Five things my best bosses did
Workers throughout the US celebrate National Boss’s Day on 17 October. What is it about a boss that calls for dedicating a whole day in their name?
Much has been written from management scholars on the value of leadership, but today I want to take a more personal approach and reflect on the value that my bosses – current and past – have had on my life.
To me, a boss is someone who helps you grow as you work to achieve the goals for the role you are in.
Here are the five things that, in my experience, great bosses do:
1. My best bosses cared
They made me feel valued – not only as their employee, but also as a person.
They let me bring my whole self to work, which, ultimately, reflected in better quality of work and stronger working relationships.
2. My best bosses asked, rather than told, all the time
They took a coaching approach to our conversations and often helped me realise what I needed to do through asking questions strategically, rather than tell me (unless I specifically asked them).
Of course, there is always a time and a place to be directive – to tell. However, once the goals are clear and the specifics are ironed out, it helps to let people find their own way and offer guidance towards finding their own answers, rather than answering everything yourself, for them, and reinforce learned helplessness.
3. My best bosses stroke the right balance between autonomy and control
They gave me enough direction to be able to get started and enough freedom to make my own choices along the way, in order to reach the targets we’d agreed on.
4. My best bosses created an environment that fostered growth
This requires a mix of challenge and trust. They set ambitious stretch goals, that prompted me to deliver excellence for the business and professional growth for myself.
At the same time, they were able to create enough trust in our relationship (based on an organisational culture which allowed this) for me to feel safe to experiment, rather than be always constricted by the expectation of 100% perfection. It’s a fine balance to strike, which, quite realistically, is very hard to achieve.
5. My best bosses were able to communicate a vision clearly and took me along for the ride
Strategy and goals start at the top and find themselves adopted at all levels of the organisation through clear communication.
A leader who cannot communicate a vision is, in my view, less effective than one who can. That is because the more everyone in an organisation is aligned with where we’re going (vision and mission), how we’re getting there (strategy and execution) and who we want to be on this journey (values), the faster we can get there. A good boss helps you understand the big picture and how you fit in it.
Happy boss’s day, bosses! Thank you for creating an environment that helped me thrive and do my best work.
None of these five things are easy to achieve and I can only hope that one day I can do them for someone else just as well as you were able to do them for me.
Over to you
Do you agree with my top 5 picks?
I’d love to know, what is the mark of a good boss for you?
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