> I have a manager who is extremely people-oriented. It's nice, but mostly in the sense of not doing harm. Team meetings are full of kindness and accolades, but people aren't engaged because the meetings lack substance and purpose. We have the meetings primarily to "feel like a team", rather than to engage in the purpose the team exists for.

I recently left a role mainly because of the same situation. In short, there was no team in the true sense of the word. The meetings were listless, just people in a room / on a Zoom. The level of energy and engagement forever teetering on empty.

Simply put, this isn't management, it's bad management. Kindness to the point of mindless is not sustainable. Management can have many colors so to speak, but forgettable beige should not be one of them.