How to be a Great Boss

HOW to BE A GREAT BOSS And How to HANDLE A Bad Boss​

Being a Great BOSS

It is easier to be a Great Boss than handling bad bosses.

I am listing the qualities that are majorly implementable & self-explanatory. You may add others that I have missed

1.Great bosses are full of passionate energy, enthusiasm & contagious positivity

2.They believe in themselves & what they want to accomplish

3.They enjoy taking action towards their dreams

4.They are always at the battlefronts

5.They recognize what's unique strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes about each member of their team

6.They are authentic & always are themselves

7.They do not pass uncertainty down to their team members

8.They aren't afraid to show their fears

9.They're warm & relate easily with people around them

10.They are assertive & are not scared express their feelings

11.They relate to each of their team members on 1-on-1 basis

12.They accept & address openly their mistakes

13.They Inspire, they motivate, they encourage

14.Their focus is making each person become bigger than themselves

15.They talks about outcomes and results with their team

16.They delegate, empower & authorize their employees

17.They give freedom to choose their employees how they want to work

18.They constantly learn themselves & create an encouraging learning culture among their teams

19.They Coach & Mentor their team

20. They give objective straight forward feedback, which can be actioned 21. They Recognizes efforts & give credit to whomsoever it is due 22. They create an environment based on integrity, trust, respect 23. They encourage innovation, taking initiative, making mistakes and creativity 24. They tap into and leverage the instincts and skills her employees have 25. They take decisions fearlessly 26. They are open and truthful, direct yet sensitive

27.They Surround themselves with great people, smarter, more knowledgeable, better qualified & who are having different expertise

• 28.They Make most effective use of their time by prioritizing and only going for the most value adding activities & tasks
• 29.The Understand The difference between leadership and management and why both are equally important
• 30.They are trend setters
• 31.They know How to create accountability & take full responsibility for their own actions
• 32.They know How to develop productive, relationships with each of their people
• 33.They know How to deal with direct reports who don't meet their expectations
• 34.They demonstrate very strong personal values
• 35.They build teams
• 36.They make people take more responsibilities & grow
• 37.They have communication finesse, that is when to talk & when not and what plus how to talk
• 38.They align their team with personal & organizational goals
• 39.They recognize their employee's efforts & give them credit
• 40.They are absolutely fair, impartial & meritocratic, without any bias

41. They make everyone feel like a winner and make them an essential part of the team

42.They respect the people they lead

43. They respond to the needs of their people

44.They create an open environment for voicing concern and frustration through building trust so people feel safe

45.They never compromise with quality or discipline

46.They know how to praise and show gratitude & how to instill a deep sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment in individual team members

47.They help employees develop a strong sense of self-confidence and

48. They know how to push their star performers beyond Career Ledge, who have reached their peak and are stuck 49. They seek out mentors known for their willingness to support, nurture, assist and professionally develop 50. They ensure you're in the right frame of mind 51. They do little things that make a big difference 52. They constantly are on the lookout for & Create new opportunities 53. They are transparent

54.They always challenge their reportees to go for disruptive thinking

55.They encourage their them members to challenge them & reward them whenever the team does it

56.They are always professional

57.They never take out their own irritation on others & if they do, they do not hesitate to apologize

How to Handle Bad Bosses
First Identify whether you are working under a jerk - A classical jerk can be identified is when He/she leaves you feeling constantly demeaned, drained of energy, disrespected, suppressed/oppressed, who may make you feel like crap

Signs that tell you that you are no longer the blue eyed boy of your boss & fallen from his/her grace

1. You're being assigned to menial tasks instead of good projects 2. Even when you ask for feedback, you get nothing specific 3. You are at the receiving end, almost all the time 4. Your boss is always busy, in case you want to meet him/her 5. You are getting micromanaged by your boss 6. You get ignored in the meetings & discussions 7. Even your colleagues starts avoiding you

Type of Bad Bosses you would come across

Genesis of most of the Bad Bosses is from having Deep Insecurities, so you may find multiple qualities from the following list in your Bad Boss

1.The Demigod Boss, only he/she can do it Boss

2.The Great Dictator Boss, the Boss who makes you follow exactly as he/she says, your voice does not count

3.The Micromanager Boss, would like to be involved in all the work you do, like they say peel skin off your hair

