Were you hired by a really awesome boss? Are you a really awesome boss? New recruits want to be assured that they’ve been hired by a good leader and someone who they can trust and work well with. Here are nine easy ways to figure out if you were hired by a great boss.
1. They possess self-awareness and look for ways to expand self-knowledge. Self-awareness leads to better self-control and a more accurate sense of how to improve their leadership skills. Bosses that are asking for feedback and integrating it into their supervisory practice tend to achieve more in their careers.
2. They practice empathy. Empathy is a personal characteristic that is best defined as someone who is “other-oriented” or in other words, works to understand and respond to the unique circumstances of others in an appropriate fashion. Effective managers seek to understand situations instead of having someone else understand their subjective viewpoints or opinions Empathy is about caring and listening and asking questions that are open-ended and will elicit more information.
3. They lead the way they would want to led. The “Golden Rule” states that you should treat others the way you want to treated. This is an effective principle for all interpersonal relationships.
4. They are credible and warrant active following. Credibility includes the alignment of the boss’ words and actions with their personal values and values of the organization that they lead. Their expertise with their role assignment is also included in this. With this type of alignment, bosses will earn their subordinates trust and willingness to actively follow their direction.
5. They maintain appropriate boundaries. A great boss does not act in any way that will undermine their authority to supervise their staff’s performance. They also do not play favorites with their employees.
6. They criticize artfully. When there is a performance deficiency that needs to be addressed, a great boss will use communication techniques to provide feedback or criticism in a way that is not going to be emotionally ruinous to the supervisory relationship. In other words, they use constructive criticism and don’t act like a jerk. They use methods that will reduce defensiveness and open the report up to information that is needed to improve performance.
7. They adopt a coaching style. Micromanaging sends out the message that employees cannot be trusted to do the job that they have been hired to do without being constantly watched. By being more of a coach or a mentor, a more productive work environment is created.
8. They transform conflict into opportunity. The most effective way to mediate a conflict is to look for opportunities that can emerge from a dispute with a greater shared understanding of team objectives.
9. They adapt to different personality styles among their subordinates. They can lead different types of people and build rapport with their staff.
These are nine practices of a great boss. If you boss is practicing them, it seems that are most likely in luck and you probably have a pretty awesome boss. If you happen to be a boss who practices these things, then good for you. You might just be a favorite of your employees.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
