Being a Great Boss

Are you one of those bosses that people just love to hate? Maybe successful, maybe very intelligent, maybe organized and moving forward but just can't get along with people. Communication and other people skills are as important to the success of your business as your talent, knowledge and entrepreneurial drive. After all, you cannot do it all by yourself and you need good people.

I remember being a very arrogant and egotistical program director back in the mid 1970's when my boss called me into the office and flat out told me "Mike, you got talent and drive but you need to learn some diplomacy". I'll never forget that meeting. This mentor taught me things like no matter how great my idea was it was probably going nowhere if I couldn't convince, persuade or lead people to buy into it. I learned that very few people want to negotiate with a bull-head. And if they do because they must then they will resent it for a long long time. Some will even look for the opportunity for payback. I relearned things that were taught to me in elementary school. Things like "you attract more bees with honey than vinegar". As a 7 year old the key word there was bees so who cared, right? As a businessman the key word had become attract. Same sentence different meaning. Things like "smile and people will smile back at you" or "extend your hand and the other person will shake it".

It doesn't take a lot of extra effort to be a nice boss. As a matter of fact it's a whole lot easier to be nice than it is to be a hard-ass. And the payoff is so great in a happy and productive workforce that I can't reason why some bosses still act in a totalitarian, dictatorial way. How do your people perceive you? I'm not talking about being a wimp and saying yes to every unreasonable demand an employee makes. I'm talking about listening, caring, empathy, leadership and, oh yes?diplomacy.

Mike Shannon is the owner of Shamrock Business Coaching, a coaching practice that helps business owners increase profits. You can visit Shamrock Business Coaching on the web at: http://www.ShamrockCoaching.com.

---

Leadership: Stoking The Success Train

Everyone wants to succeed yet everyone has a different perception of what success means and what it will bring into their lives. It is a means of... Read More

Project Management, A Forgotten Perspective

Effective project managers know how to get the job done, and get it done right. Success comes not only from wise selection of the team members and... Read More

Creating a Team Working Environment

TEAM DECISION MAKING: Managers who invite participation believe that people directly affected by a decision should be involved in making that decision. The effort is toward joint,... Read More

Taking Care of Middle Manager Bounce Off

How many times have the management consultants been 'in' and after leaving, have left little or no trace of their passing?Despite massive investment there is no discernable... Read More

Offshore This! (Outsourcing Tech Support Overseas)

So I call my telephone company and someone picks up 15,000 miles away. I asked the rep where she's from. She said, "I am from Mary-Land sir.... Read More

Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing in a Business Perspective

Business IntelligenceBusiness Intelligence has become a very important activity in the business arena irrespective of the domain due to the fact that managers need to analyze comprehensively... Read More

Employee Orientation: Get New Hires Off To a Great Start

The good news is that a new hire orientation program offers an opportunity to build a lasting impression of the new company. The bad news is that... Read More

Cultural Differences: Making it Work Virtually

Working virtually adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "cultural differences". It immediately becomes apparent how different people around the world work, live and network.The barriers... Read More

Best Workplaces

The Best Workplaces report (Financial Times, April 28, 2005) notes many factors in common with Managing Creativity and Innovation.Material reward is not the sole factor in determining... Read More

Out of Control?

There are papers on the floor, across the desk and resting on the keyboard. Piles of files are all around. Magazines, newspapers?you name it. Just about anything... Read More

Outsourcing Quiz: Cheap Vs. Good

Someone can say, 'Why do you oppose this?' So I'd like to prevent such attacks and tell that this article is dedicated mainly to the issue if... Read More

Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss

Few things are more destructive to a career than a boss who is insecure. Unfortunately, it is a near certainty that most people will encounter one or... Read More

Organizational Culture, Creativity, Innovation

It can be concluded with great certainty that certain organizational cultures inhibit creativity and innovation whilst others foster it. Some organizations are just better at identifying problems,... Read More

Why Training Fails

Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert... Read More

On The Job Training is Something You Canâ??t Afford to Skip

Trained employees are more productive employees; thereâ??s no doubt about that. Whether youâ??re your only employee or whether youâ??ve got a growing staff, put OJT (on the... Read More

Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Earn a Profit

Most people treat meetings as a free resource that can be used to deal with any issue. As a result, huge amounts of time and money are... Read More

How To Decrease Downtime and Increase Productivity

All maintenance activities of the workforce must be documented, this includes breakdown repairs, callouts, preventive maintenance, replacement maintenance, overhauls, and Testing & Inspection work. Maintenance work by... Read More

Organisation Tips For The Mobile Executive

Despite the fact that everyone sighs "How glamorous!", the life of the business traveller can actually be hell! Fighting international datelines, jetlag, airline food, hotel pillows filled... Read More

New Leadership For A New War

Military analysts call this "asymmetrical" war (as if war has a terrible symmetry); and we know that it will be as different from conventional war as three-dimensional,... Read More

Leading Meetings: The Top Three Challenges

What do people really find challenging about leading meetings? Here are the top three questions that keep on cropping up followed by guidelines or simple ways to... Read More

Business Knowledge Management

In the last few years a lot has been written about Business Process Management, and about technologies supporting it such as BPMS, SOAP and Web Services. Most... Read More

Tales From The Corporate Frontlines: Job Security in Todays Workplace

This article, Job Security in Today's Workplace, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. It tells the story of a manager who decides to... Read More

Why You Need a Business Plan

This article was originally called "Do You Need a Business Plan?"The title was changed because in truth, every business needs a business plan. It's a common misconception... Read More

Middle Managers Behaving Badly ? How To Stop This Damaging Your Results

More and more I hear and read about a looming crisis of leadership at the middle management level and the inevitable resulting increase in, poor performance, accidents... Read More

You Didnt Use Brainstorming to Select Your Measures, Did You?

IntroductionWhen Alex Osborn invented the creativity technique called brainstorming, I wonder if he had any idea just how extensively business would apply it. Almost every meeting employs... Read More

The 6 Steps to Six Sigma

Step 1Get the proper level of Six Sigma expertise at the executive level of the company. If the top leaders don't understand the advanced six sigma principles,... Read More