When you look back on your career, you probably remember a handful of managers who stood out from all the rest, some for good reasons, some for bad. If you want to be one of those bosses people remember fondly in years to come — think A Christmas Carol‘s Fezziwig, and not The Devil Wears Prada‘s Miranda Priestly — here’s what to do.
(Photo Credit: Kumar Appaiah/Flickr)
1. Care about their careers.
“Team members often find it aggravating to see bosses that only think about themselves,” writes James W at Makemoneyinlife.com. “Good bosses don’t put their careers above all else. Instead they invest enough time to understand the aspirations of their employees and invest more in each of them. They cross train and develop deep bench; to reduce specialization in the team. We should set targets for the number of people we want to promote this year. Performance indicators should be used to put people in the right place.”
2. Listen as well as speak.
Being the boss means that the chances that someone will feel comfortable interrupting you are much lower. This is potentially dangerous if you tend to get carried away listening to the sound of your own voice. Remember what your mother always told you: there’s a reason you have two ears and one mouth.
3. Don’t expect to be everyone’s friend.
There’s nothing worse than the “cool boss,” always seeking approval, even when it stands in the way of getting things done. (Think Michael Scott from The Office.) Your job is to make the company succeed and to guide the careers of the people who report to you, not to win a popularity contest. Good leaders won’t always be beloved, at least not on a day-to-day basis.
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