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Print it and Post it! What Makes an Exceptional Boss?
When someone says, "I've got a lousy boss!" listeners usually nod in understanding, because
we have all been there and somehow comprehend without much explanation.
But when someone announces they have a great boss, we want to know why. What makes your
boss so great? Is he or she doing something that I can do also?
It begins with the concept of "boss" - as opposed to manager or leader. There are managers
who become so absorbed in managing things, like numbers and call sheets, that they totally miss the human part of the equation.
Conversely, there are leaders who are so charismatic that we charge up their hill, only to find nothing at the top of
the hill. The leader's plan was bad, and we have misspent our faith.
A real "boss" brings the best of both worlds.
A real "boss" will be very clear on the following four points:
- A Workable Plan...The goal will be exciting. The payoff, if we
accomplish the goal, will be worth our hard effort. The plan will be
painstakingly thought out. It will be carefully and completely
communicated to everyone who will have a part in its success.
Everyone involved will have a chance for input and buy-in. It
becomes workable when everyone with a part to play thinks it will
work and wants it to work.
- A Team...A great boss will pick a team with whom I am proud to
work. People who inspire and contribute and who make me want to
inspire and contribute. A great team will coalesce only around the
kind of boss that takes more obvious pleasure in the successes. There
can be no great team without an unselfish boss. It's a lucky person
who gets to work once in a career on such a team.
- A Job That Fits Each Team Member...We all need a job that we can
do but that stretches us. We need to know how the job fits into the
whole. Nothing is so confusing and uninspiring as a "chore" for which
we don't know the purpose or intent. Our job needs to be tough
enough so that we will feel good when it's accomplished. We need
very much to hear our successes publicly celebrated.
- A Great Boss Will Have A Personal Interest In My Success...
This will be visceral and critical. Going back to the letter at
the top
of the page, if you and I as bosses don't signal clearly to those we
boss that we are as interested in their success as we are in our
own, we will lose good people, and in the end we will simply be
stymied in business.
Good bosses are defined by the people who work for them, not by themselves.
If you are not a good boss, you don't deserve to advance in your company.
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