How to Be the Best UX Research Manager and Mentor to Your Team

By Philip Burgess – UX Research Leader

Being a great manager isn’t just about delivering results—it’s about building the kind of environment where your team can thrive, grow, and feel valued. The best managers are also mentors, guiding their people not only toward business goals but toward personal and professional fulfillment.

After years of leading and mentoring teams, here’s what I’ve found matters most:

How to be the Best UX Research Manager

1. Put People Before Projects

Deadlines are important, but your people are more important. When you take time to understand each person’s strengths, challenges, and aspirations, you can align their work in a way that makes them feel both capable and motivated.

Action: Schedule regular one-on-ones that are about them, not just their deliverables.

2. Lead by Example

Your team takes cues from your behavior. If you want transparency, show transparency. If you expect high-quality work, demonstrate it in your own. If you value work-life balance, model it.

Action: Let your team see how you handle challenges, own mistakes, and celebrate wins.

3. Communicate with Radical Honesty

How to be the best ux research managers avoids sugarcoating, withholding information, or letting assumptions fester. The best teams operate in an environment of clarity, even when the news is hard to hear.

Action: Practice direct communication paired with empathy—always explain the “why” behind your decisions.

4. Empower, Don’t Micromanage

Micromanagement suffocates creativity and trust. Instead, set clear expectations, provide the necessary resources, and then give your team the space to deliver.

Action: Focus on outcomes, not every single step along the way.

5. Be an Advocate for Their Growth

Great managers see their team’s potential and actively help them reach it—even if that growth eventually takes them beyond the team or company.

Action: Share opportunities, connect them with mentors, and support their career goals without holding them back for your own convenience.

6. Provide Feedback That Builds, Not Breaks

Feedback is a gift, but it’s only valuable when it’s actionable and respectful. Balance constructive feedback with genuine recognition of what’s going well.

Action: Use the “What’s working / What can improve” framework in every feedback conversation.

7. Care About Them as People First

When you truly care about your team as individuals—not just as employees—you build loyalty, trust, and mutual respect that no perk or policy can replace.

Action: Celebrate their life milestones, check in during hard times, and remember that humanity comes before hierarchy.

The Bottom Line

The best managers and mentors lead with empathy, set the example, and invest in their people’s growth. They create teams that are not only high-performing but also loyal, engaged, and inspired.

In the end, your greatest legacy as a manager isn’t the projects you deliver—it’s the people you’ve helped grow into the best versions of themselves.

Philip Burgess | philipburgess.net | phil@philipburgess.net