What makes a good boss?
Is it how they communicate with employees? Is it their background and experience that matter most?
Or perhaps it’s a mix of different characteristics that determine a good boss?
To gain some insight into these questions, let’s turn to the “world’s best boss” himself; Michael Scott.
A good boss listens and respects employees
If you’ve watched The Office before, you know that Michael Scott values his employees.
While his methods (if you want to call them that) are a bit unconventional, he goes out of his way to let the office know they’re important.
One of the easiest ways to let your employees know they’re valued is to simply listen to them. Of course, if you’ve ever tried to implement a “suggestion box”, you know that getting valuable feedback is sometimes easier said than done.
Here is some business insight I’ve picked up along the way that may apply to your business:
- Verbal communication is valuable – An aunt of mine once told me, “you need to listen to REASONABLE employee issues”. She’s completely right. Employees are at the front line of your business and can provide incredibly valuable business insight for an organization. If they’re voicing concerns, you need to approach the situation as an opportunity to gain business insight rather than a threat against your authority. How you handle the situation will have a direct impact on your business.
- Non-verbal communication can be even more valuable – Likewise, you can even more business insight from watching and learning from your employee’s non-verbal actions. For example, if an employee is not performing as well as they should, it’s not very likely that they’re going to come to you and admit this. Rather than simply firing the employee, try to determine what is keeping them from performing at their best. In most cases, the performance barrier can be resolved and the gained business insight will likely improve the productivity of your other employees as well.
- Be considerate of their personal life – I’ve found that employees will go the extra mile for you if they know you’ll go the extra mile for them. To do this, simply be considerate of their life outside of work when you are planning how you will go about getting work done. A good example of this is my cousin, who’s currently on path to become a doctor. Since becoming a doctor takes a lot of book time, I knew that he would likely prefer to work in short daily spurts so he could have plenty of time every day to study. Rather than forcing a work schedule on him, we worked together to figure out a schedule that would allow us to accomplish everything we need to get done.
A good boss empowers and prepares employees
One thing that drives me absolutely insane is when an employer micromanages their employees.
If that’s you…stop it.
A good boss doesn’t assert power over employees to make things happen. Instead, a good boss empowers and prepares their employees so they can make things happen themselves.
A good boss builds a company that continues to be great even when they’re gone. To do this, they hire, develop, and empower the right people.
Here are the basics:
- Delegate responsibility – A good boss knows when and who to delegate responsibility to. This will give your employees a sense of ownership in the project and will free up your time to work on other valuable tasks. Be sure to appropriately delegate responsibility and make sure that you’re crystal clear in your expectations.
- Continuous learning – If your employees are going to do their job well, you need to make sure they have an appropriate education. A continuous learning program should consider the layout of your overall human resource system and should incorporate up to date industry best practices.
- The right equipment – It doesn’t matter how smart your employees are, they simply won’t be able to do their jobs unless they are equipped with the appropriate equipment. While you certainly don’t have to have the best equipment in the world, you do need to have an idea of how you will maintain and update your equipment when needed.
A good boss motivates and inspires employees
At the end of the day, being a good boss is about motivating your employees and making things happen.
Michael Scott is the undisputed champ when it comes to this.
If you’re an introverted individual, you might be thinking you’re at a disadvantage because you’re not naturally charismatic. The truth is, however, you don’t necessarily need to be charismatic to be a great leader; there plenty of great leaders who are not charismatic.
These are a few things have typically worked well in my experience:
- Lead by example – It sounds cliche, but it’s true. Your employees watch you. Why would they work harder than you? If you’re being fishy, how can you expect them to do what’s right? If you work hard, your employees will likely follow.
- Give credit where credit is due – This is a big one. As humans, we take some action because we want what it produces. If you’re employee does something you want them to do and doesn’t get the reward they expected, they aren’t very likely to be as motivated next time. The trick, however, is to figure out what actually motivates people. Research has shown that, in rudimentary situations, money works well for motivating employees. In situations that require more complex thinking, however, employees are motivated more by things such as freedom and flexibility. In addition to these, I’ve found that simply acknowledging the good work of an employee can go along way.
- Listen and Empower – I mentioned this above, but it’s also appropriate here. Listen to your employees and give them the tools they need to succeed and they will bust their tails for you day in and day out.
A good boss knows when and how to step down
When you’ve put so much time and energy into something, it’s often hard to step aside and give someone else the reigns.
In some instances, however, it’s what’s best. If you’ve done your job right, you’ve created an organization that can run without you. On top of that, you’ve developed someone who can step into your shoes and be an even better boss than you are.
Of course, just because you step down from being the boss, doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the road for you. For example, the chart below gives us a little insight into how the “real” Michael Scott (Steve Carell) made his transition.
As shown in the search comparison above, the “Michael Scott” character left The Office in April at a time when ratings had been good for several consecutive years. Almost immediately after leaving the show, Steve Carell produced and co-starred in the movie; Crazy, Stupid, Love.
According to the critics the movie was decent but not really anything spectacular. From a business perspective, however, the move was an incredible success and generate nice profits.
My guess is, the movie was so successful because they were able to effectively leverage the momentum from Carell’s last gig.
The point? Don’t be afraid to step down from being the boss when it’s what’s best. It doesn’t mean you’re headed in the wrong direction.
Conclusion
Being a good boss can be a challenge at times. Not everything is as straight forward as I made it sound above. Sometimes you’ll be faced with situations in which the solution isn’t so clear.
At the end of the day, you’ll need to evaluate your performance and adjust your techniques to whatever is most effective.
….that’s what she said.
🙂