Good Bosses

Character. My best bosses had real character. They were honest, fair, worked hard themselves, expected the best in their employees, admitted mistakes, were slow to judge, praised when appropriate, and retained the power to make the decisions that needed to be made. Most of all they loved the profession they were employed in, and their enthusiasm was admirable. When I compare them to those who led by fear and intimidation, or didn't lead at all, I marvel at how lucky I was to work for several truly wonderful bosses.

Added, after a little more thought: I also loved the bosses that did not automatically favor anyone. Bosses who appreciate all the hard-working, including the easy-going, as well as the challenging (sometimes overachieving), get the best out of both!

The good bosses were the ones who didn't act like their time was more important than mine. They understood that my family, my vacation and my time off were just as important as theirs. I had a boss who made me work and miss a family reunion so that he could go golfing. He is the same one who made me work Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day so he could take all of those days off.

Good Bosses are the ones that are willing to do every job that everyone else does. They are not better than anyone else. They show you that even the most menial job is just as important to the whole company.

I recall walking into the store early one morning and the Store Manager was there Vacuuming. The entire custodial staff was either running late or called in sick. He was wearing a beautiful suit and tie..

I recall the CEO, helping us, unpack a huge delivery, she was wearing gorgeous heels and a spectacular suit.

I also had a boss that would call me in for meetings and then tell me all of the things he had noticed I did to help customers, other employees and the company. He was paying attention, giving me praise and of course giving raises or financial bonuses when he could.

Positive attitudes even when things were not great also showed great leadership and gave me confidence we were all going to be ok..

Patience and acceptance that, even when mistakes had happened, we could over come and be successful, because we were all going to work together to fix it.

I worked for someone who would have staff meetings once a week and really listened to our thoughts on everything. He always let us do our job with minimal interference (and supervision) and always made me feel like I was doing a great job. It made me want to work even harder because I wanted him to know that I cared about what I was doing. When someone else came to him one time complaining about me, he asked him if he had spoken to me about it. When the person said no, he said, well you need to start there. If that doesn't work, then you can talk to me. He would never just believe a complaint be a third party. He would talk to us first, hear what we had to say.

I have a very current story about my truly amazing boss. I work in a large supermarket, and in many such cases people tend to get lost among faces. It is the company policy that, unless on an approved leave, if you do not work for a 30 day period you are dropped from the system and have to "reapply" for your job.

one week ago, my 2 year old daughter was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is in therapy, but the hours per week will be increasing by 10 -12 with the formal diagnosis. I approached my boss about taking a "partial" leave - working only weekends. He was so incredibly kind and wonderful, said my job and hours would be held indefinitely, and said that even if I clocked in for one hour a month so I stay in the system, that was fine with him.

You hear many horror stories about parents of special needs children losing their jobs because of the amount of flexibility and care needed. I know I am in a very incredibly special situation with an amazing boss. That is the largest deciding factor in the value of a boss to me - humanity and empathy.

real life situation:
+ a boss who plays to people's strengths (giving the person good at organizing an organizing task, the person interested in arts and arts-related task, etc.)
+ a boss who truly listens
+ a boss who values authenticity and hard work

I've had 3 great bosses that I loved. They were not micro managers and always treated me like a professional and were always professional themselves.

I admit though, the boss I learned the most from, I detested. She was horrible. She could not let me get my work done without first telling me how to do it. She was very petty, often commenting on others clothing. She refused to make a copy of a letter a client of mine once sent to her commenting about the great job I did for them. She had the nerve to ask me the exact size of my engagement ring, then told me hers was bigger. Ask me my score on my GMATs then told me hers was higher. 8 of us were going on a business trip once and she actually assigned a designated driver and told us who would drive in each car. She threatened to have us fired if she heard us talking about her.
I credit her with showing me what not to do as a boss!!

My boss trusts me and trusts my work. He gives me a project, but doesn't micromanage. As long as the end result is what he wants, I am free to choose how I get there.

Communications are important. Treating everyone from the receptionist to the MD with respect and kindness. Ethical behaviour, and doing the right thing - even if that's unpopular.

