Do you have a good boss? Ultimately, only you can answer this question. Traditionally, bosses are not always there to be liked, some know this very well and others try hard realising the productive benefits to their team.
Kao vlasnik Libris komunikacija i voditelj edukacijskih programa u Velikoj Britaniji i Hrvatskoj, Peter donosi dodatnu vrijednost u ZIMO kroz nove marketinške i komunikacijske ideje, alate, naputke i praktične savjete.
There are probably only a few really bad bosses, not many great ones with the majority falling somewhere in between. I’ve been thinking about what we (bosses) can do to improve and take that step further. How can we motivate and inspire our employees and probably above all, gain the respect that is often so hard to achieve?
After some discussion with a few others in the same position, a few emails and lots of listening – I’ve come up with 10 good things your boss can do that are practical and straightforward and in turn, will hopefully give some positive reflection.
1. Always take the heat and equally share the praise. Natural bosses find this an easy task to do and most of us do our best to get it right. Remember it takes courage to accept the responsibility when things go wrong and sensitivity to share the praise.
2. Encourage employees to focus on natural skills and challenge them to overcome their issues. Simply, in other words – aiming to get people to perform at their best.
3. Pay people what they’re worth Some may disagree but cases show that what you lose in extra expense, you will certainly gain in performance
4. Spend some time to share experiences At the end of the day, employees learn from those who show enough generosity to share their experiences and insights. Share a few thoughts involving employees in may be a good move.
5. Be straight with employees, even when it’s bad news. When there is bad news or negative feedback, there’s nothing worse than trying to make it sound ‘nice and fluffy’. A very important thing any boss can do is to tell it straight and clear – with no beating around the bush.
6. Manage – give employees room It’s true. Good bosses successfully keep management off employee’s backs. Not always fully understood, but the most important aspect of this is employees giving management what they need to do their jobs. That’s what keeps management away.
7. Create and build team spirit. As the saying goes, great groups always outperform great individuals and great leaders can build great teams.
8. Treat employees the way they deserve. Treating everyone as equals with the same respect may not be exactly the right thing to do in every case. Remember that respect must be earned, and the majority of workers are not their boss’s equals. Think about it.
9. Delegate correctly, not dumping tasks. All bosses everywhere delegate, but the bad ones seem to think that dumping tasks on those they hate is the answer. Good bosses can delegate responsibility and hold people accountable.
10. Inspire your people. Above talks about motivating people, but only a very small number of bosses probably know how to truly inspire their employees. One idea is by actively sharing their passion for the business. Another is knowing what to say and do at the right time to take the heat off or change a tough situation around. Experience and real-life anecdotes help a lot as well as a good sense of humour.
So, after all this – where are you on the good boss scale?
