What is an employee engagement survey? It's a structured way to measure how connected, motivated, and satisfied your team members feel at work.
One of the most critical components is gathering manager feedback—understanding how well leaders support, communicate with, and develop their teams.
We’ll explore great questions for manager feedback and show how AI-powered conversational surveys can dig deeper into employee perspectives.
Essential questions that reveal how managers truly impact their teams
Choosing the right questions is everything when you want honest, useful feedback about leadership. Let’s break down what actually works.
Communication and clarity questions help uncover if teams know what’s expected of them. For example: “How clearly does your manager communicate expectations and goals?” When the answer is “not very,” it signals a gap that impacts productivity—especially since engaged employees are 21% more productive than disengaged ones. [1] If team members feel lost, you’ll uncover it fast.
Support and development questions dig deeper: “What specific support from your manager would help you grow professionally?” This question surfaces development gaps and missed coaching moments, crucial for reducing the average 31% of employees who report extremely high work stress. [2]
Recognition and feedback questions shed light on whether people feel appreciated: “When was the last time your manager acknowledged your contributions?” Regular recognition drives satisfaction—37% of employees consider it the top factor in enjoying their job. [3] If recognition is missing, that’s a red flag.
Autonomy and trust questions get to the heart of empowerment: “How comfortable do you feel making decisions within your role?” If responses hint at uncertainty or fear of mistakes, you might have a micromanager (a major retention risk, since engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave than those unengaged). [4]
How AI follow-ups transform surface-level feedback into actionable insights
I’ve seen firsthand that traditional employee engagement surveys miss nuance—they don’t adapt to what the person actually says. With conversational AI surveys, every answer triggers smart follow-ups tailored to sentiment, revealing the “why” behind the feedback.
For positive feedback, the AI might continue the conversation:
What specific actions from your manager made you feel supported?
This surfaces best practices you can share across teams.
For concerns, the AI naturally gets curious:
Can you share a recent example when communication felt unclear?
Soon, you’re collecting concrete, actionable details rather than vague complaints.
For blockers or repeated frustrations, the AI digs in:
How is this affecting your daily work and team morale?
This helps you prioritize what needs attention right away—and chart a course for improvement.
Learn more about how automatic AI follow-up questions create richer employee feedback.
Spotting patterns in manager feedback that drive real change
Once you’ve gathered feedback, the real magic is spotting themes quickly. AI-powered analysis lets you instantly identify what’s working—across teams, locations, or management layers—so you can scale up or intervene fast.
With Specific's AI survey response analysis, it’s as easy as chatting with an expert researcher. You can ask:
To identify top manager strengths across teams:
What are the most frequently mentioned positive behaviors from managers that employees appreciate?
To uncover development priorities:
Which manager behaviors are creating the biggest obstacles for employee productivity and satisfaction?
To segment by team performance:
How do manager feedback patterns differ between high-performing teams and those struggling with engagement?
This removes the guesswork. You get clarity on who’s inspiring excellence versus who needs coaching—so you can lift the whole organization, not just a few teams.
Design your employee engagement survey in minutes, not hours
Traditional engagement survey creation is a slog—hours spent finding the right questions, then more time tweaking wording and logic. That’s where an AI survey builder saves the day: you instantly access professionally written, research-backed questions that flow naturally and adapt to your audience.
The AI survey generator understands what drives engagement and how to ask insightful, unbiased questions. It even proposes follow-ups and branching logic you might not think of—making your surveys feel like a genuine conversation, not an interrogation.
If you’re not regularly running engagement surveys with smart manager feedback sections, you’re missing insight into team health, development needs, and attrition risks that can cost your company big money (disengaged employees cost U.S. firms $450-550 billion yearly). [5]
Create your own survey that captures honest employee voices and turns manager feedback into your competitive edge.