4.The Incompetent Boss

5.The Narcissist Boss, who only believes in Self Glorification

6.The Boss Pleaser Boss, who would throw you to wolves & accept totally impossible tasks from their seniors

7.The Politician Boss, who will surround him/her with flatterers & will survive through divide & rule

8.The Sadist & Mean Boss, who always seems to take pleasure in pulling his/her team members down

9.The Passive Aggressive Insecure Boss, who will smile & wait for his/her time to hit back at you silently

10.The Chess Boss, who is only using you for achieving his/her goals, the moment they are over, you are discarded

11.The Ever-busy -Always on the Run Boss, he/she will make you work for hours, but when you come with the report, he/she would not have time to go through it

12.The Ivory High Tower Boss, totally disconnect with ground reality, especially who only bases his/her decisions on his trusted lieutenants

13.Never Say No Boss, who will never turn down/reject/ question your requests, but you will never get them approved either

14. The Parasite Bosses, who will never recognize your efforts & never appreciate you, but always take the Credit for good work

15.The Living On Edge Boss, who thrives on perpetual emergencies, and somehow people are always on their toes under him/her

16.Head in the Cloud Boss, who keeps moving from idea to idea, without getting any implemented

17.The Action Boss, who takes decision without thinking through, mostly on impulse

Signs you are working for an Incompetent Boss

• 1.Long Hours
• 2.Sticking to process & procedures all the time
• 3.Decisions gets delayed, till something new takes the precedence
• 4.Surrounding himself/herself with yes-sir/yes-mam people
• 5.Hiring people who are incompetent
• 6.Implementation gets delayed
• 7.Not sharing information, creating a need to know secrecy
• 8.Not sharing feedback objectively
• 9.Trying to be good to everyone
• 10.Too much focus on not making mistake
• 11.Love for paperwork, charts, presentations
• 12.Love for meetings that only results in blame game
• 13.Saving own butt strategy
• 14.Over dependence on outside consultants
• 15.Discouraging/ignoring people with original ideas or those who challenge the status-quo

Some proven action steps to handle the Bad Bosses

First identify, whether you are the problem or the boss. Sometimes our incompetence, bad habits & insecurities get projected on Boss.

The above is mostly the case, as most people who are not good performers blame their Boss being bad, for their inadequacy. Because almost all the Bosses cannot be bad, this wisdom just does not tally with the percentage game or probability theory.

But if you happen to have a Bad Boss by a chance of 2 in 10. Then start by recognizing that you have the right to have a professional environment in your workplace. You are not the problem. You have a bad boss. He/she is the problem.

You need to learn how to deal with him/her better and in more effective ways.

