7 things you need to know about being the boss…
- and effective employee management
So you’re now a ‘boss’ to someone. Congratulations! It promises to be an interesting and no doubt challenging journey as you embark on the path of managing employees. As you assume this new responsibility, there are a few things you should be aware of.
1. Before you start, stop… and think
Stop and think about the kind of boss you want to be. How is it that you hope to manage employees and challenge them to be the best they can be? How would you like to be remembered, spoken about or regarded? What can you take from the best bosses you’ve and what is it that you need to avoid and ensure you don’t mimic about the worst bosses you’ve encountered?
2. It isn’t the end but rather only the beginning
You must have done something – most likely many things - right to have gotten to this point, so again congratulations!
However, if you think you’ve arrived you’ll soon learn that this represents just another starting point. So what is it you need to learn to succeed in this position? From who or what source can you learn effective employee management? What might you need to unlearn to make this position a success? How will you go about doing this (unlearning)?
3. It is not about you; it’s about your people
Who’s in your team? What are their needs and how will you go about getting the best out of those fortunate enough to be in your team? Are there any legacy issues to which you need pay attention? Connecting with your people is fundamental to building a cohesive and effective team. They will need to know:
- Their role,
- What you expect of them,
- How you’ll measure progress, and
- What will be the consequences of not getting to wherever it is you need to get to.
These are fundamentals that need to be discussed and don’t assume such matters are all understood or have been clarified. They need to hear it from you!
4. What you do is more important than what you say
Model the behaviour you want to see in your team. Be loyal, believe in their potential and don’t talk behind their back to anyone – unless of course it’s to say nice things. If it is, go and tell them to their face what it is you’ve told someone else.
What insecurities do you bring into this position and how might these play out in how you act, what you say and don’t say? You lead out of who you are – remember that and allow it to motivate the right behaviour as you go about the important task of being the boss
5. You work for them, not the other way around
I know this doesn’t seem to be how ‘things work’ but smart bosses understand that, to manage employees properly, they serve those on their team – not the other way round.
Your role is to help your people over-achieve and when they do, feel as though they’ve done it on their own. I know that doesn’t sound very fair but don’t worry: the people who really matter will know what your role has been and appreciate you all the more for it. Make sure your team get the headlines, the limelight and capture the applause. It takes a ‘big boss’ to allow this to happen. Be such a boss.
6. Relationship, relationship, relationship
We all work better for someone we respect, someone who is fair and someone with whom we have a good relationship. The quality of relationship between you and your people will ultimately count for more than if you simply drive them to succeed and merely see them as a means to an end. You want them to ‘go to war for you’ and you want a team with whom you can go to war. Wars will happen, of this you can be sure!
7. ‘Boss’ is the last title to use
Mentor, coach, friend, role model are just some of the titles that need to come before ‘boss’. Of course this isn’t to say that you don’t need to set boundaries, clarify consequences, confront non-performance, say what needs to be said and tackle the many thankless tasks that come with the ‘boss territory’.
Work to understand what makes people ‘tick’ and then work smartly. ‘What makes ‘you tick?’ might be a good place to start in thinking about how you can undertake effective employee management - the chances are it won’t be very different.
Enjoy the journey and make sure it is one in which you never stop learning. The best way to ensure that is to develop reliable feedback that may or may not be the formal feedback loops you have entrenched within the company. Feedback is the lifeblood of any boss intent on growing, being better and who wants to make a difference.
Go now and be such a boss!
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Keith Coats is an internationally respected leadership expert, author, speaker and facilitator. He has worked with both leaders and their executive teams in numerous international blue chip companies. Keith is the author of Everything I know about leadership I learned from the kids and his leadership articles have been published in a variety of local as well as international publications and journals. Keith has formally researched leading teams through organisational change and has experience in facilitating both strategic processes and mergers. |
