What makes a great boss? You may be surprised...This issue of our eMagazine is all about Great Bosses. But, what is it really that makes a boss great? All of the entries we received during our contest, “The Greatest Boss I Ever Had,“ alluded to the same set of characteristics that, after all other standard qualifications were met, made the difference between other bosses and great bosses. That set of qualities included compassion, caring, genuineness and inclusiveness that were expressed by nearly all of our entries with sentiments and statements like:“He really cares about all of his employees as human beings.” “He asked questions first and then took action. He never assumed the worst about any of us.”“She really listened to what we said and wanted us to feel as though our contribution at work made a difference.”The following is our definition for truly great leadership (which is what great bosses actually have): Great leadership is the willingness and ability to transform one’s thinking and behavior to serve a higher purpose than just one’s own needs and desires while being the director and orchestrator of behaviors and events as they move toward a specified goal with high standards of character and compassion for all concerned.What does this mean in practical terms? How is this accomplished? First, it is done with a will and commitment to continued self-examination and growth. It requires a diligence and persistence to obtain valuable feedback on one’s behavior and the results of that behavior in real situations. It is a life long pursuit of clarity and excellence. It is just plain hard work. So if you are interested in this kind of heroic leadership and great bossing, read on.Leadership and bossing can take many forms and styles. We read every day about various managers, business leaders or government leaders and the opinions they hold that shape their acts. What style of bossing is needed in the American Business community today? Is there a difference in the American worker in this new millennium? What does it mean to the way we lead that we are now part of a global community and economy? Is the present age calling for a very special type of leadership? With the sheer numbers of people in the world today we need to foster the ideals and behaviors that allow us to live in peace and harmony. There just isn’t room anymore for callous, self-serving and combatively competitive companies if we are to continue moving toward lifestyles of abundance and long life. We must move toward a world of compassionate cooperation and mutual achievement and leave behind revenge and strife if all of our children are to grow up with a real opportunity to succeed. We need a type of leadership that is centered on and committed to a belief that people are what really count in the end. We are proposing humane leadership as the approach for the new millennium. Definition: Humane Leadership is that type of leadership characterized by a dedication to the growth and health of the people they lead, their families and associates; such that happier, more productive companies and communities result and better outcomes are achieved. (Sounds like those “Great Bosses”, doesn’t it?)The following list of character traits and qualities help to fill in the picture of what humane leadership by great bosses would look like in our workplaces. These are some of the approaches to bossing that humane leaders adopt as they transform their behavior and the productivity of their companies and teams.Collaborative Alignment – Using overarching common goals and approaches to help people work together to achieve mutually beneficial results. It can serve as a ”glue” that helps to bind and build a culture and commonality that everyone can be a part of and identify with. Integrity – An unflagging, inviolable bond between thought and action, which demonstrates a deep consistency of philosophy and character.Courage – The will to take a stand for values and beliefs in a greater reality; and the conviction to keep one’s word rigorously.Wisdom – The ability to apply experience and knowledge to a situation and come up with a far-reaching solution for growth and success over time.Humility – The ability to see that everyone is part of a larger whole, to be able to admit mistakes freely and celebrate others’ contributions and success.Respect – The ability to value each person for their uniqueness and to treat others with dignity.Commitment – The ability to set a goal, persevere against difficulty to achieve it and to keep promises to others in the face of adversity.Compassion – The ability to empathize with and understand others’ shortcomings or troubles, dreams and desires, and yet act appropriately without jealousy, judgments or blame.These traits are common to all bosses that have been called “great”. While we can continue to function with mediocre or even bad bossing, there are serious consequences to ignoring this kind feedback from our employees and we all need to give improvement a top spot on our list of priorities for the next quarter, next year, next decade. Good bossing will continue to be a major underlying need, and its lack a failure factor, in our business lives until we make it the standard.Ever hear someone say “I hate my boss” or “my boss is a real jerk”? Any employee saying this costs the boss and company big money. The irony, and the good news, is that good leadership pays off big and poor leadership costs big. So doing it well gives you both big returns in profit and productivity; and big savings in the costs you would have paid for bad behaviors. The payoffs include increased productivity, employee job satisfaction and happier customers. In a recent Harvard Business Review article it was reported that Sears recently found a direct, measurable positive correlation between employees’ job satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and rising sales. The costs of poor leadership, poor bossing, on the other hand include high turnover, decreased employee productivity even sabotage, and loss of revenue from lost sales, contracts or new products. Many studies are available that have shown these to be true including the recent Gallup Poll which found that exiting employees leave their jobs 80% of the time because of the boss. Often people point to tough, abusive and brutal leaders of big successful companies as justification for non-humane tactics and say, “see it really does work”. There is always a lot more to the story. Leadership alone will not make a company with faulty strategies or poor products successful. Nor will poor leadership sink a winner easily under most circumstances. The point we are making is that great bossing can provide the critical edge. It can be that final factor for greatness that makes all our lives better and companies more successful.
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