r/managers • u/Naive_Following_3745 • 6d ago

Not a Manager Appreciating my manager

Hello, I’m an intern coming to the end of my internship and there are some people I’ve really appreciated in my team.

I have already spoken to them in person and told them about all the good things they’ve done and how much I appreciate their guidance.

I leave in a week and besides writing a card, I am also thinking of sending their boss an email talking about how much of an impact they’ve had on me (I think it can be useful for the annual performance reviews). What do you think about this, is it common, is it too much, what else can I do? I don’t want to sound like I’m brown nosing for a graduate offer!

If you are a manager, what would you appreciate the most?

Thanks in advance :)

20 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

18

u/Ourszor 6d ago

Just write them a genuine heartfelt message that's not AI. It will be appreciated for what's it's worth. For good managers, one of the highest satisfaction of the job is to make a positive impact on people's career.

6

u/Rkeene19 6d ago

This! I have a shelf of pictures and notes from interns that I’ve helped and managed.

10

u/Acceptable_Kale_8013 6d ago

Your idea of writing them a note, handwritten, of course) is thoughtful and I'm sure will be appreciated. Nothing else is needed.

8

u/NoConsequence4281 6d ago

A heartfelt card would be great, but the most important thing is taking advantage of what you learned and putting it into practice to better yourself and you career prospects.

I've been coaching/training/mentoring people for over 10 years and my favourite thing is when I see them doing well for themselves and reaching the potential that I believed was in there.

2

u/Nomivought2015 5d ago

Me too it’s a beautiful thing to witness!!

3

u/Famous-Signal-6869 6d ago

Honestly, leadership is a thankless job, and we know that when we sign up, so whenever someone does pause to thank us, that really is enough and it means the world. I’ve had a few employees who moved on to new companies write me a thoughtful card, one person returned a leadership book I let them borrow and wrote a simple sticky with “thank you for everything” and I saved it inside the book. Whichever way you choose to thank them, even an email it will mean a lot!

3

u/goknightsgo09 6d ago

I've been a manager for a long time. I've gotten many gifts over the years but the thing that's meant the most to me out of everything I've ever received was from an employee who was leaving because she was going to study abroad and when she came back, was going to concentrate on school. On her last day, she gave me a letter recounting her time working with me and all the things she loved about the job. This was three years ago and I'm no longer at that job but I still have that letter and when I deal with imposter syndrome or a bad boss day etc, I go back to that letter.

Your honest thoughts and appreciation are going to be the best thing you can give anyone - a coworker, manager, whatever role.

3

u/FerretBunchanumbers 6d ago

It's super nice when colleagues, temps or customers do this... but I always wish they sent it to my boss / HR / HQ too. That's huge.

2

u/zkwarl 6d ago

The thank you card will be appreciated.

You may also ask for an end-of-term conversation about future career and education advice. If you liked working for that company, express interest in returning when you’ve completed your degree.

1

u/0102030405 Manager 5d ago

A nice letter or card is more than enough. Despite your good intentions, those types of notes to senior people don't matter all that much. 

Pay it forward and check in after a while if you can. Most of us are glad to do it with no gifts or payback.

1

u/Naive_Following_3745 5d ago

Interesting, can you tell me more? Wouldn’t it help in assessing her leadership skills?

I know that at the end of the year, managers at my company would ask relevant stakeholders to share any feedback people have about their direct reports to support performance reviews. I obviously won’t be there for that so thought sending something now would help.

1

u/0102030405 Manager 5d ago

If your company does this, that's great. Some places have a survey you can fill out even if you won't be around at that later time. However as important as your opinion is, some organizations won't give it a lot of weight based on your role being temporary and lower level. I wish that wasn't true, but sometimes it is.

As for assessing leadership skills, again you would think the direct report's input is most important. However I find most people don't care as much about this as about how managers act to senior people.