Leaders make a difference. In Robert Sutton’s best-selling work, “Good Boss, Bad Boss,” the author shows, through numerous personal accounts, how demeaning and destructive bad bosses can be. Employees the world over know just what it means to have that one boss that seems to suck all the joy out of life, drives good people away and makes you want to turn in the barest amount of work before calling it a day.
Bad Bosses
Indeed, the stories all point to one thing. When employees are motivated and happy, they’re productive. They do more even when you don’t ask them. They give every job their best shot—or at least try to. On the other hand, when employees feel demeaned, abused or undermined in any way, they don’t perform at their best. Researchers found out that employees who had abusive bosses tend to be slower, their performance bogged down by emotional and mental fatigue. They were also likely to make errors on purpose, minimize contact with their bosses by hiding away which means less to zero participation and do the barest minimum just to get by. They also often take time off even when they aren’t sick. Every day, they wake up asking themselves: do I go to work today?
Dream Boss
There’s no manual, really, on what a dream boss is. There’s only one thing, though, that separates the exceptional bosses from bad ones: the ability to treat people with dignity. That’s something exceptional bosses have. And while some people are born with the ability to put people at ease, to have the kind of moral compass that knows how to treat people with respect and empathy, not everyone is as well-trained or gifted when it comes to people skills. But a deficit of emotional intelligence can be changed. All you need to have is the right business coaching resources.
Leadership Training
If you’ve got a team and you want to maximize productivity on all levels, it’s important that everyone on your management team have great people skills, empathy and a strong sense of accountability. And you want bad leadership traits and habits to stop. These things can be learned, says Sutton in his blog, Work Matters. That’s why business leadership coaching workshops matter. The sooner you find the right leadership training, the sooner your team can work on their weaknesses. Because you want to make sure you’ve got the leaders who know the value of respect, who can get employees to deliver results. That’s the best asset your company can have. With great leaders, your team is happier, more productive and your company more competitive and successful.
