Beyond Recognition: Empower Managers to Guide, Coach, and Drive Performance

Recognition is a powerful way to make people feel seen. But it’s also a signal. Every moment of praise highlights what’s working, what’s gaining traction, and where there’s momentum. Bonusly helps managers act on those signals with tools for real-time coaching, effective 1:1s, and performance-driving feedback—so they can turn culture-building into performance-driving.

With streamlined workflows for performance recaps, team check-ins, goal alignment, and incentives, Bonusly equips managers to transform from good leaders into truly great ones. These tools foster meaningful connections, drive results, and amplify team impact—all while ensuring employees feel valued and supported.

In this article, we’ll explore how Bonusly can be the partner your managers need to build a workplace where employees truly thrive.

Bonusly manager tools that build winning teams

Bonusly helps managers unlock their team’s full potential with an array of solutions that strengthen relationships, jumpstart growth conversations, and incentivize winning behaviors. Let’s break it down.

1:1s

Great managers don’t wait for quarterly reviews to guide performance. Instead, they do it through consistent, meaningful conversations. Bonusly’s 1:1s are designed to keep those conversations focused, supportive, and aligned with what matters most.

The Bonusly 1:1 agenda builds strong connections between managers and their reports, encouraging productive conversations rooted in relationship, continuous feedback, meaningful recognition, and skill development. 

Employee recognition and feedback are seamlessly integrated into the 1:1 agenda, providing the opportunity to regularly and thoughtfully discuss areas of improvement and ensure not a single piece of good work is left unacknowledged. Managers can also set and track goals inside the 1:1, presenting recurring opportunities to discuss progress toward objectives while creating alignment and accountability. 

Now, managers have full visibility into the work their employees are doing, which is especially useful for distributed or remote teams. Said differently, with the Bonusly 1:1, managers can foster more effective (and rewarding!) discussions and create a clear path toward achieving team-wide objectives. 
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Smart conversation starters

Bonusly's newest 1:1 feature includes Smart conversation starters: AI-powered prompts that make it easy to start meaningful conversations with your team.

Smart conversation starters surface relevant, personalized discussion topics based on recent recognition, feedback, goals, and even past 1:1 notes. With a single click, managers and employees can add these prompts to their shared agenda (no prep needed).

These context-aware suggestions give every 1:1 a strong starting point and help move beyond vague updates or status checks.

Smart conversation starters help managers:

• Save time and reduce mental load when preparing for 1:1s
• Spark more insightful and productive conversations
• Uncover coaching moments, blockers, or growth opportunities
• Keep feedback, recognition, and goal progress front and center

With Bonusly, every conversation becomes a chance to build trust, drive performance, and keep people moving forward.

Feedback

It’s a manager’s responsibility to give regular feedback. That’s why Bonusly prompts managers to give feedback in key places within the product, including the recognition feed and 1:1 agenda, to help build that habit. Since the manager and their direct reports have been building a strong relationship in their 1:1s, and cultures of recognition and shared sense of purpose help build psychological safety and trust, receiving and discussing feedback is easier and more fruitful.

And, even though employees say they want more feedback, that doesn’t remove the anxiety associated with asking for it. One of the best ways to reduce anxiety is if the feedback is solicited. In Bonusly, employees can ask for feedback at any time, from anyone. That feedback, as noted above, is integrated into the Bonusly 1:1 to prompt deeper discussions between managers and employees.

Performance recaps

A measly 2% of CHROs think their performance management process works. Let that sink in for a moment.

Bonusly has paved a better path toward performance management with performance recaps—which give managers a holistic view of their teams’ performance and impact while removing the burdensome task of writing performance reviews.

Performance recaps organize and synthesize real-time recognition and feedback into digestible insights on employee contributions, skills, and progress toward goals. Having holistic and unbiased feedback at the tips of a manager’s fingers jumpstarts meaningful growth conversations and fosters a habit of ongoing dialogue and development.

