You want to create a great environment for your team so they can be successful, but where on earth do you start? Good bosses have realistic expectations of themselves and others.
What the world needs now are more great bosses. Even if you’re not one yet, there’s always room to improve. Here are ten ways to be a good boss:
- Communicate a clear vision
It may sound obvious, but the best way to be a good boss is to communicate a clear vision. Clear vision is key to inspiring your team. Your team should know the direction you are taking and the end goal of your strategy. You can set a clear vision by ensuring you communicate your company’s vision and mission statement clearly and effectively. If done correctly, every employee should be able to repeat the company’s vision and mission statement when asked.
- Connect your vision to daily work tasks
It’s not always easy to understand how our work fits in with what the organisation is trying to achieve. Good bosses know how to connect the dots for their staff and inspire them with a compelling vision for the future. Sometimes in the day-to-day running of your business, the overall point of why you’re doing all of this can get lost. So, make sure that every task feels important like it is part of something bigger.
- Set clear performance expectations
To be a good boss and manager, you need to set clear performance expectations for your employees. If you want your employees to be loyal, responsive, and competent, then it’s up to you to set the bar high and recognise when they reach it. Make sure you keep up communication of these goals with employees as well as checking in to see if they need any help.
- Provide consistent feedback and coaching
If you want to be a good boss, you need to give great feedback. Providing consistent feedback lets employees know how they’re doing, build trust and understanding, which encourages them to stick around. Employees who feel like an employer cares about them are more likely to produce a higher standard of work than those who feel dispensable.
- Care about the employee as a person
If you want to be a good boss, you should care about your employees. By care, we mean really care. Make an effort to know their names, ask them how they’re doing personally and professionally and make sure you have employer’s liability insurance to cover them if anything happens while they are in your employ. That extra effort makes the employee feel cared for and glad to work hard for you.
- Shares personal experiences
A good boss is candid, and they will share with you their successes, failures, and successes learned from failures. A good boss will teach you how to become a better professional by sharing their personal experiences.
- Make work fun
Good bosses look to help teams and managers create a fun working environment by identifying the best ways for people to work together. When employees find their job fun, they will be more productive. It’s amazing how much joy people experience as they work together toward a clear and compelling goal.
- Foster team development
Good bosses take care of their teams, making sure they know where they are going and how to get there. They develop the capabilities of those who are around them, ensuring that everyone plays a role and has something special to offer. Encouraging teamwork in the workplace is a great way to boost productivity and team spirit. When employees work together towards a common goal, they feel more social as well as like they are part of one big team working towards the same goal.
- Value employee perspectives
At times, being a good boss can be challenging. It’s hard to balance listening to the needs of your employees with the ability to make your own decisions. Some days as a leader, you need to set boundaries for your team, and on other days you need to show your human side. Make sure you listen to employees and take their feedback on board. This will give the employees a further sense of importance to the company.
- Reward good performance
Good employees are hard to find, but it can be tempting to ignore or overlook exemplary performance even when you see it. But this habit can cost you higher turnover. Offering rewards for excellent performance is the right thing to do. So, when you recognise outstanding efforts that deserve a promotion, a pay raise, or just some well-deserved recognition behind closed doors, go ahead and do it.
Being a good boss takes work and practice. Use the tips in this article, put them into practice and you ill be on your way to being a better boss in no time.