Astonish your team by reinventing the boss/subordinate relationship.
When people are asked about the most important qualities of a boss/leader, it is common for words like integrity, vision, customer-focused, motivator, decisive, intelligent and such to be used.
Those terms are too abstract to guide me to be a better boss and leader. So, by observing, practicing and reading, I have defined a list of the most important actions & behaviors for a boss to practice – specific actions & behaviors that make for an enjoyable work environment and high productivity … for the employee, the work team and the overall organization. It's a long list.
Since no one can master a laundry list, here's what I propose. Each December, the boss meets with her team. From the list below, she asks the team to identify 7 behaviors/actions the boss needs to practice in order for the team to succeed in the coming year. In private, each person will also identify 3 more for themselves. At the end of the year, the team grades the boss on her performance against the ones selected. In addition to grading the 10, the team will also grade the boss on the following: a) Is a better leader than her peers in the organization, b) Overall, sets an example I want to follow, c) I would encourage my best friend to work for my boss.
Each of the selected behaviors will be graded: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, Always.
My boss … 1. Acts with integrity (honest, practices golden rule) 2. Spends lots of time with the customer and the people who directly serve them 3. Can visualize and clearly describe a better future – tells a convincing story that is easy to share about how the team can make a big difference 4. Is a true believer in the “cause” – exudes contagious energy & total commitment 5. Listens frequently & attentively – seeks & values my input 6. Spends time to know my individual talents & goals so I can make a difference 7. Assigns work that matches my talents & strengths 8. Takes specific actions to improve & leverage my strengths (vs. just improve weaknesses) 9. Inspires me to do my best work (to astonish the customer) 10. Teaches me new things (directly or indirectly) 11. Treats me like an expert when discussing my area of responsibility 12. Makes me feel like my work is valued - shows gratitude, especially for smart failures 13. Cultivates a “one for all & all for one” culture 14. Challenges and departs from the status quo/conventional wisdom 15. Gives consistent & clear direction – defines: core customer, core strength, core score, core actions 16. Keeps it simple – focus on a few important things 17. Words & actions are consistent 18. Delegates smartly – may identify the objective but lets me determine the “how” 19. Makes decisive & timely decisions 20. Gives timely & fair feedback – praise or criticism 21. Punishes inaction, lazy thinking & poor execution 22. Does not make excuses & never confuses effort with results 23. Pushes recognition to people/the team 24. Expects all team members to be leaders - independently take initiative to drive the business 25. Is comfortable with debate & challenges to her opinion 26. Fights for people - e.g. rewards, resources, removes barriers & distractions, gets team’s ideas implemented 27. Understands her weaknesses and finds productive ways to compensate 28. Recruits and comfortably leads people who are smarter & more talented 29. Knows and respects my work/life balance goals 30. Is maniacal about completely satisfying the customer – customer first at all times 31. Drives team and organization to create products that are absolute best in market 32. Doesn’t settle on the important issues - a tyrant against same-old, average, mediocre, good enough 33. Keeps eye toward big picture and future – doesn’t get bogged down in the weeds 34. Stays the (right) course - not diverted by critics, flavor of the moment, faux crises 35. Judgment on important issues is right more often than wrong 36. Delivers the right results (understands what constitutes performance in the organization) A. Is a better leader than her peers in the organization B. Overall, sets an example that I want to follow C. I would encourage my best friend to work for my boss
O.D.O.o.O.D.B.
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