WHEN you look back at the best boss that you have worked for and considered those you have seen interviewed in the press, on television and across the Internet, you will see people who have amassed a number of key skills to become successful in their work. Unfortunately, more often than not, you hear people complaining and whining about their boss as they feel that their superior is not competent enough to run the business. Where you are a leader, a manager or a person considering becoming the boss, here are some of the key skills required for a boss to be successful in managing a team. The same wisdom applies to the smallest team and all the way up to the largest conglomerate.
Honesty, from the boss, is one of the major traits that will help a business through good times and bad times because the employees will know exactly how they stand in the operation, what the future looks like and how the business is likely to change, expand or contract in the near future. When a boss is consistently honest, they are more likely to receive an honest day’s work from their employees.
It is important that a boss creates a great environment and this is greatly helped by being a positive person all of the time. This does not mean that a boss must be over the top positive, singing and dancing in dreadful times, but keeping a positive outlook helps everyone in the organisation look forward to better times.
People make mistakes and a compassionate boss will be able to show the right level of compassion to help people through their errors, learn from them and become a better person for the future. The boss who dismisses an employee for a small mistake will find it difficult to motivate their team, because of the worry and fear of losing their job.
The progress of any business will depend considerably on the manager’s ability to motivate their team, whatever the circumstances. This may become easier during the good times, but a truly skilled boss will be able to motivate a team when the odds appear stacked against them and they all pull through together.
A great boss will realise that the management of a business succeeds mostly through the efforts of the entire team and not just one person and it is important that this collective is respected for everyone to remain motivated to achieve the best results possible.
Achieving those results is much easier when you know the strengths and weaknesses of your team, treating them as individuals and understanding their distinct motives. This will help you, the manager to adjust, change and boost their success through the goals that you set them, and they agree to.
As a manager, you cannot do everything yourself, so it is important to empower your employees to make decisions and not stand by their shoulder through that decision-making process. There will always be friction between employees and it is up to a great boss to step in and resolve conflict in the workplace, preferably by allowing the people to settle the problem themselves.
A great boss has a combination of all of these attributes and will consistently be looking at ways to juggle the best of their employees while teaching and educating the others to reach the required standards. By showing your employees how much you appreciate them, they will understand that you are an effective listener and a great person to work for.
Samuel Rosenberg is the founder and CEO of Axcel Finance Ltd., the leading regional microfinance institution. Share your thoughts and email your questions to [email protected]