Most managers would like for their team to like them, personally, as a person. Nobody likes to be disliked and we are all more comfortable with being the popular boss rather than the unpopular one. And if we can’t popular, appreciated and admired can we at least be respected in our role?
There was a study done at a London university which surveyed 28,000 employees about their supervisors. Participants were asked a series of questions scoring their supervisors against various criteria, to determine whether they felt they had a ‘good boss’ versus a ‘bad boss’. The results were interesting and a little surprising in that they suggest that there are far more good bosses than bad.
Here are the 7 measures by which survey participants were asked to define their bosses:
- “Your immediate supervisor provides useful feedback on your work”
- “Your immediate supervisor respects you as a person”
- “Your immediate supervisor gives you praise and recognition when you do a good job”
- “Your immediate supervisor is helpful in getting the job done”
- “Your immediate supervisor encourages and supports your development”
- “Your immediate supervisor is successful in getting people to work together”
- “Your immediate supervisor helps and supports workers”
Here is the challenge – ask your direct reports to rate you on each of these and get a better understanding of what the team thinks of you. The catch-22 in this scenario is that you want your team to be completely honest with you and if they feel safe enough to be honest then you already know that they rate you as a ‘good boss’. Similarly, if your team feel they cannot be honest then you will never really know.
There is an exercise that I love doing with client teams called ‘the one thing’ exercise. There is a bit of set up and science behind the approach and without going into too much detail, it is a way for every person in the team to anonymously provide one piece of positive feedback, and one piece of constructive feedback on every other person in the team, including you as the boss. I then collate all the feedback for each person and present it back to each person individually. This is a great little exercise providing recognition for what each person is appreciated for as well as areas for development.
The key to becoming a better leader or improving your leadership approach is to have a clear awareness of what it is like to work for you. What is the team experience of you as a leader or boss? With awareness and some self-reflection and solid plan, we will have you unwrapping your own “Best Boss” coffee mug in the Secret Santa this year.
The Workplace Coach is currently offering the ‘What is it like to work for me?’ awareness package. This is a behaviourally based assessment tool that will show you exactly how your boss, your peers and your team all experience you in the workplace. This unique tool is designed to provide you with the knowledge and awareness to dramatically improve your leadership effectiveness at work.
You get all three components including: 1) the 360-degree LSI 1 and LSI 2 assessment, 2) a 2 hour assessment debrief, and 3) two follow up coaching sessions to help you increase your effectiveness in leading your teams. This package is priced at just $2490 (plus GST) and is completely COVID Safe and delivered virtually. Please contact us at info@theworkplacecoach.com.au
The Workplace Coach
The Workplace Coach 
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