This afternoon I read an article called 9 Hidden Qualities of Stellar Bosses, which I’ll list below. Plus, I’ll add my own, to make it 10.
1. They forgive… and they forget. Great bosses are able to step back, set aside a mistake, and think about the whole employee.
2. They transform company goals into the employees’ personal goals. Great bosses inspire their employees to achieve company goals. Remarkable bosses make their employees feel that what they do will benefit them as much as it does the company. After all, whom will you work harder for: A company or yourself?
3. They look past the action to the emotion and motivation. Effective bosses deal with actions. Remarkable bosses search for the underlying issues that, when overcome, lead to much bigger change for the better.
4. They support without seeking credit. Remarkable bosses don’t say anything. They feel supporting their employees is the right thing to do and is therefore unremarkable.
5. They make fewer public decisions. Remarkable bosses can be decisive but often in a different way: They decide they aren’t the right person and then decide who is the right person.
6. They don’t see control as a reward. Many people desperately want to be the boss so they can finally call the shots. Remarkable bosses don’t care about control.
7. They allow employees to learn their own lessons. Remarkable bosses don’t scold or dictate; they work together with an employee to figure out what happened and what to do to correct the mistake.
8. They let employees have the ideas. Remarkable bosses see the potential in their employees and find ways to let them have the ideas
9. They always go home feeling they could have done better. They always go home feeling they could have done more to fulfill the trust their employees place in them.
And, to that list I would add:
10. Remarkable bosses care like they mean it. Remarkable bosses know people are a company’s most valuable asset, and while that expression is cliché, they really mean it. Not only do they talk the talk, they walk the walk. Remarkable bosses care about the whole person, not just the employee, because that is the key to building a hard-working and loyal team.