comes with different styles and, more importantly, the need for being passionate about inspiring others to grow and succeed. The workforce today presents many new and changing challenges to those in management, especially with remote work environments and the evolution of expectations from employees.

In addition to the administrative requirements of the role, there are many things managers can do to go above and beyond and be viewed as a “good manager.” Think of the managers you’ve had that were the type of people you felt you would always want to work for or would follow anywhere. This concept speaks to the fact that working with and for people who make you feel valued, appreciated, and supported is something that most professionals desire.

I sat down and compiled a list from my personal experience of meaningful gestures that I truly value from a manager, in addition to them making sure things are taken care of administratively and helping to navigate the specific demands of a team and role.

1.????Make time to connect as people.

Whenever I choose a role, it’s one of the most important things to me that I have an instant connection with who I’m reporting to as well as the other team members I meet. Working with like-minded, motivated people make the work experience as well as team productivity that much better. I’ve even left roles because I wasn’t feeling super inspired in the environment I was in. People want to feel like they’re a person, not just a number or a workhorse—making a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ) a critical management skill.

Taking initiative to connect with your direct reports rather than strictly having work conversations is not only “nice,” it’s valuable to team collaboration. People work better with people they like, and building personal connections is the best way to foster this dynamic. For example, conversations about non-related work topics can help you work with people better. You’ll learn how they think, what’s important to them, and possibly even be able to tie some of the discussion and thinking back to work concepts. People also especially appreciate when you remember important things in their life and ask about them – like birthdays, personal milestones that have come up in conversations, or even how some big weekend plans went.

2.????Intentional recognition for team members’ soft skills and accomplishments.

Some people are better at giving recognition than others. As a manager, it’s extremely important to be intentional about it. Everyone appreciates compliments, and even small ones can go a very long way. Just the other day, I ran a document review session with a group of SEs and Product Managers, and at the end of the session one of the SEs made a point to compliment me on how well I moderated the session with how much technical detail was covered in the conversation—and that meant the world to me. It wasn’t from a manager, but this type of feedback and recognition is meaningful from any source.

As a manager, noticing your team members’ strengths, whether its job skills or soft skills, is extremely important and sharing this with them is even more important. It encourages them to lean into their superpowers and feel more confident in the work they do. Another piece of this is helping them develop these strengths for both the role they’re in now and the path it could potentially lead them to in the future. Maybe there is a different role within the organization where someone’s abilities could be leveraged in an even more powerful way and give them a different, or possibly expanded, opportunity.

In my experience, I’ve seen most managers focus praise on getting projects done well—which of course is important and meaningful. But delivering praise on soft skills can mean even more. These are things which are commonly natural abilities and skills that people are really proud of. I know personally, I was able to improve a relationship with a cross-functional team we worked with, and my manager made a point to comment on it. So did others, which added to feeling successful and appreciated. This was meaningful praise for me, because I personally value building strong relationships with others, leveraging my ability for diplomatic communication, and being able to positively influence others. Maybe someone is really good at presentations or public speaking, or writing effective emails, or giving thoughtful contributions in the moment – every manager should make a point to notice these things and give praise for them.

3.????Communicate openly with those you manage about areas of both praise and constructive criticism.

Of course, part of giving feedback is the dreaded “constructive criticism,” but delivering this information tactfully is an art. The more conversational you can be about it the better, and the “compliment sandwich” is always a good rule of thumb. This doesn’t mean don’t be direct about it. But if you can lead with “hey you do this really well” followed by “it would serve you well to make some improvements here” and then end with “here’s how I recommend you could make some beneficial improvements,” the response is likely to be pretty good.

With both praise and constructive criticism, openness is the key. I have found that talking about these things conversationally and as they happen is the most effective way to address them. Gone are the days when feedback is only delivered in quarterly or annual reviews – by that time, certain topics are not fresh in everyone’s mind. Especially on the “room for improvement” part, no one wants to sit through a list of the things someone else thinks they do poorly. Break it up and give advice on how to do better in the moment.

