What Makes a Good Boss?

[monkeygirl]

Fozzie's deal and recent conversations with a friend about an ex-boss we shared prompt this question. Further; what does "good boss" mean to you?

 

In my conversation, I was referring to a person who always had great success programming radio stations. I referred to her as a 'great programmer' and my friend argued she was not. Boss in question has horrid people skills-screamed at employees, called names, made them cry-gave one guy a ****ing heart attack-threw things at them. But her radio stations always did well. My friend argued that she could not call her a "good program director" because the success of the stations was a joint effort, made so in part by abused employees. I see this as saying Jackson Browne is not a good musician/singer/artist because he beat the crap out of Daryl Hannah. I can compartmentalize a persons' achievements-my friend says she chooses not to because to her, this is what allows abusive people to stay in the workplace.

 

So, address this if you wish, but my main wish is to come to an understanding of what makes a "good" boss from all involved.

[Guest]

I think your analogy is off. Beating your wife has no impact on being a musician, but how you treat people directly impacts the performance you're getting from subordinates.

[Destiny Skywalker]

Good boss:

- A good understanding of what they're managing. In my industry, we call it "technical competence". They don't have to be the expert, but they do have to be proficient.

- Develops careers. Gives opportunities to those who want them.

- Gives fair feedback. Doesn't lie to you and tell you that you're better than you are and create a false sense of security.

- Doesn't badmouth others. It's unprofessional.

 

I don't think I've had a perfect boss yet. The best managers I've had have been the ones who gave me opportunities but were maybe not the best at technical competence. Unfortunately, I've had very few managers that have actually been technically competent. You get a lot of ambitious people who get put there for their "management" skills, not their technical prowess.

[Guest]

My notes on a good boss:
Ditto to Destiny's list

Also: Provides a place where people can perform at their best. Sometimes that means being lenient, sometimes it means being a little more strict. Rarely should it involve throwing a temper tantrum or acting like a child.

 

Based on your description, I'd say that the program director may have had great technical skills, but poor interpersonal skills. You need both.

[Driver]

Unfortunately the boss's boss could give a crap about interpersonal problems that they don't have to see. If they get the results they want asshat bosses stay in position.

[Destiny Skywalker]

Oh, yeah, the flexibility. Should probably just have a general note about understanding about people's personal/family lives. Knows when the extra effort/overtime is really needed (because sometimes it is), and doesn't just overload their best people constantly.

 

One of my biggest gripes about the current corporate environment in America is that people with families (women AND men) are punished because all managers care about is butts in seats, not productivity. I just got out of an environment where I was scorned by my male counterparts for not working 60 hours a week. I got my work done in 40, not my fault that you can't. But it meant that the men who wanted better work/life balance requested to be on my team instead of the workaholic team. And we had far better performance to schedule than the other team.

[Guest]

Unfortunately the boss's boss could give a crap about interpersonal problems that they don't have to see. If they get the results they want asshat bosses stay in position.

In my experience, that person rarely gets good results for long because people realize it doesn't matter. If I'm going to get shit no matter what, I'm going to give the bare minimum to not get fired.

[Pong Messiah]

An abusive boss with ****ty interpersonal skills who gets good results often gets them in spite of their abusive/non-communicative nature, not because of them.

 

Sometimes, you can rationalize it, because certain people kind of need to be broken before they can be rebuilt. Bobby Knight screamed at his kids, put tampons and Juicy Fruit gum in the lockers of players who were "*******," and was generally out of control with his temper. But he had a great system. And Isiah Thomas, despite initial issues with Knight, ended up thriving under the coach, and admitted that he needed to be brought down a peg in order mature as a player and rely on more than just his talent. But for every won game, for every Thomas, how many students never achieved their full potential as players because they felt terrorized? How many games did they lose because players were afraid of making mistakes, so they made the conservative, safe move, rather than the one that was right in the moment?

 

Anyway, for me, a good boss is somebody who has a strict, clear code (operational, ethics, goals), while being flexible enough not to do everything by the book. Somebody who treats his or her employees fairly, but also recognizes that individuals all have different strengths, weaknesses, and needs -- and plays to those. Somebody who is knowledgeable and competent and experienced in their field, who recognizes their own strengths and weaknesses, and delegates appropriately.

[monkeygirl]

I think your analogy is off. Beating your wife has no impact on being a musician, but how you treat people directly impacts the performance you're getting from subordinates.

That's what my friend says. She contends that how my ex boss treats her employees is directly related to how good of a programmer she is. I disagree.

BUT, we also were talking specifically about this boss' ability to program music outside a working environment and I think that shifts the definition

a bit. She may not have been a good Program DIRECTOR (meaning people working under you in an office setting) but she is a brilliant PROGRAMMER (meaning

she can string together audio elements that make people want to listen for a long time). She was a terrible BOSS.

[Guest]

I misunderstood. I agree. You can be awesome at one thing but horrible at another.

