10 Characters of a Good Boss

P. K. MitraEurodrug Laboratories- India

We all have come across ‘Boss’ or Bosses in our professional career and they really make difference by their characters !

• There are certain characters, which differentiates a Leader from a typical boss !

• In a challenging environment when an organization wants to deliver performance, the onus is on the Leader /Boss !!

• Great Bosses like, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, K. Anji Reddy, Lee Scott, William Colgate became Leaders with their characters !

A recent survey by SHL of New Zealand and Australian organizations found that being able to give feedback and recognition for individual achievement was the most desired attribute of a boss• One of my colleagues say: He is 25

years old in his professional career & saw many bosses but yet to see a true leader.

• His boss always used to warn that nobody in the office should come late but he was never been there on time !

• He never liked people to talk loud in the office but he did not spend a single day without shouting in the office !

Great sayings on Leadership:

• “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” - Peter F. Drucker

• "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." —John F. Kennedy

• “A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.”

- Leroy Eimes

Let us see the 10 characters of a Good Boss as summarized by different authors in different times & in different books ……..

1. HE TRUSTS HIS/HER EMPLOYEES

• Train employees to handle a task, allow them to handle it without interference and inhibition, delegates with confidence & complete trust, evaluates performance solely based on merits & diligence.

• Correct them wherever required and allow them to exercise their own methods, allow them to work independently and review once they finish to give them better ways to score in future.

• Knows efficiency can be the enemy of efficacy in the long run & create an atmosphere of expansive thinking, empower the team with time, resources and techniques, to solve big issues with big ideas instead of make-shift ideas.

2. HE IS ACCOUNTABLE & RESPONSIBLE

• He takes accountability of decisions when things go wrong instead of shrugging his shoulder.

• He is always positive, normal and practical to review the reasons and preview the solutions to correct the situations.

• He is apolitical & impartial in his decision while approaching the target objectivity and unbiased with regard to gender.

• Practices cross-feedback mechanism to improve further self and team’s performance in any given situation.

3. HE HAS CLEAR VISION & DIRECTION

• Provides clear vision and clearly defines directions to get the objective accomplished on time without micromanaging.

• Firm on objectives & expectations of the organization from his employees but with human touch and not being arrogant !

• Makes sure the team members know the desired outcomes and deadlines, practices ethical, equipped with the resources.

• Intelligent, honest and concise in approach to understand the pulse of the people around, situations and respond accordingly rather than react.

4. APPLIES EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

• He never brings home or personal arguments to office neither takes office tensions to back home, always aware of what his employees are feeling and thinking, can inspire & create resiliency among the team effectively.

• Creates competitive, conducive brainstorming environment where people are feeling open, upbeat, and expansive.

• Integrates creativity into daily conversation and procedures so that every employee feels natural about being creative and facilitating productive creativity when interacting with others in the company/organization.

5. PUNCTUAL & DISCIPLINED

• Firmly believes that punctuality & discipline are more for him than his employees and sets an example by strict adherence !

• The strength of integrity & promise is always reflected from his commitment and he treats commitment as a character !

• He never alters his promise or deviates from it even though he incurs loss in the proposition but he stands to his commitment.

• Make sure that everyone in the team understands the difference between a valuable meeting and a waste of time and resources.

6 . CARES FOR HIS PEOPLE

• He acts like a teacher, philosopher, guide, and friend to improve his employees both professionally & personally.

• Appreciates his employees in public for good job done and reprimands them in private to improve their skills & odds.

• Looks at the mistakes of his people as opportunity to improve their skills & knowledge further, makes them feel stronger.

• Empathizes with his employees, stands by them in every adversities and groom them to become successful in life, never minds people leaving him for a better opportunity.

7. HE IS COMPETENT

• He is competent enough in his domain of operation to handle, guide his team to achieve the objective successfully.

• Never takes the credit of performance alone and always puts his people first for any kind of recognition, positive in attitude.

• Aware of strengths & weaknesses of his employees, team, strengthens the strengths and manages with the weaknesses.

• Never bothered for an unexpected outcome or situation, he knows how to handle it, has solutions for every issue ! Never asks his people to bring solutions, leads with the solutions to provide enough courage & confidence to them.

8. HE INSPIRES BY HIS WORK

• He never asks his people to initiate the work or give idea and then finger in the work to prove or hijack it on his name.

• Always introduces his team or employees with pride to the world and never underestimates anyone or belittle them.

• Motivates people with outside-the-box thinking, makes them feel that everyone is a part of pioneering projects and equally valuable and at the same time no one is indispensable !

• Make sure everyone of his team also lead a good personal life, energizes amply to effectively balance between personal & professional life.

9. HE IS HONEST & TRUSTWORTHY

• Honest & transparent in his communications, embraces an open dialogue with his employees, delegates meaningfully, has fired himself from his prior-to-promotion job, admits mistakes and seek suggestions from his team/employees.

• Don’t indulge in malpractices to garner extra profits for him turning down the basic interests of the organization, shares information with all his employees, never play hide & seek.

• Creates an environment where people are empowered to make change on their own to improve product, process, and procedures to integrate open communication to achieve the highest levels of team performance.

10. LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

• Continuously train, educate & develop his people so as to keep them abreast with the current trends of the business, appreciates people who want to extra responsibilities and never feel short to a performer better than him in the trade.

• Empowers people, recognize performance with reward and undergoes lot of training & development program by himself.

• Shows the team that training is required for everybody, including him, integrate individual learning and development into every job description so that personal growth is required and rewarded.

Who is the Boss ?

THANK YOU

FOR SPARING YOUR VALUABLE TIME