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Some Bosses’ Day Rules for Being a Great Boss
By Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette
What image comes to mind when you hear the word ‘boss’? Is it Dagwood Bumstead's boss, Mr. Dithers? Or George Segal’s Jack Gallo, from NBC’s “Just Shoot Me”? Or maybe Sigourney Weaver's character in Working Girl? Hardly images to which we would aspire.
Maybe the image comes from your own experience, with a wise and inspirational leader, a mentor who passively taught you key principles of personal and business success. Or maybe the word ‘boss’ conjures up memories of a weak but overbearing dictator whose preferred method of getting performance from people was bullying.
Whether the idea of ‘boss’ gives you warm feelings or makes you look for an antacid, our bosses, supervisors, managers, team leaders, whatever you want to call them, affect our work experience as much as almost any other aspect of our jobs. A survey conducted by New York's Families and Work Institute asked the question “What's most important to you in a job?" Among the top ten responses, numbers 4 and 5 are, respectively, “Quality of management" and “My supervisor". And you didn't know they cared. Well, they do.
October 16 is the day set aside to honor bosses all over the country. Some of you will receive flowers or cards or maybe even be treated to lunch by your employees. Some of these gestures will come from employees who genuinely respect and admire you for your integrity, talent, consideration, and the way you have created a great place to work. Others of you will receive these tokens because your people know it's the politically astute thing to do.
OK, self-assessment time. Sure, anyone can slip up on the odd occasion, but are you guilty of doing any of these things regularly?
- Pointing out every fault, while failing to recognize truly outstanding performance.
- Asking people to work long hours with no prior notice, and no regard for family or other commitments.
- Using intimidation to get results.
- Giving orders, instead of getting your people's best ideas.
- Pulling less than your weight around the office.
- Flaunting your position and perks while your underlings are toiling in the fields.
If you answered yes to any of the above, that employee of yours whom you think is on the phone arranging your Bosses' Day lunch may in fact be setting up an interview with the latest recipient of his or her newly polished resume.
Our research into exceptionally profitable organizations indicates that the companies which are practically minting money – you know, the ones you wished you owned more stock in - are loaded with women and men who follow these rules for being a great boss.
- Don't be overly impressed with your position or authority. Let's face it. Most of us didn't ascend to management positions because of our remarkable managerial skills; we got promoted because we were good at whatever it was we used to do before we became managers. Successful bosses believe their most important job function is to be a ``servant leader", to help others do their best work. Those who are in it for their egos rarely get the results their shareholders want.
The first year of former Jacksonville University President Dr. Frances Kinne's administration was also the first year the school's registration was done entirely by computer. Glitches arose. The temperature was near 100. The delays were long, and so were the serpentine lines winding inside and out of the Howard Administration Building. An enduring memory of many JU students and staff on that hot and aggravating day is the gracious image of one of the state's most powerful and influential women, Fran Kinne, walking up and down the queue serving ice cold lemonade to the madding crowd.
Too touchy-feely for you? The late Major General Melvin Zais would have been called anything but touchy-feely by the men he led in Viet Nam, and yet he warned graduates of the Armed Forces Staff College to ``be ever alert to the pitfalls of too much authority. Beware that you do not fall in the category of a little man, with a little job, with a big head."
- Tell the truth, about both organizational and individual performance. Jack Stack, CEO of the once failing, and now flourishing Springfield Remanufacturing calls it ``open-book management". Let your folks know what's going on. How else are they going to help you make it better? And tell them the truth about their performance. If you fail to tell someone they're doing a lousy job, and then fire them for doing a lousy job, you're doing a lousy job as a manager. Your burn rate on employees is costing the company money.
- Appreciate people and tell them so. Whoever has not heard this before may leave the room. And yet, almost every conversation I have with a disgruntled employee is rife with stories of underappreciation. A character in Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale observes “One good deed dying tongueless slaughters a thousand [yet to come]. Our praises are our wages.”
- Don't make exceptions routine. Good bosses hold high standards, but they don't equate high standards with routinely onerous working hours or conditions. If you've ever been a part of a critical project that was yanked from the jaws of defeat by the heroics of a committed, determined, and dedicated team of professionals, you know the exhilaration of such a victory. But if 70-hour weeks become the norm, if doing more with less escalates to doing the impossible with nothing, and if the superhuman becomes mundane, then something's wrong. Your people will burn out, give up, and go away.
- Eschew politics. Quit playing the game. It siphons precious energy from the real work at hand.
Is the gang taking you out to lunch today? If so, accept the gesture with humility and appreciation, and use the time to strengthen your professional relationships with each member of your group. If, however, you notice that you're having lunch alone today, use that time to decide which of the above suggestions you'll implement first.
Please print the following attribution for this article: Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, co-authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, help clients clobber the competition by having a focused, fired up, and capably led workforce. They deliver powerful conference keynotes and leadership training. They can be reached at 800-940-7006 (+1-904-720-0870 from outside North America) or www.ContentedCows.com.