HERE ARE THE ACTIONS THAT DEFINE GREAT BOSSES.
A leader initiating action, eliciting communication, and setting the style and pace of daily operations is often the picture that employees hold in their minds. Great Bosses strike a balance between meeting the expectations of their people and getting their people to meet theirs.
Here are the actions that define Great Bosses:
Great Bosses are responsive to the feelings of their people. When you are sensitive to how your employees interrelate, what motivates them and what relationships they have formed, it becomes easy to anticipate people problems and put precautionary measures in place. It will also become easy for you to become aware of critical support systems that should not be affected by any reorganisation program. The deeper your knowledge of how your people feel, the easier it becomes to avoid the creation of inadvertent havocs.
Even if there is a prevailing safe and open atmosphere for communication, Great Bosses are usually the first to speak out and broach the subject of any change and talk frankly and sincerely about potential problems. This will encourage employees who feel intimidated by the persona of the boss to speak up before a problem gets the better of them. Any visible sign of employee malcontent is addressed in a manner that assuages their insecurity and respects their privacy.
Great Bosses effectively build up the morale of their people by acknowledging the value in them. They let their people know that they are always on their side when it comes to matters of improving the developmental level of employees. Remarkable Bosses create an energised, positive, productive work environment by looking for strengths in their people.
It is not wise to hold out promises of rewards if you cannot honour them. Holding brainstorming sessions and praising the brilliant ideas of your staff when you don’t intend to implement any of them and inviting comments when you don’t intend to listen wholeheartedly to them point to lip service. Lip service often elicits mistrust in the minds of employees and they won’t give their best in a work environment tainted by mistrust. Great bosses keep their promises and do not mislead their people.
To encourage their employees to be creative self-starters and Innovators who strive up to their potential, Great Bosses model flexibility and adaptability. This sometimes means responding to contingencies effectively by not sticking rigidly to plans and rules, jettisoning an ineffective plan and regrouping and restrategizing without feeling any less or put out.
Great Bosses listen to their employees and show concern for their feelings without coddling or babying them. They keep attuned to their own empowered feelings while attempting to understand those of their employees for that is the way to help them with their needs and create a balance in their interaction with them. This productive balance between their need to achieve their goals and their employees’ needs to be valued, frequently takes the form of cutting off a heart-to-heart talk with their employees before it becomes unproductive and hinders the actualization of their own goals, praising their people for a well-executed job without fearing that it will result in laxity or a demand for a raise.
