I’ve read a lot of studies that prove the link between a boss’s effectiveness and team performance. But did you know that a good boss can help you live longer? True.
A Swedish study that followed 3,122 men for 10 years found that those with the best bosses (considerate, clear and proactive change agents) suffered fewer heart attacks than did those with bad bosses. Study participants who stayed with good bosses for 4 years had at least a 39 percent lower heart-attack risk, according to coauthor Anna Nyberg, PhD. [Source: ebib.sub.su.se/saltsa/2005/wlr2005_01.pdf]
I don’t know about you, but since I don’t like stress, this is strong motivation for trying to help your boss be as good a boss as possible!
Personality-assessment specialist Robert Hogan, PhD.,researched studies of diverse workers conducted in 1948, 1958, 1968 and 1998 in cities like Baltimore, London, Seattle and Honolulu. In his meta-analysis of postal workers, milk-truck drivers, schoolteachers and other members of the labor force, 75 percent reported that dealing with their immediate supervisor was the most stressful part of the job.
Over the last 30 years, Gallup surveys of more than 100,000 employees in 2,500 diverse businesses have revealed that one’s immediate boss has far more impact on engagement and performance than any other factor. A 2007 Gallup survey of U.S. employees found that 24 percent would fire their bosses if given the chance.
Indeed, 56 percent of disengaged employees cite bad bosses as a primary reason for their unhappiness. People don’t quit their jobs; they quit bad bosses.
Good bosses create employee satisfaction that leads to retention, performance, productivity and profitability. How you treat your direct reports creates a ripple effect that travels down and across your company’s hierarchy, ultimately shaping its culture and performance.
So the question remains, what can you do to help your boss do his or her job? You might not think you can. And quite frankly, with some bosses, that’s a tough thing to try to do.
But I think the question is worth thinking about and formulating ideas and plans.
What do you think? Can some bosses be helped to be better? If they’re going to affect your quality of work-life – and your health – don’t you think it’s worth a try?
Category Archives: management
What Makes a Good Boss?
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
What about your boss? Good guy/gal, or just so-so? I’ll bet you can recognize a great boss when you see one. But like great works of art, however, a good boss is hard to define.
The word “boss” conjures up memories of the good, the bad and the ugly ones we’ve endured throughout our careers.
Stanford University management professor Robert I. Sutton, PhD, author of the New York Times bestseller The No Asshole Rule, knows about bosses. He’s received thousands of emails about the bad ones since the 2007 publication of that title. In his most recent book, Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best…and Learn from the Worst (Business Plus, 2010) Sutton focuses on what it takes to be a better boss.
“Devoting relentless attention to doing one good thing after another – however small – is the only path I know to becoming and remaining a great boss,” he writes. “I wish I could promise you that the path was easier.”
Whether you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a restaurant owner, athletic coach or store manager, your success depends on how well you deal with the people who surround you. In any position of authority, great or small, you’re expected to personally guide, inspire and discipline.
Anytime you have more power than others, you must interact in productive ways and you’ll face strong emotions and gut reactions. A boss evokes feelings of confidence and comfort, as well as insecurity, fear, anger and confusion.
When I’m coaching, we spend a great deal of time sorting out the emotional components of work relationships.
Feelings get triggered in every communication medium: face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, emails, text messages and video conferences. Emotions intensify when relationships are inherently unequal.
In many situations, the boss-employee relationship requires that you work “up close and personal”, which means you’re exposed to others’ quirks, foibles and habits. How you navigate and tolerate personal differences matters.
To benefit your team and company, you must excel at accepting your differences and finding workarounds. Sometimes a simple understanding of basic personality traits helps and assessments and workshops can help with this.
To be a better boss, there are no magic bullets, and the work may seem relentless. Besides getting things done and meeting performance objectives, you must shepherd your people through every hard turn. Your principal rewards for success are keeping your job and receiving even more responsibilities and challenges.
The best bosses keep chipping away at a huge pile of tasks – some interesting, others dull but necessary. Their leadership prowess is measured by how well they handle the frustrations associated with people and performance.
In the work I do in organizations and with executives, I’ve found that there are some important attitudes that set the stage for becoming a better boss.
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