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Boss, are you listening?
A SURVEY by an Australian career website has found that 82% of the people consider their bosses too arrogant, controlling, incompetent, judgemental, sexist or inflexible (The Hindu, Jan 7). Now, if you are a boss, you will be tempted to cry foul. Whereas, if you are an employee who was unfortunately not part of this survey, you must be wondering how to contact the website and get them to include your choicest sobriquets too! It is not easy being a boss - or so bosses say. "You are a good boss as long as you give all of them fantastic feedback during appraisals, recommend fat salary hikes, turn a blind eye when they miss a deadline or goof up an important project and never expect them to pitch in during holidays or week-ends", moans a beleaguered boss. "And, since all of the above is near impossible, I'm apparently called the boss from hell", he laughs bitterly. Now, when veteran bosses are completely clueless, who can really blame the new-boss-on-the-block for floundering? But there is, argue the experts, a way out of the conundrum, besides the painful, thorn-strewn learnt-by-experience path, which typically makes you an expert in "how to have your employees eating out of your hand" in time for your retirement. Or thereabouts. But, if you are aspiring for a date earlier than that, you could try...
Effective communication - It is the mantra if you want to worm your way into your team's heart. Many a boss has been blacklisted, all because he was not articulate enough. Or conversely, a little too articulate. Define key roles and responsibilities clearly, and neither talk down to employees as if they were 5 year-olds, nor in an unfathomable cryptic-code. Both, they say, will have the employees positively seething. Communication also encompasses listening - which is as important, or perhaps even more, than simply talking.
Approachability - It is closely related to communication. Now, if you are the get-the-back-slapped boss, it is quite likely nobody is going to take you seriously. Then again, adopting the `best practices from the Third Reich' won't take you far!
Leadership- Scott Adams (in `Dilbert and the way of the weasel') says leadership tops the list of `top ten all-time-evils' (and the top ten includes, besides leadership, Satan and cannibalism among other things!) Leadership is actually a double-edged sword - if you have it, you are teamed with a whip-cracking Satan; and if you do not, you are heralded as his wimpy doppelganger anyway! But then, we did not say leadership was easy, did we? Yet, if anything can clinch you a `good boss' title, this can! Good leaders, besides the obvious `leading the team', also practise what they preach (therefore preaching very little!), and recognise and reward good work.
Defuse tension- Offices are great breeding grounds for stress and gossip. While gutting gossip is a bit like controlling greenhouse gases - a near impossibility - bosses would do well to try and just tackle stress. A good boss is one who neither suffers from stress nor is a carrier - for if his very presence only hassles the team instead of soothing their frayed nerves, to put it mildly, perdition is his right place.
Empathy - A little understanding will go a long way in building a great relationship. Now, an aspiring-to-be popular boss will say `tsk, tsk' and look terribly sad when the employee cites the maid not turning up for work on Monday morning as the reason for the tardiness. A good boss, on the other hand, will probably just grunt and murmur something about being professional and buying dishwashers. And, he who yells the roof down is, undoubtedly, a very bad, unfeeling boss.
Respect - Q: Who wants to be treated like the underdog? A: Nobody, not even the underdog. Respect is a two-way street, and you have got to give some to get some.
Look beyond yourself - Your career might be zipping along, your salary might need a truck to transport it to the bank; but if your team is lagging far behind, then you are nothing but a selfish goose, sorry, boss. Empowering your team, involving them in decision-making, and of course, helping them advance their careers will quickly get you to the top of the `good' heap.Being a `good' boss is not the same as being a `popular' boss, though it is clearly the latter that most wish to be. But, if you happen to aim for the former, just remember to tweak your traits a little here and there - and you will hopefully feature no more in the `bad boss' survey!
APARNA KARTHIKEYAN
faqs@cnkonline.com
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