4.????Allowing your team to lead in conversations with leadership.

Giving your team the opportunity to shine in front of leadership is really important for professional growth. This doesn’t mean “throw them to the wolves” or set them up for failure but rather position them well in conversations where you know they will knock it out of the park—and be there to back them up. I want to be part of organizations where managers are recognized for managing well in this way, and not being the only ones to speak when they are also on a meeting with their team. The point of a “team” is to bring people together who all have something to offer, and everyone’s input and knowledge is valuable.

I’ve had multiple managers who do this really well. They pushed me to get outside of my comfort zone, but also helped me to be prepared for engaging with leadership. Delivering an encouraging set-up for a direct report within a conversation always helpful to set the stage for them to chime in and contribute. This helps team members to get facetime with leadership and showcase what they are capable of.

5.????ASKING what is important to your team.

This comes down to a combination of what is important to someone both personally and professionally. Of course, everyone is hired for a specific role with certain responsibilities they need to complete on a regular basis. But invariably, there is some time for additional work lending itself to what each employee is interested in. If you’re a manager, do you ask your team what they like to work on? Do you help them get access to being part of related projects that might be happening? I know in my experiences my bosses have asked me what I would “like” to work on, and although sometimes I might not know the answer right away as far as something outside of my current responsibilities I would like to be part of, the gesture of asking showed me that they care that I am doing work I may want to expand myself into—and it kept the door open to give that feedback.

On the personal front, everyone has a different home life. Maybe a flexible work schedule is really important to someone. As long as this is conducive to business operations, having an open conversation about work-life balance and a work schedule is really important to have on an ongoing basis. Personally, the most important thing to me is that someone completes their work well and on time. Whether it takes 2 hours or 20, as long as deadlines are met, that is the most important thing—and giving your team the flexibility and autonomy to get things done in their own way is always appreciated. Maybe someone has kids or a sick family member to take care of and needs some room to work odd hours. Maybe they have been managing being unwell themselves for a while. Remote work brings its own challenges with people facing an enmeshment of work life and personal life around the clock, so this is something that takes some understanding and openness.

In another instance, maybe volunteering is something personally important to someone. Encouraging personal endeavors like this and encouraging your team to use volunteer days or time off for good causes will help them feel more fulfilled. They’ll appreciate your consideration for their passions outside of work and ultimately increase their respect for you and willingness to work hard even more. The same goes for time off. I’ve been in situations where it almost seemed like a problem when I wanted to use vacation time. PTO is something every employee is entitled to when they have days available, and they should be allowed to use it as long as the appropriate heads up is given. Sometimes people just need a mental break. Or sometimes there is something going on in their personal lives for whatever reason that the time off needs to be taken at a specific time. Whatever the reason, respecting your team as people with things they want to do and have to do outside of work is critical and fosters a much happier environment.

6.????Allow for flexibility in schedules & give random time off.

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This is an extension of asking what is important to your team, assuming a flexible schedule is one of those things. We all know every business has an official time-off policy. At the same time, salaried employees typically end up working more than the “8 hours a day” they’re paid to put in. Having worked in both on-site and remote setups, I can confirm that this situation does not discriminate based on work environment. Because of that, I believe that there is no harm—and actually a lot of good—in giving teams something like a “Friday afternoon off.”

If your team has been heads down during a busy time, they’re likely to be a little mentally exhausted. Hopefully, it’s a feeling of “being in it together” as it’s happening, but what’s even better is taking a breather together. So, an extended weekend is going to be appreciated by anyone. Then everyone can come back Monday morning extra refreshed with a motivated mindset after having a much needed break. Maybe there is a random Wednesday where there isn’t much going on and you can surprise your team with an early end to the workday. This gets tricky when folks are in different time zones, but finding a way to coordinate this for everyone even if it’s on different days goes a long way. This isn’t to say this should be done every week, but once a month or every couple of months won’t hurt performance—it will likely help it.

