- - What should I do if my manager doesn't offer feedback? Ask Johnny

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., Special to USA TODAYDecember 23, 2025 at 4:02 AM

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Not everyone who excels at their job is equipped to manage others.

Johnny C. Taylor Jr. tackles your workplace questions each week for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of SHRM, the world's largest trade association of human resources professionals, and author of “Reset: A Leader’s Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval.”

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Question: My boss avoids giving feedback, addressing problems, or correcting poor performance. The whole team is frustrated, but no one wants to say anything. How do I navigate this? – Tim

Answer: Tim, let me start here: You’re probably not imagining this. A manager who avoids feedback, sidesteps tough conversations, or won’t address poor performance creates real frustration ‒ and you’re not alone in feeling it.

Here’s what most employees don’t hear: This behavior is far more common than you think. Many managers avoid difficult conversations because they were never taught how to have them. That’s not just a personal shortcoming ‒ it’s often a broader organizational failure to prepare people for leadership.

Not everyone who excels at their job is equipped to manage others. For instance, being great at coding doesn’t automatically make someone great at leading people. Yet organizations routinely promote top performers into management roles, assuming technical excellence translates into people leadership. That’s like assuming Serena Williams could step in as the next LeBron James. Both are elite at what they do ‒ but they play entirely different games.

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Think about it this way: We wouldn’t put a teenager behind the wheel for the first time and say, “Good luck ‒ don’t hit anything.” Yet we hand employees direct reports and expect them to instinctively know how to coach, correct, and develop others. It doesn’t work.

When organizations promote someone into management without the necessary training, tools, or support, they set up that manager ‒ and their entire team ‒ for frustration.

So what can you do?

First, address it directly ‒ but constructively. Ask for a conversation focused on clarity, not blame. You might say, “I’d benefit from clearer feedback, so I know what success looks like,” or “When performance issues aren’t addressed, it affects the whole team. Can we talk about expectations?” The goal is alignment and better outcomes, not criticism.

Second, know when to escalate ‒ with tact. If the lack of feedback is hurting performance or morale and a direct conversation goes nowhere, bring it to HR or a senior leader. Frame it around support: “Our team could benefit from clearer expectations and more structured feedback. Is there training or guidance available?”

Finally, learn from what you’re seeing. Great managers aren’t born ‒ they’re built. Watching what doesn’t work is often the clearest vision of the kind of leader you don’t want to be.

At the end of the day, waiting for a reluctant manager to suddenly become a confident coach is a losing strategy. If you want change, you may need to create the conversation. Do it respectfully, do it thoughtfully, and do it to help both you and your team succeed.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How to address a manager who won't give feedback

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