The good boss

The question is often asked, why do we work? Some people work to live and others live to work. Some find a balance where life and work flow naturally and seamlessly into one another.

The people we work with influence our experience. Our colleagues, clients, peers and bosses, all of those we cross paths with at work, bear some weight on our satisfaction, productivity, creativity and diligence.

Let’s look at how one of these groups affects each and every one of us. Most of us have all had a boss at some point and many of us may be a boss or have been a boss in the past. In this case, we’ll consider a “boss” as any position managerial, supervisory, or executive – really any time someone leads other people.

Not all bosses are created equal, however, and there are certain traits that make for better bosses. Forty years of combined experience – one of us with 35 as a professional management consultant and the other with five as a fresh and reflective worker – have uncovered prime examples of good bosses. To enlighten the modern workplace and workforce, here are five examples of good bosses (and they are not mutually exclusive).

1. The listener - a boss who will listen to and appreciates different points of view. This boss hears employees’ opinions respectfully because they were hired for a reason, even though not all of their ideas may be put into practice.

Listeners trust their employees and value their input. Sometimes, they are even dependent upon it. Listeners make good bosses because they have insight beyond their own experience and vision, insight that is influenced by many angles, and because if their employees are allowed to voice their own opinions and ideas, they are inspired and engaged.

2. The empowerer – a boss who lets employees run their own show and lets them learn by making some mistakes. With a degree of trust and support, this boss cultivates leadership in the team. Working together, they identify tasks and create a plan, but empowerers let employees decide the nuts and bolts of how things actually get done.

The empowerer doesn’t delegate aimlessly, creating a sense of subordination in the team, but rather engages employees from the ground up in a focused manner. Employees are inspired to take on leadership roles and collaborate both with their boss and with others.

Empowerers make good bosses because they can simultaneously ignite productivity, personal development and satisfaction among their employees.  

3. The mentor – a boss who teaches, coaches and guides. This boss doesn’t necessarily need to be older, but a tad wiser or simply just willing to share. Mentors seek to understand their employees’ experiences and identify which ones need or want mentoring. 

The relationship with their employees is constructive, meaning both praise and criticism are offered with the intentions of growing the employees’ set of skills. An offer to mentor is either explicitly offered or subtly developed over time.

Mentors make good bosses because they ensure a future for the employee and the company while inspiring immediate productivity and engagement.

4. The cool dude (or dudette) – a boss who has fun and allows employees to have fun. This boss maintains a certain aura of authority while creating a likeable and lively atmosphere. They let their employees enjoy their time at work and find time for small diversions, as long as the job still gets done…and done well.

These bosses reward their employees with time off or special workplace events within the realm of a respectable workplace culture. The cool dude or dudette is a good boss because they understand that all employees are people, that all people need some kind of fun, and that happy employees are healthy, productive, and engaged.   

5. The creator – a boss who inspires invention and creativity. Creators push the limits of their employees to ignite innovation. They challenge intellect and question the status quo, so that new products and ideas are developed from within. The creator embodies the spirit of imagination and is never overly demanding. Creativity and invention come from a unique mindset, so this boss correctly identifies those in their team that are keen to this way of thinking. Creators make good bosses because they are motivational and collaborative.

These five bosses, or rather their respective characteristics, exemplify what makes for healthy leadership within organizations. Many bosses may embody some or all of these characteristics.

Common trends among these five good bosses make for a great boss as well – collaborative, communicative, engaging, and inspirational.

Our new cogenerational world is crying out for leaders – of all ages and generations. We must realize that great leaders can exist in the smallest, biggest, nearest and furthest of places.  

Look out for part two in a week or so’s time, where the tables are turned in an examination of the bad boss.

About the Author

Jim & Matt Finkelstein

Jim Finkelstein is a student and leader of people in business. With 34+ years of consulting and corporate experience, he has specialized in business and people strategy, motivation and reward, and organizational assessment, development, communications and transformation. Finkelstein has worked for diverse industries, from health care to high tech. He has built programs and provided services to boards of directors, senior executives, management and employees.