Be The Best Boss You Can Be

If you want to be a better boss this year, you probably want to start learning some new skills, bettering your communication and trying to fit in with your team a little better. Being a manager is difficult because it can be hard to know the boundary of being one of the team and being a boss, but it is incredibly important that you work hard to make sure you are the best boss you can possibly be this year. Here’s how you can do it...

Know your team

The first step to becoming a better boss for your team is to get to know the people you are working for. Take some time during your working days to get to know what the people in your team like, what their hobbies are and about their life. It is important if you are to be a good boss to know your employees on a personal level as well as professionally. This is the way you will gain their trust and be able to put yourself as the influential person in their working lives. You will be the one they come to when they are struggling, or when they need advice. Gaining your team’s trust is essential for a healthy workplace.

Act like a manager, but think like an employee

If you think about how you were before you became a manager for your team, you will be able to tell a lot about the way you need to act as a boss. Your employees want to be pushed to their limits, helped when they have problems and they want you to recognise their skill. It is incredibly important for your employees to know what you are invested in their career just as much as yours, just as you wanted when you were an employee too. Make time to sit down with each of your employees and talk about what they want to achieve, their goals.p, dreams and worries. Give them advice and send them off on training whenever necessary. Show you care about their success and it will make you a much better boss.

Be an inspiration

As a boss you are essentially a role model for your employees. Because of this it is so important that you take the steps to show them how dedicated you are to your job and show that sheer passion to succeed. No one is going to want to follow a boss who doesn’t care less about the job and isn’t invested in the company. Lead the herd and show them how much hard work you put in to become who you are today, this will make them want to work just as hard to get to the level you are.

Fix problems

Honestly, during your time namabing a group of people, the pressure is on you to keep them motivated and working to the best of their ability. You are the one who will get the brunt of your boss’ anger if your team doesn’t perform, and because of this you need to learn how to solve your problems effectively. If you face an issue, don’t keep it to yourself. It is much better if you involve your team and discuss the issue together. This will not only be good for your working relationship but having fresh minds focussed on the task can be a huge help.

If mistake are made in the workplace by your employees, don’t be that guy who hits the roof and screams all seven hells. You need to be as professional as everyone else on the office, so make sure you deal with the problem constructively and ask what happened and why. You may find that your employee simply misunderstood what you were asking of them, and you could block out some time to meet and go through the work again. Be patient and understand that everyone makes mistakes now and again.

Be friendly, but not a friend

It can be very difficult to get the balance right on how much you should distance yourself as a manager. You can either be too distant and strict, making everyone intimidated if you and scared to talk to you, or try to be their best friends. You can be friendly to your employees and talk about life and hobbies up to a certain point, but you must know when to stop. For example, if you have had a bad fight with your other half, do not ask your employees for advice. This is too personal and is something you should only be discussing with close friends. Set your boundaries and stick to them, you will gain respect and likeability for it.

Stay in the loop

As a boss you need to be organised and always two steps Achaean of everyone else. This means that you will need to always make sure that you know what is going on in the working week, who is working on what project, who needs to go for a meeting and who is working from home. Keep your dairy organised down to the last second because you need to keep on top of what everyone else is doing.

Know how to spot strengths

As a manager you never want to make your employees,payees feel inferior and worthless. Instead of focusing on everything they need to improve on, learn to point out their strengths. For example if you notice that someone seems to be strong at leadership, you could recognise this and send them on a course for mba management online. By noticing the good in people you will make better relationships and it will prevent your employee from becoming resentful of you.

Let go of control

One huge strength which good bosses all have in common is to know when it’s time to step back and let their employees get to work. You cannot be in control of every single person all the time, and they will never feel as if you trust them if you don’t let them figure out work for themselves. Take your hand off the steering wheel once in a while and let your employees accept a challenge. It is the only way they will learn and become better at their jobs.

Show gratitude

Within your team you are the main face which represents everyone and it is you who will look good when your employees work hard all day every day to reach their goals. Make sure that when your boss or the head honcho does come to show praise that you give it where it is due. Never take the credit for someone else’s idea, let the, shine through because this will allow them to thrive and work their way up on the business. If you take the credit for work all of the time your employees will soon begin to resent you and what you stand for, and this can cause a lot of friction in the office. Similarly in meetings, praise your employees for good ideas and contributions to the chat. Thank them for their ideas and hard work.

Listen

It can be a little difficult sometimes when you are in a meeting to hold your tongue and stop yourself from telling everyone your ideas and plans. However, a good manager will always wait and let their employees all give their opinions on the matter first. You can ask them why they think what they do during the meeting, and it will give you an insight into how people think. At the end, tell them your ideas and thank them for what they have said, let anyone know if they are wrong in a gentle way and praise anyone who is spot on. Have a discussion which involves every member of the party.