What Makes a Good Boss Good?

What makes a good boss good? Ask this question to more than one person, and you are bound to get different responses. However, there are a number of skills, strategies, and attitudes that are common to all good bosses.

Here are five "good boss" behaviors taken from my book, How to Manage Unacceptable Employee Behavior: A Guide to Creating Cooperation, Restoring Productivity and Getting Positive Results.

1.Act Consistently

Employees expect managers to treat everyone fairly. Don't confuse treating everyone fairly with treating everyone the same, because that's not possible. Treating everyone fairly means acting consistently and applying flexibility with everyone. For example, if you bend the rules for one employee due to a special situation, you must act consistently when a similar situation occurs with a different employee. This creates a perception of fairness and not a perception of favoritism.

2.Answer the "Why" Questions

When employees don't know what to do or why they should do it, the manager is at fault. Your job is to help employees understand the big picture and how their job fits into the larger goals of the organization. Show them why their tasks are important. Employees want to know how their actions make a difference. Do your employees understand why it is important to do their jobs correctly?

3.Make a Connection

Managing people is about connecting with people. To get employees to commit and contribute their best, managers must engage their hearts. That means showing concern for them, listening to their ideas and opinions, involving them in solving problems, and letting them know that they are important. Face it, without people, even the best-laid plans are ineffective.

4.Praise Progress

Praise is the most effective form of feedback and a powerful motivator. Employees want to be recognized when they do something well, not only when their performance is worse than expected. Make a habit of recognizing what employees do right -- recognize positive performance, hard work, and improvement. Reinforced behavior becomes repeated behavior. The more you praise the good, the more good your employees will do.

5.Leave No Room For Surprises

For many managers, performance discussions take place once a year. This is a big mistake. Why? Because successful appraisals involve on-going dialogue. Start with clear goals and expectations, provide constructive feedback along the way, and end with a two-way conversation about results. Keep your feedback consistent with what you have said all year. When the performance appraisal differs from previous feedback, it's a contradiction. And employees will not only be surprised, but they will resist accountability, argue with your feedback, and resent the review process.

Great leaders are made, not born. To develop your leadership potential, attend management classes and seminars, read books on effective leadership, and hire a coach to help you push your limits.

About the Author

Management consultant and trainer Cassandra Washington has created a powerful yet practical guide for anyone who has to deal with the wide variety of unacceptable employee behaviors we find in our workplaces every day. Her clear "how-to" approach helps you get to the core reasons underlying an employee's behavior and then moves you through a logical progression of communication, documentation and action to get the results you need -- even if that includes termination. To order your copy, visit http://www.exceedlearning.com/

(c) Copyright 2008, Cassandra Washington. All rights reserved.

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