The best boss I ever had was friendly and upbeat. I felt like the door was always open. Whenever I had an issue or problem his attitude was always, how can I help you fix this, or how can we fix this together. I think he was great because he was clearly in charge, and very competent, but he treated us all, from the top producer to the guy in the mail room, like equal parts of a team. He could've (should've!) written a book about effective management.
I miss him!!!

My current boss is awesome (the guy I had before on a project was the worst person I've worked for in 25 years - and the person he replaced me with QUIT after 4 months - he was THAT bad).

Current boss takes responsibility for everything, treats people like they have brains, listens when there's a problem. And he's a divorced dad of a tween, so he "gets" the parenting thing. My son's school had story-book dress up date Friday morning, and I asked to take an hour to see it (shortening my lunches during the week). His answer was "of course, go. Your kid won't be young forever." I tell him that he's a gem for his attitude - it's a lot less prevalent than we'd all like, I'm sure.

My current boss.

He trusts me, my work and what I produce.

He gives me the tools I need to be successful. When I am frustrated, I can talk to him and he won't dismiss my frustrations. We strategize over ways to make it right - fix it - or open another door.

What makes a poor/bad boss?
1. Micromanaging the staff. If you don't trust the staff to do the job - find someone you do trust.
2. Holding more than one meeting a week for more than 1 hour. Any meeting over an hour is typically a waste of time.
3. A yeller. If you can't communicate with your team? No sense in being the leader.
4. Calling after-hours to discuss menial things.
5. expecting employees to read their mind.
6. A boss who takes over a project and not allow the employee to learn from mistakes, grow from the experience. When a boss takes over? FOR ME? It means they don't trust the employee to do it right OR they don't feel capable of TEACHING the employee how to do it.

Hope that helps!

I have an awesome boss. A good boss gives you responsibility and trusts you. They expect you do do a great job and have high expectations. They are encouraging and remember to compliment your work. They are willing to think outside the box to get things done. A good boss is a great communicator. They want the best for you...they want you to move up and to succeed and help you get there.

One that gives you enough guidance for what they are assigning you but allows you to do it without standing over your shoulder.

A good boss:
doesn't play games - doesn't hand out assignments that set you up to fail and understands that it's ok to tell a user 'no' when the request is for something that is beyond the ability of the hardware/software that the company uses
doesn't time you every time you step away from your desk (for lunch, bathroom break, etc)
doesn't call for a meeting every single day deliberately at leaving time just to make people stay late
doesn't call for people to come to work on the weekend when their tasks are completed for 'team spirits' sake
realizes you have a personal life outside of the office
never EVER accuses a person going through chemo and radiation that they are using their condition as an excuse to slack off at work
doesn't deliberately sneak up behind you to enjoy making you jump while you are deeply concentrating on a work task

Unfortunately this is all real life experience.
This one boss's behavior in question was just this side of legal and was pure hell to work for.
One time as a company team building exercise management underwent some informal group therapy the theory being that management would work better with each other if they understood each other better.
This resulting recommendation for this boss in particular was that he might benefit quite a bit from some professional help.
Heck - anyone in his department could have told them that he needed his head examined and it would have cost them a WHOLE lot less money to come to THAT conclusion!

I've had some very good bosses. Things that made them good included having our back when necessary, being a good communicator, being clear with expectations, being fair. I can work very hard for someone who works hard for or with me. I can understand that someone is human if their apology is sincere. I can accept that a situation is just not going to be terrific if I know that we're all in the same boat and that I'm not going to be pulling someone else's weight unfairly. If I was given a task by a good boss, they trusted me with it. The bad boss was always looking over my shoulder, trying to micromanage me. One of my bosses was a single mother with older children. She resented anyone who had a spouse and had long since forgotten what it was like to have a child that could not feed or bathe itself, or stay home alone sick. Her poor management skills were why I quit the only job in my life without another job to go to. When her kids went to college, work was her everything and it caused another employee to quit as soon as he was able. So a good boss inspires you to stay while a bad one makes you want to leave.