[Mara Jade Skywalker]

One of my biggest gripes about the current corporate environment in America is that people with families (women AND men) are punished because all managers care about is butts in seats, not productivity. I just got out of an environment where I was scorned by my male counterparts for not working 60 hours a week. I got my work done in 40, not my fault that you can't. But it meant that the men who wanted better work/life balance requested to be on my team instead of the workaholic team. And we had far better performance to schedule than the other team.

 

A-freaking-men. But I get this even without having kids. I work my 8-5 shift, do my work, don't stay late. Sometimes I feel like people think I don't work as hard because of this. Sorry, but you hired me to work 40 hours a week, not 45. Not 50. Not 60. I get all my work done. What more do you want?

 

A good boss sets clear standards, is flexible and understanding about personal and professional issues that may arise, and doesn't play favorites. They definitely don't yell at subordinates or make threats.

[monkeygirl]

In radio, it seems our PDs are either great people people or effective managers-it's rare for one person to really excel at both.

GMs did that more often. But PDs generally won ratings but were scary and tough to work for or they were realistic about expectations

yet the station was nothing. We often wondered if PDs HAD to be ***holes to do well corporately.

[Cerina]

I've always tailored my supervisory skills to those "difference between a boss and a leader" lists. To me, being the boss is all about servant leadership. I'm there to run a department by giving my subordinates what they need to perform successfully. That requires me to be able to answer questions accurately and train them properly (job knowledge and skills), resolve conflicts and motivate (interpersonal skills), set an example by fulfilling all of my own responsibilities and not passing the buck, giving and sharing credit and praise, protecting my team from the uppers when possible and/or being empathetic and genuine about things I could not change/prevent, etc.

 

It works. Every time I've ever run a department I've received recognition from upper management in how productive and peaceful that department was. And I'm still friends with the people I managed. In fact, I've used many of them as references and they'll still call me for advice from time to time.

[DANA-kin Skywalker]

Simply put, a good boss gets the best results and makes the most of the resources available.

 

It's impossible to say a good boss "always does this or that", because there are so many factors, management strategies, and the fact that people respond differently to these strategies. Some subordinates respond to whip-cracking, some rebel against it. Some respond to buddy-buddy attitudes, some see that as weakness and take advantage. Some respond positively to bosses they fear in the right measure, others screw up more under the pressure. Fear can gain respect, but too much can lose it. Honesty is not always the best policy. Sometimes it's best to keep people in the dark even if it's about them in particular. Judiciously bending rules and flexibility can yield results, but it can also lead to inconsistency, or "special rules for special people", which can cause all sorts of problems. It's all about understanding people and striking balance.

 

Other factors to consider are as follows. What is the boss in charter of? Is it a private sector job? Is it a government bureaucracy or task force? Is cost efficiency most important, or is it secondary to certain goals? And so on and so forth. These factors change the characteristics of good bosses immensely.

[The Kurgan]

Basically, what Cerina and (especially) DANA-Kin said. Cripes, Danakin, you really out to serve on some boards of directors, because I think you really nailed the heart and soul of it. The answer depends on understanding of the organization, and not merely its formal structure and policies. It's also the deep organization: the culture and the way the people there interact with one another. The stuff you're not likely to find in writing, but really decides how things get done. Beyond that, I'd say it's a matter stepping back enough to let your subordinates do their jobs, but not so much that you allow yourself to get overridden, or to allow the organization to fall under the de-facto control of a dominant personality or clique.

 

The biggest mistake I'd suspect most managers of making is communicating distrust to their employees. I've had to personally join the Board of Directors of an organization I've been involved with for a few years now because the executive director, while talented in some ways, is also extremely paranoid of her employees. To the point of installing cameras in the halls, locks on the doors and firing multiple long term employees with good track records because she saw them as a threat to her power. This led to multiple wrongful termination suits. The staff unionized and nearly struck. Word got around that I have a degree in HR, so found myself on the Board after the last annual general meeting. First board meeting is next Monday p.m. Should be fun.

[Pong Messiah]

It's impossible to say a good boss "always does this or that"

Perhaps not, but I can think of a few things that immediately disqualify somebody from "Great Boss" status:

 

• General unfairness. Picking and choosing what rules are enforced, how schedules are made, how teams are divided, which duties are divvied out, etc. based upon your feelings on various employees is bad, mkay? No matter how coy you think you're being, no matter how stupid you think your employees are, they will know what is going on. It's just going to get you lots and lots of side-eye.
• Lack of order and focus. Employees regularly don't know when they are working until 48 hours prior. Sales quotas are made then abandoned for another team goal halfway through the month. Putting people on an "important" project, letting them get 60% done, then putting them on another "priority" project, etc. It is just a good way to give your employees ulcers.
• Disrespecting and guilting good employees who "turn off" work at 5pm like normal human beings. Sure, it's great that you eat, sleep, and dream about your company. But getting angry at solid employees who don't answer your URGENT texts or emails at 10:30pm (even though it's not in their job description), or laying guilt trips on an employee who says "Sorry, but I need to leave at the normal 5pm time today!" when you drop a 4-5 hour "Needed to be done last Thursday" project in their lap at 3:45pm is going to get you punched in the genitals.