The following points may help

• 1.Learn some personality profiling tools for Types to understand Yourself first & then only proceeding to understand others, especially your boss
• 2.Understand yourself, your own Dreams, what You want to Be
• 3.Engage in self-reflection, stay open to the idea that the issue may be you, as Your resistance to authority is about you
• 4.Understand your Boss, by thinking from his perspective, go beyond the explicit, uncover the implicit
• I.What are his/her prime motivation
• II.What Drives him/her
• III.What are his/her fears
• IV.What are his/her insecurities
• V.What are his/her goals
• VI.What are his/her challenges
• VII.What does he/she cares about
• VIII.What are his/her measurement & parameters of success/failures/your performance/results etc
• IX.What makes him/her happy & satisfied
• 5.Always Focus on delivering results & excellent performance
• 6.Always ensure that you are up to date with the cutting edge skills[both oft & hard Skills
• 7.Learn to be assertive from this link
• 8.Always behave as a Professional
• 9.Learn to build the Entrepreneurial Mindset
• 10.Learn how to Present Your Ideas without hurting Your Boss's Ego
• 11.Focus on Your Boss's Success, help him/her succeed
• 12.Learn to ask questions to build trust, unearth motivations of others
• 13.Learn to manage your anger
• 14.Learn to work around your boss's weakness, by offering a support & solution, subtly without seeking highlight
• 15.Instead of focusing on the negativities, focus on your goals & your learning that you are gaining through a bad boss
• 16.You have to keep the looking at your big picture, and not let your boss's behavior sidetrack you
• 17.Learn the stress management techniques
• 18.Identify the strength & good qualities of your boss which brought him/her to this position & let him/her know that you respect him/her for these
• 19.Make yourself indispensable to your boss, by pro-actively seeking most challenging task & his/her task, making it easy for him/her
• 20.Learn to confront without offending his/her ego, and give your boss a chance to explain. Learn to ask tough questions respectfully
• 21.Do not get intimidated by bullying, you have practice the art of assertiveness to tackle them
• 22.You have to learn tact & diplomacy to handle delicate situations, where you cannot leave
• 23.Utilize your frustration to channel your energy in developing yourself by reinventing. Read an article on this website about how to do that
• 24.Never burn the bridges with your boss, now a day, it is customary to check with your bosses. Besides that you never know, you may need to work with him/her again.
• 25.Document everything, besides making your own performance and behavior irreproachable
• 26.Avoid challenging your boss's ego in front of others
• 27.Create a list of alternative ways to deal with your current situation
• 28.If possible enroll the help of a powerful mentor within the organization
• 29.Learn to match your behavior to the language they understand & appreciate
• 30.Anticipate your bad boss's behavior & be mentally or otherwise prepared to handle it
• 31.Sometimes you can turn around a bad situation by using non-sarcastic humor. So polish your humor
• 32.Understand that having a bad relationship & having a bad boss can be two different things. A bad boss is one who is intentionally mean or unethical and is not receptive to dealing with you in an honest and open way. A bad relationship is an inability to work together to achieve mutually-beneficial goals
• 33.Use I statement rather than blameful you statements, while confronting your boss
• 34.Learn to identify, recognize & appreciate whenever your boss makes a good gesture
• 35.Never be revengeful, or block helping in a crisis
• 36.Focus on the problem rather than on your boss
• 37.Don't talk bad about your boss behind his/her back or otherwise
• 38.If all these don't work, try to get transfer to another department
• 39.Take action if you are discriminated against, or sexually or otherwise harassed
• 40.If nothing works, develop a thick skin, plan for your departure. But do not leave job in a hurry. Play it cool to select the job that you really want after doing a thorough research.
• 41.Join professional & other relevant forums, to make your networking with future employers or bosses & getting into their sight by actively participating
• 42.Make yourself visible by writing blogs on professional topics

You may think that in the steps suggested to make your bad boss successful, is a submissive way to deal with it, but by doing this you lay a solid foundation for greater success yourself. It may not be an immediate reward, but in the long run.

I wrote an article on how to handle difficult people, you can also use the additional strategies from this article, along with, what is given above to effectively handle your bad bosses

THE FOLLOWING IS TAKEN FROM THE INTERNET

When that happens, you may roll your eyes. But what about when your boss says things that are total nonsense?

Like:

1. "I would like to give you a raise, but (insert any old nonsense here)."

Imagine you're sitting with your boss and he says, "I would like to give you a raise, but ... "

Do you walk away feeling good about yourself? After all, he really, really wants to give you a raise, but his hands are tied, so he can't.

That's like saying, "I don't want to fire you, but I have no choice." You're still fired. And you're still not getting a raise.

If the employee hasn't earned a raise, say why. If the company can't afford to increase salaries, explain why. But don't tell someone what you would do. If you're the boss, the only person you're trying to make feel better by saying that is yourself.

2. "This is probably not what you want to hear."

It sucks to hear bad news, no doubt. But when you say that something isn't what I want to hear, you shift the issue over to my side of the table. Somehow it's become my problem.

Don't shift. Explain why you made a decision. Explain the logic. Explain your reasoning.

I still may not want to hear it, but that way the focus remains on the issue and not on me.

3. "Let me check into that and get back to you."

How many times have the people who told you they would "check into that" actually gotten back to you?

Still trying to remember a time?

"I'll check into that" is a polite way of saying, "I have better things to do than talk about this."

If you do need to check into something, explain what you will do, when you will do it, and when you will follow up.

And then hold yourself to that commitment -- because to the employee, it is truly a commitment.

4. "I need to treat everyone equally."

Every employee is different. Some need a nudge. Others need confidence boosts. Others need a kick in the pants.

Some employees have earned greater freedom. Others have not.

Equal treatment is not always fair. People care a lot more when they know a reward or discipline is based on what is right, not just what is written.

5. "Work smarter, not harder."

What happens when you say that to me?

One: You imply I'm stupid. Two: You imply whatever I'm doing should take a lot less time and effort than it has been taking. And three: After you say it, I'm kinda pissed off.