My DH is a manager and in training he was told that people don't quit jobs. They quit bad bosses. I find this to be true. I would go back to work for one of my good bosses in a heartbeat.

Some things that make a good boss...

Be fair. There are 5 of us in our dept. One girl is late 9 days out of 10. To the best of our knowledge, it's never been addressed. If the other 4 of us are expected to be on time each day, why isn't she.

Recognize and praise good work, not only directly to the individual but also in front of others. - It's rare all the higher ups are out of the office on the same day, it does happen a few times a year. I noticed a tax payment we had made early, had been rejected by the bank. Today was the deadline and we would face big $$$$ in interest and penalties if not paid on time. I took control, contacted the bank, notified the higher ups via e-mail, got it paid on time. I was thanked at a staff meeting.

Recognize people have a life outside of the office and it can't always wait until after business hours - I recently spent over 45 minutes on personal issues with my daughter's school during business time, I told my boss I would work later that day to make up the time, she said "great thanks for letting me know'.

Be flexible when possible. - My kids had after school activities and I was always running out the door rushing not to be late. I approached my boss and asked if I could change my lunch from an hour, to 45 minutes and leave 15 minutes earlier. She was fine with it, expect on the days that my backup person was on vacation. 15 minutes isn't much, but it can make a world of difference in some situations. Less stress for me, makes me more productive at work.

Make yourself available... I e-mailed my boss with an issue, 2 weeks ago. She scheduled a meeting with me to discuss another issue and I was hoping to address the e-mail. She got called away from our meeting, and hasn't rescheduled. I need an answer so I can continue on my project, which is due in 2 weeks and will take me at least 3 days to complete.

Two great bosses.

First O.: Male. He always said that you dont "screw" with 2 things: employees money, employees family.

Second O.: Female. Trusts my work, understands need for flexibility because she's raised kids, polite when asking for/assigning help even though she's the boss, fair minded, hard worker herself, no attitude of anything is "beneath" her.

A good boss listens to you, whether you have ideas, concerns, or questions. They help you succeed by giving you the tools and training you need. They do not hover and micromanage, but they make themselves available to you whenever you need them. They never make you feel stupid for asking a questions or needing more help. They empower you to do things your way, as long as the end result is what they need. They give you projects that challenge you, in addition to the daily work that has to get done, even if it's boring. They offer opportunities for growth and promotions to higher positions. They ask for your advice and your input.

My first two bosses had the majority of the features above. They were fantastic - they gave me opportunities, they listened to me, and they made the job fun. They treated me like a person, not a subservient, and they were able to talk about work but also about personal or fun things without either one seeming awkward or forced.

Then, I had a couple of horrible bosses. The first one was totally incompetent. He didn't get things done and made excuses. he didn't read my emails and therefore, didn't do the things HE was supposed to do that I took the time to remind him of. He never listened to anyone and never cared. He got fired. The next boss was a jerk. He assumed he was always correct and refused to consider other ways of doing things. He did too much himself and didn't trust them people who worked for him to do jobs we were not only capable of doing, but had done under his predecessors. He clearly favored male employees over females and sometimes made crass/sexist comments that made us all uncomfortable.

All four of the bosses were for the same position, so I had the chance to experience a lot of different leadership types in the same role. The first two were awesome (and each were promoted to much higher positions, which is why they left). the third was fired and the fourth ultimately left (after a few years), but never took on a higher role and simply languished the opportunity to be in control where he was.

Don't make your employees feel like they don't matter. They do. You can't do your job without them and they can't do theirs without you.

I had a boss who told me, "The more you know, the more you can help me." I was his support staff, and everything that hit his desk came across mine first. Or second, if he happened to get it in hand first. He empowered me to answer questions and make certain decisions for him in his absence, and I thrived in that environment.

I also enjoy having a boss who will let me use the work style that's best for me, as long as it's not disruptive. I'm good with implementing a new style fi he/she determines that mine doesn't yield the desired results, but I don't like someone who wants to control every aspect of getting it done.