This week I spent some time in Melbourne – one of my favourite cities – and caught up with my good friend and colleague Andrew Rimington. Among the many hats Andrew wears is as the National President of the Career Development Association of Australia – a role I had the honour of holding until 2013, before handing over to Andrew. One of the things Andrew and I are both passionate about is helping managers to become better at what they do. So much depends on the quality of managers – careers can be made or broken, teams can prosper or disintegrate, and organisations can advance or falter on the back of their capability.
The conversation with Andrew touched on the characteristics of a good boss and led me to thinking about the best bosses I have had throughout my career. Without doubt the things that stood out were their willingness to trust and stretch my capability, to be open to new ideas, and to know when to put the pressure on to achieve the best results from their teams.
I am keen to hear what CareerActually readers have to say about the best boss they have ever had.
Share a simple comment or two about the characteristics of your best boss.
Write a brief story to acknowledge their strengths.
Help us understand what really makes a manager most effective.
Over the next few weeks I will collate all your comments, suggestions and stories into an e-book for all to share.
What makes a really good boss? Add your thoughts here and thanks for participating!
I’m fortunate to have had 3 good ‘bosses’ although I use this term rather loosely and certainly not in the context of someone who bossed me around! I would instead refer to all 3 as being good leaders who shared the following characteristics:
– trusted me to use my talents and do my job
– were consultative but also made the hard decisions and were directive when they had to be
– made me feel like a peer rather than a subordinate
– recognised my worth and were open about that, both to me and others
– were loyal, both to me and the broader principles that were important to them
– scrupulously honest and trustworthy
– transparent and open with no hidden agendas
– committed to the group and not self-serving at all; used ‘we’ more than ‘I’
– were open to and respected the views of others, even if these were contrary to their own
– had a ‘grand vision’ and were willing to share the journey towards it
– recognised the strengths of others and were able to bring the best out of them
The list could go on but the one unifying point that I could make is that for all 3 people, when I mentioned their names to others there was always a knowing smile, nodding of the head and ‘wow you were lucky’. You know deep within when you’ve had a good boss, even if you can’t find a complete set of words to describe what they were like.
What a fantastic set of characteristics, Les. You are indeed lucky to have experienced three bosses like this, or perhaps it isn’t only just luck, as it probably says something about the person you are and how you work with others. Thanks for the contribution 🙂