If you know I can be more efficient, tell me how. If you know there's a better way, show me. If you think there's a better way but don't know what it is, say so. Admit you don't have the answer, and then ask me to help you figure it out.

Most important, recognize that sometimes the only thing to do is to work harder. So get off your butt and help me.

6. "There is no 'I' in 'team.'"

Sure there is. There are as many I's as in the number of team members. And those individuals -- the more "individual" the better -- serve to make the team stronger. The best teams are often a funky blend of the members' individual talents, perspectives, and goals.

If you want a team to achieve more, make sure each person feels she is forwarding not only the team's goals but also her own. Figure out how each member of the team can do both, instead of taking the lazy way out by simply repressing individuality in the pursuit of the collective.

7. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

Fate had nothing to do with it. Something went wrong. Figure out what it was and learn from it.

"It wasn't meant to be" places responsibility elsewhere.

"Let's figure out what we can do next time" is empowering and places the responsibility where it should be: on you.

8. "That's just Joe being Joe."

Typically used to explain away someone's poor behavior, like the top salesperson who treats people badly or the great engineer who is rude during meetings. The loose translation of this statement is, "Even though it's my job as a boss to address this issue, and I wouldn't let anyone else behave that way, I don't feel like dealing with it."

Maybe Joe is just being Joe, but Joe still needs to meet basic expectations, especially where his treatment of other people is concerned.

9. "We're in the middle of a paradigm shift."

Actually, we're experiencing a change you don't know how to deal with and "paradigm shift" sounds a lot better than "I have no idea what the (heck) is going on."

If you don't know, just say so. And ask for help.

10. "Perception is reality."

Yeah, yeah, I know: How I perceive something is my version of reality, no matter how wrong my perception may be.

But if other people perceive a reality differently from you, work to change that perception. Make reality the reality.

Besides, perceptions are fleeting. Reality lasts forever, or at least until a new reality comes along to replace it.

11. "(So and so) works for me."

Maybe it's just me, but I never like when bosses say, "Joe works for me," especially when Joe is within hearing distance.

Good bosses feel their employees work with them, not for them.

Great bosses feel they work for their employees; they feel their job is to serve, not to be served.

12. "Feel free to give me feedback."

You see and hear a similar line everywhere: websites, signs, meetings.

If you really do want feedback, don't be passive. Don't just make it "easy" for people to give you feedback. Go get it. Be active.

Ask.

People who really want feedback take responsibility for getting it -- they don't wait to receive it.

13. "You need to square the circle."

I actually don't know what this is supposed to mean. A boss of mine used it all the time, and we just nodded.

14. "Let's do it now and apologize later."

This statement doesn't make you a bold, daring risk taker. It makes you someone who takes shortcuts. If the idea is good, people will rally around it. If they don't, the problem usually isn't them: It's you.

Don't take the easy way out. Describe what you want to do. Prove it makes sense. Get people behind you.

Then, whatever you do will have a much better chance of succeeding.

15. "Failure is not an option."

This one is often used by a leader who wants to shut down questions about a debatable decision or a seemingly impossible goal: "Listen, folks, failure is simply not an option." (Strikes table or podium with fist.)

Failure is always a possibility. Just because you say it isn't doesn't change that.

Don't reach for a platitude. Justify your decision. Answer the hard questions.

If you can't, maybe your decision isn't so wise after all.

16. "You're putting lipstick on a pig."

If I actually could, it would be quite an achievement.

17. "We need to pay attention to the optics."

Because if people figure out what we're really doing, how will that look?

18. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel."

I'm all for using a perfectly good wheel. But too often this statement is used to shut down new ideas, especially those that run counter to a boss's ideas.

After all, your wheel might turn out to be a better wheel, which means his wheel wasn't so great.

And he can't have that.

19. "We need to manage their expectations."

Because, you know, just telling them the truth might be a problem.

Even so. Tell the truth.

20. "We need to focus on adding value."

Shouldn't we have been doing that all along? Shouldn't everything we do provide value?

If it doesn't, why are we doing it?

21. "It is what it is."

Here's another shutdown statement. Usually, it means, "I'm too lazy to try to make it different, so for gosh sakes, stop talking about it."

"It is what it is" is only true if you take the easy way out by letting "it" remain "it."

Never let "it" remain "it" when "it" could be better.