12 Nice Things To Say About Your Boss in a Review (With Tips)

Performance reviews are formal reports of an employee's work practices. During your company's review cycle, your team may ask you to give feedback about your manager. Providing helpful and honest reviews for your manager can encourage them to continue to improve their performance.

In this article, we share a list of 12 nice things to say about your boss in a performance review and provide tips to consider when writing your review.

Why compliment your manager in a review?

When doing a performance review for a manager or supervisor, it's often helpful to provide encouragement and inform them of their strengths. This is because performance reviews help identify strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. Complimenting your supervisor in a review, whether it's a performance review for you or your supervisor, may be beneficial in these ways:

Helps build and maintain relationships

Giving compliments to your supervisor is a way to show kindness and build meaningful rapport. For example, if you inform your supervisor that you enjoy working with them or tell them about areas where they perform well, it can boost their mood and facilitate goodwill. Having good relationships at work is important because it can improve job satisfaction, facilitate collaboration and provide you with a support network. A good relationship with your supervisor is also beneficial to your career because a supervisor may help you develop your skills and advance in your job.

Related: 8 Strategies for Building Relationships Effectively

Encourages improvement

Supervisors may give positive feedback routinely to employees, so it's also helpful to review their performance. Complimenting your supervisor can help them identify their strengths and repeat behaviors that are beneficial to you and your team members. For example, if you provide feedback that your supervisor is great at communicating project expectations, they may likely continue using the project management methods they've implemented during previous projects.

Increases job satisfaction

Complimenting your supervisor may help create a positive work environment and higher job satisfaction. Your supervisor may appreciate you sharing your thoughts on their performance and leadership abilities. Complimenting the positive qualities you see in a supervisor can also help them become a better manager. This might enable them to provide excellent training, assist more with work tasks and give their team more independence because they're confident in their own and your abilities.

Related: 10 Positive Feedback Examples for Employee Recognition

12 positive things to say about your boss in a review

When completing a performance review for a boss, it's important to consider what helpful feedback you can give your manager so they can continue behaviors you feel are beneficial to you, your colleagues or the work environment. Here's a list of nice things you can say about your manager during a review:

1. "Thanks for creating actionable goals for the team"

It's the responsibility of management to set goals for projects to help guide employees in performing their tasks. You can compliment your manager's ability to set goals for you and your team in a review. It may be helpful to share a specific example of a goal they set and how it helped you. For example, you might share that creating milestones for each stage of a certain project helped you stay focused on individual tasks. Informing your manager that goal setting is a skill they have can be beneficial to upper-level management, who may review your supervisor.

Related: 4 Steps for Setting Leadership Goals in the Workplace (With Examples)

2. "I appreciate the clarity you provide for project tasks"

If your manager provides great instruction on how to perform tasks, you may include this in your review. Consider if they frequently provide clear deadlines, share their expectations and help you understand the tasks you receive so you can succeed at work. For example, you can write that it's very helpful to receive written instructions from the manager and that they communicate deadlines, goals and expectations well, which helps you accomplish more.

Related: A Complete Guide to Effective Written Communication

3. "You're very inspirational and give the team excellent motivation to achieve our goals"

A motivational leader can encourage employees to be more productive. If your manager encourages team members to perform well and meet personal and team goals, you could comment on this in their review. Providing an example of when or how they motivate you may help them repeat these actions. For example, you can say your manager consistently praises the work you do and remains positive even when unplanned events occur during a project.

4. "You're always in a positive mood, which encourages me to have a positive attitude"

Positivity is a wonderful quality to compliment during a performance review. Being positive helps create an enjoyable work environment. You might include a comment about your manager's positive attitude in their review because this shows them their behavior is helpful and shows business executives that your manager displays leadership qualities. For example, you may write that your manager comes to work in a good mood and shares positivity with everyone in the office.

Related: 9 Effective Ways To Keep a Positive Attitude (Plus Benefits)

5. "I admire your flexibility at work"

Complimenting your manager's flexibility can involve praising their ability to adjust plans or their allowance for employees to work according to their schedules. Flexible work schedules can be beneficial for employees because it gives them independence and enables them to work during their peak performance hours. If flexibility applies to your manager, you could mention examples of how they show flexibility and express your interest in a flexible work schedule to boost productivity.

Related: Positive Feedback: Why It's Important and How To Deliver It

6. "You do a great job helping me build my skill set"

Managers can often help their team learn and further develop skills to become more successful. Reviewing your manager's training skills and ability to help you and your team members develop professionally can help them address potential issues or develop better training programs. Since professional development is a personal goal for many employees, it's useful to provide feedback to your manager about their training methods. This may also encourage your manager to create more innovative training methods or resources.

Related: How To Give Effective Feedback To a Mentor

7. "Thanks for making time to speak with me about my concerns"

Effective managers can be available so that employees can ask questions or request help with tasks. You might say that your manager is very approachable and welcomes questions. You can also mention how your manager encourages communication and makes themselves accessible to the team. Upper management can consider feedback about your manager's ability to communicate with their team when they're choosing employees to train and manage teams in the future.

8. "I appreciate your ability to resolve issues quickly and your willingness to help where you can"

Problem resolution is often a skill that managers possess so you can complement their ability. You can mention their swiftness, creativity or positivity when correcting workplace issues. It's good to request your manager's help when there's an issue so informing them of their helpfulness can encourage your manager to speak with you more often to ensure you're doing well.

Related: How To Give Negative Feedback: Steps and Tips

9. "Thanks for being understanding and for providing tips on how to maintain team relationships"

Managing relationships on a team is important to maintain collaboration and effective communication. Establishing good communication and actively maintaining work relationships can also contribute to creating a pleasant work environment. If your manager is helpful in mediating conflicts between colleagues, this can make your team more efficient. For example, your manager may resolve conflicts on the team through mediation and help create compromises.

Related: FAQ: Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

10. "I appreciate how you delegate tasks and ensure that our workloads are well-balanced"

Delegating tasks is a typical job duty for managers so consider complimenting your manager's ability to delegate tasks if this applies to them. For example, you might compliment how they divide work between you and your team members evenly. It can be helpful to mention what you appreciate about your assignments and workload because your manager might continue to give you work you enjoy.

11. "You're a great manager for having confidence in the team's ability to work independently"

You can also compliment the leadership style of your manager in your review. Allowing employees to work independently without constant supervision can encourage confidence and help with professional growth. Consider sharing examples of when your manager gave you the responsibility to complete tasks by yourself or offered you the freedom to set your own work goals.

Related: 8 Types of Management Styles for Effective Leadership

12. "Thanks for recognizing my achievements and encouraging me to accomplish more"

Receiving recognition often provides encouragement to employees. This may help them further develop skills and become more efficient at their job. It can be a good idea to mention in your review that praise is helpful because it can remind your manager to continue recognizing your efforts. This can also let them know that specific types of recognition can help to motivate you.

Tips for writing performance reviews

When writing a performance review for a manager, consider the following tips:

• Be honest. Being honest when writing a performance review can allow your feedback to be more effective and helpful. Writing honest reviews can include both positive and critical information.

• Use examples. When discussing a certain behavior or quality your manager has, try to provide specific examples of them demonstrating those skills to add clarity and credibility to your review.

• Use descriptive language. Try to choose helpful words to express your feedback. Providing specific attributes your manager has is often more helpful than simply saying they're a good manager.

• Finish with a positive note. Ending your review with a positive comment about the manager can help them feel better about the review and motivate them to improve based on the feedback you provide.