Qualities of a Good Boss

[SD snowbird]

A good share of the favoritism problem where I work is that 98% of the employees in our department are from the same country and it's not this one. The supervisor is also from the same country and she is apparently incapable of giving credit/compliments to anyone who is not from her home country. That's what gets my blood pressure up.

[GI_Mark]

A good boss huh ?? I like to read up on leadership techniques and watch what others do, because I've always thought you can learn just as much from a boss that does the wrong thing because you will NOT do those things yourself when you are the leader...

Anyway, as a leader now, everything I do stems from making sure I am the SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT on EVERYTHING that happens in my area of responsibility. How can a leader tell someone else how to do a job when they have no idea how to do it themselves ?? That is what we call, "leading from the rear"...

I maintain a counseling record on every one of my employees that explains definitive areas of responsibilities, ensures training has been completed in those areas to get proper results, and set attainable goals for a set period of time. I ensure there is cross training available in other areas within the office to promote awareness of others jobs. I do follow up counseling at least once a quarter to identify weaknesses and strengths.

You have to be fair and impartial across the board and be able to make the hard call and be confrontational if need be. You have to take an interest in your employees. I know all of my employees, the names of their immediate family members, and important dates to them like anniversaries and birthdays to ensure a card is given and try to give them time to celebrate the important things in their lives.

You have to be confident and aggressive in how you go about doing your job. Don't let your employees be someone elses punching bag. FIGHT for them and show them the respect they deserve, because ultimately if the job gets done, THEY MAKE YOU LOOK GOOD !!!

Bottomline is, I expect employees to come to work READY to work and be adults. If they do that, I will treat them likewise. If they underachieve and act like a child incapable of handling simple responsibilities that I know I have trained them to complete to standard, they will be counseled to that fact and if no improvement is shown, I will begin to work very hard to get rid of them.

I like to have fun at work, but can't get to that point until I have ensured my people have been trained and fully understand what they are expected to do. After that is all taken care of, we have a lot of fun.

After ALL of that, I go about trying to find ways to improve on how we do business based upon input from my employees who are the ones actually doing the job. I find that they take more pride in their job if they feel like they have some ownership in the program. Don't make change for the sake of making change. Do something that is actually working smarter, not harder !!!

I love being a leader and give great thanks to the Army for shaping me into the leader I am today !!!

[Chris19]

It is good to get a boss's perspective on the traits of a good boss. In the workplace, it takes effort from the employee (through diligence, pride, confidence, maturity, punctuality, and discipline) and the boss (through understanding, direction, fairness, tact, and knowledge) to have good boss-employee relationships. No boss nor employee is perfect. I have seen and experience situations where the boss and employee get along reasonbly well, very well (most of the time), and not so well. There are times where there are personality conflicts between an employee and a boss and between employees, and this is bound to happen in any workplace. How to manage personality conflicts in a fair manner for a boss is very important.

It is important to have mutual respect between the boss and employee. Do not have to be best friends, but have a good working relationship. I have been fortunate to have a good working relationship with most of my bosses in the past. I have found one or two to be challenging (good at knowing the subject matter but was terrible at managing people and personnel issues0, but everyone is bound to have a bad apple here and there unfortunately. I may not agree with my boss all of the time, but I respect their opinions.

It is a two-way street and it is important for the boss to understand the employee's perspective and vice versa.

[blackhillsdreams]

Well said Chris. Most people don't realize that their boss in most cases is just another employee in the chain (unless they happen to own the company), and being so, they also have a boss to report to.

I would like to amplify the comment about direction, that is one of the MOST important traits of a good boss. How he or she communicates and gives direction to their employees. A good employee should be able to function with relatively little direction (as long as they know their job duties), but a good boss has to keep the right amount of direction flowing. Nobody likes to be micro managed but nobody ever wants to be blamed for not doing something they were never told to do in the first place...

I was really blessed to have the crew I had in the 90's and early 00's... I could tell them what I wanted without having to go into step by step details on how to do it. I used to tell them "If I tell you to get something done, do it the best way you can that is comfortable for you" I always had great results...

When I left that company after 15 years, there was talk of closing down that office because they didn't have a replacement lined up for me and it was a small office, business was slowing (like everywhere else). I took my best guy with me for about 3 1/2 weeks and showed him everything I normally did. When I left, I emailed accounting and said "Today is my last day, Jim will be signing the payroll next week" and left a forwarding number if there were any questions. That was february 2005, Jim is still the boss today and nothing makes me more proud.

[Chris19]

Originally Posted by blackhillsdreams

Well said Chris. Most people don't realize that their boss in most cases is just another employee in the chain (unless they happen to own the company), and being so, they also have a boss to report to.

I would like to amplify the comment about direction, that is one of the MOST important traits of a good boss. How he or she communicates and gives direction to their employees. A good employee should be able to function with relatively little direction (as long as they know their job duties), but a good boss has to keep the right amount of direction flowing. Nobody likes to be micro managed but nobody ever wants to be blamed for not doing something they were never told to do in the first place...

I was really blessed to have the crew I had in the 90's and early 00's... I could tell them what I wanted without having to go into step by step details on how to do it. I used to tell them "If I tell you to get something done, do it the best way you can that is comfortable for you" I always had great results...

When I left that company after 15 years, there was talk of closing down that office because they didn't have a replacement lined up for me and it was a small office, business was slowing (like everywhere else). I took my best guy with me for about 3 1/2 weeks and showed him everything I normally did. When I left, I emailed accounting and said "Today is my last day, Jim will be signing the payroll next week" and left a forwarding number if there were any questions. That was february 2005, Jim is still the boss today and nothing makes me more proud.

A very good story. The last part puts a smile on my face.