[Ms. Spam]

I think sometimes a good boss is a guy who can tactfully handle hard situations and not shirk them. There are some people that I dreaded confrontation with when I was a fast food manager because I felt the interaction was going to be very hard and I just wanted to avoid it. Which tended to worsen situations instead of help because some times an asshole just needs to be reigned in. If you can't tell that difficult employee to his face in a reasonable HR approved way that they need to change their ways or GTFO then you should not hold your job. I wish I learned this earlier in my food career because I had a lot of hard nights where others called out because they dreaded working with certain employees I was too frightened to deal with head on.

 

Later when I worked in customer service taking check orders though I used to kind of thrill to the bitchy ladies who were "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" Not in check ordering bitch - the fees and bank rules apply. That helped me kind of get over my fear of confrontation.

 

Now, in messageboard world, I pretty much shirk again from confrontation because, eh, its a messageboard. What are you gonna do? Multiquote me?

 

Now back to good bosses, you can see how not being afraid of confrontation and holding accountable is important because otherwise dead lines are blown. Work can quantify stuff with benchmarks and metrics for performance but it all comes down to the stuff I teach in school now - we have to get along and do our part and be accountable for things. Not doing that earns you a certain reputation and people gossip.

 

That's what I like about teaching. I[m kind of my own boss and as long as my kids do certain things and accomplish goals I'm good.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

From various jobs, over the years I've learned:

 

• I think the number 1 rule is be proficient in the work you are expecting your employees to do. Employees will respect you if you can do the work you expect them to do, and will not respect you if you have no clue what it is their job is. They also need to feel that if they encounter something new, that they can come to you for advice on how to resolve an issue.
• You need to really KNOW the people on your team. Their strengths, weaknesses, their likes, dislikes, and what they need help with. You don't need to know every aspect of their personal lives, but it is good to know if they have family issues, like kids, or even parents they need to take care of. Also, if you have an employee who has experience you can benefit from, it is good to utilize their input, and even their advice when appropriate. If an employee has a weakness, help them overcome it through training and advice. IF they have a strength where you can utilize them better in a different role, put them in that role, instead.
• Don't treat your employees like children. It is great to be a coach, and a teacher, and in fact it is necessary. One SHOULD offer feedback both honestly and respectfully. But do not coddle your employees, or give them a false sense of security. If they are doing a not so good job, you have to tell them, and tell them ASAP. But help them correct the issue, as well. Also, don't talk down to them as if you are superior to them. I personally like to give respect, and treat every employee as an equal.
• You need to have well defined expectations. Employees need to know what you want them to do, when to have it done by, and your expectations on how to do it, and in what priority.
• Be courteous and professional. Always. Give respect, you get respect back. When you give your word, keep it. When someone deserves praise or recognition, give it. If someone has a good idea, don't steal it, ensure they are recognized for it. It's that simple.
• Be confident when you are supervising. In the military, it was called command presence. When you act unsure or indecisive, your employees lose confidence in you, and will walk all over you.
• Make sure your employees have your backing to do the job, and the resources or equipment to do it. As a tech especially, nothing is worse than not having the right tool for the job! If your employees require additional or specialized training and development, make sure they get it. If they are struggling, ensure they get the remedial training they require.
• Encourage, indeed make it an expectation, that your employees help each other.
• Know your employees well enough to know something is wrong, and help them as best you can.
• Be consistent with rules, guidelines, or expectations, and do not show favoritism of one employee over another. Be fair when you have to council an employee for doing a not so good job. Listen to their side, but also and remind them of expectations, and that there is a job that needs to be done. Also, follow the same rules you set for others, and lead by example.

[Pong Messiah]

thats only 9

[Ryn]

I much prefer leaders, and that's far more simple:

 

A leader 1) makes sure you have the tools to perform, and 2) removes obstacles to your success.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

thats only 9

I changed it to bullet points. Better?

[Mara Jade Skywalker]

I much prefer leaders, and that's far more simple:

 

A leader 1) makes sure you have the tools to perform, and 2) removes obstacles to your success.

 

I'll add an addendum: they get out of your way and let you do your job the way that works best for you. I hate micromanagers, or when a boss thinks you're not doing things correctly because you're not doing them their way. One of our admins hates that I listen to my headphones while working at my desk. Sorry, but I'm more productive that way.

[monkeygirl]

THIS MY GAWD

 

I've had SO many PDs who would go ballistic if you phrased somthing in a way they hated. but LET'S NOT GO BY WHAT THE LISTENERS like. Let's just please YOUR ears.

 

And I'm talking things that make NO difference in broadcasting.

[Darth Krawlie]

good bosses are the kind that put out for promotions/raises