A unique component is a “Future focus” module, which sets forward-focused conversations into motion. Both managers and direct reports can select a skill, project, or goal they want to tackle that prominently lives in the recap. Now, the report and manager have a visible goal they can continuously work towards. 

Goals

Goals are a powerful motivator, but only when they’re visible, actionable, and aligned with what matters most. Bonusly’s Goals feature brings clarity and connection to individual, team, and company-wide priorities.

Bonusly makes it easy for managers and employees to set, track, and stay aligned on meaningful goals. With built-in visibility across 1:1s, performance recaps, and recognition, goals become a continuous part of the conversation—not something that gets buried in spreadsheets or forgotten until review time.

Goals help managers:

• Connect individual efforts to team and company outcomes
• Turn aspirations into ongoing, achievable milestones
• Facilitate more focused, forward-looking 1:1s
• Recognize and reward progress in real time

By making goal-setting a living part of your culture, Bonusly empowers managers to guide growth more effectively, and helps employees see the impact of their contributions every step of the way.

Recognition and rewards

Recognition is your clearest performance signal. Bonusly helps managers see what’s working in real time and use those moments to drive results. The best part? Bonusly's manager tools are built on top of its core recognition offering, which is designed to help organizations motivate their teams through recognition, rewards, incentives, and more. 

The recognition feed acts as a real-time pulse check on team activities and achievements. By seeing who’s being recognized and for what, managers can easily spot the positive behaviors and habits driving success. This visibility allows managers to reinforce what’s working, publicly celebrate wins, and amplify specific actions that align with team goals. 

It’s a simple yet effective way to set and raise the bar through ongoing, positive reinforcement.

As a bonus, employees get redeemable points when they receive recognition and can use those points in the Bonusly reward catalog, which offers thousands of options—guaranteeing there is something meaningful for everyone, and motivating entire teams. 

Bonusly also equips managers with a recognition analytics dashboard that offers deeper insights into team dynamics. With visibility into connections across teams, participation trends, and recognition frequency, managers can identify engagement gaps, understand how team members are collaborating, and ensure everyone feels supported. 

By leveraging Bonusly’s recognition and analytics tools, managers can build stronger, more connected teams while driving the behaviors that build successful organizations. 

Incentives

When you tie recognition to goals, motivation follows. Bonusly’s customizable incentives give managers a powerful, low-lift way to reinforce the behaviors that matter most. Managers who use Bonusly also have a unique ability to inspire their teams by rewarding behaviors that align with goals. Bonusly’s customizable incentives make it easy to encourage and recognize actions that truly matter—whether it’s fostering collaboration, hitting performance targets, or contributing innovative ideas.

By leveraging predefined recognition point allocations, managers can drive participation in key initiatives without added administrative work. Think: incentives for reaching a weekly customer satisfaction score, closing a deal, renewing a client, or submitting thoughtful product feedback. The flexibility of Bonusly’s incentives allows managers to get creative and target the behaviors that will make the biggest impact on their team.

When managers incentivize productivity and performance, their teams will rise to the occasion. Over time, these efforts create a virtuous cycle: employees develop habits and muscle memory around the actions they want to scale.

Takeaway

We said it before and we’ll say it again: Managers are the foundation of your company’s success. Their ability to recognize, inspire, and guide employees can make or break the employee experience—and, ultimately, your organization’s success. 

Bonusly gives managers the tools they need to not only meet expectations but exceed them, fostering a workplace where employees feel seen, supported, and empowered to do their best work. The result? Engaged employees, stronger relationships, and a thriving company culture that scales.

Empowering your managers isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. With Bonusly, you can equip your leaders with everything they need to unlock their full potential—and in doing so, unlock the full potential of your teams. Transform your managers, and your workplace transformation will follow.

Ready to equip your managers to lead with confidence and drive what happens next? Get started with a demo. Get started with a demo.