7.????Reward & recognize your team as much as you can.

Giving surprise time off can definitely be considered its own kind of reward. So can certain benefits given by the HR team as far as health & wellness reimbursements or company shutdowns. But maybe your department has budget for something like gifts & activities – and if it doesn’t, I would strongly recommend you advocate for it. Maybe you can give a $50 gift card for birthdays or give out larger monetary rewards on a quarterly basis to a selected team member who had exceptional performance. Maybe you can pick two holidays where you send team members small gifts or some company swag. Tangible recognition like this doesn’t cost much in the grand scheme of things, but the thoughtfulness is truly meaningful to employees from both the recognition to the reward for what they’ve accomplished.

Rewards for performance should always be accompanied by recognition to as many people as you can share it with. But similar to delivering feedback, this is something that should be done regularly and as it happens. This may seem intuitive, but managers should share as much praise for their team in front of others as they can and limit any constructive feedback to a 1:1 setting – in the mind of a Product Marketer, it’s all about positioning.

8.????Offer opportunities for education.

Also in the lens of a Product Marketer, education around the product is ALWAYS needed for everyone on the team. In general, dedicating a few hours every month to team learning is a great opportunity to 1) foster team bonding, 2) promote creative thinking, and 3) ensure that your team is expanding their knowledge. This can be in the form of intimate internal learning sessions from other cross functional teams, presentations from each team member on things where they’re a subject matter expert to learn from each other, or external learning sessions for everyone to attend.

If it’s within your budget, joining webinars, virtual events, or virtual learning sessions together is a great way to spend your team’s time. Maybe there’s a skill you can all get officially certified on. Although this is easier said than done as far as dedicating time, it’s up to the manager to help enable their team to block their schedule. If there’s a work request, they need to be the one to say “hey my team is tied up for the end of the day today with training, but we can address this tomorrow.” As one of my previous managers would always say, “we aren’t saving lives here.” While a bit cynical, there is good intention in the meaning of this that it’s okay to prioritize ending your workday on time or prioritizing what is truly important over something that is fine to be addressed tomorrow. Constant de-prioritization of scheduled events or things like learning sessions to jump on a “fire drill” (although some are valid) will really take its toll on team morale.

I may have gone off on a tangent, but the point was to drive home the importance of offering opportunities for education. Maybe it is education you take together. Maybe it’s saying “everyone block off 2 hours this Friday and use it to educate yourself on a topic of your choice and share back a few bullets with the team.” Or maybe there is way to get your team involved in bigger events or programs to learn new knowledge and skills. If continuous learning is going to be valued by so many employers, leaders need to make a point to include learning opportunities into the culture.

9.????Trust Your Team

Above all, you hired people for a reason—to be valuable additions to your team and to the company. Demonstrating that you trust them to do their jobs and not be micromanaged helps each person truly own what they do and build their own leadership skills. This doesn’t mean be hands-off with guidance, but rather try to avoid micromanaging. No one is going to be positively motivated by someone leaning over their shoulder.

Trust is typically something that is built over time. Managers are in a tricky position, because you really need to kick off the trust factor from the beginning to give your team members space to do their jobs. It can be a tough balance to strike, but the more trust you put in people the more you are likely to get from them.

10.?Concluding Thoughts

With all this being said, being a good manager is no small feat. It’s almost like being a parent. You need to take care of yourself as well as a group of other people. But that’s why they pay managers the big bucks… hypothetically. Also like being a parent, seeing your team grow and thrive is one of the most rewarding things there is. Being a good manager comes with truly having the passion to be one, and having that passion (or not) is apparent. Although I’ve only seen these things from a point of view of someone being managed, I hope to be on the other side soon and walk the talk. I know it’s not an easy job, but it’s a challenge I wholeheartedly welcome.

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I would also like to recognize all of the good managers I’ve had personally who have led by example for me to see all of these things in action.

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