When we ask people in our trainings what a good boss means to them, the answers vary quite a bit. Some want clear instructions, some freedom, some recognition. After years of working with teams, however, we have seen that a few things repeat regardless of industry, generation or company size. We summed them up in an interview for Startitup and here we develop them in a little more detail.
Six signs of a good boss
1. Can clearly name goals, expectations and direction
People do not need a perfect plan, they need to know where they are going and what is expected of them. Most conflicts in teams do not come from bad intentions but from everyone imagining something different. How to name managerial expectations precisely is the topic of one episode of our podcast Srdce do biznisu.
2. Creates an environment where people are not afraid to ask and admit mistakes
Psychological safety is one of the six principles of our H2O approach. In a team where mistakes are punished, mistakes do not stop happening. People just stop talking about them.
3. Does not run away from unpleasant topics
Communicates even under pressure, even without all the answers. It is precisely in hard situations that a leader must not run away from people. That is when they have to stay with the team and speak openly, even if all they can say is “I don’t know, but I am finding out”.
4. Comes back to a conflict and explains it
Everyone blows up sometimes. The difference between a good and a bad boss is not that it never happens, but what they do afterwards.
5. Does not need to look perfect
Leadership is not about seeking perfection. A boss who can say “I got this wrong” gives the team permission to do the same. And a team that is not afraid to admit a mistake fixes it sooner.
6. Is willing to work on themselves and develop people
Developing people is neither a cost nor a perk. It took years for Slovak companies to accept that, and today it is exactly what separates the companies people want to join from the ones they leave.
The sentence that destroys trust in a second
If you don’t like it, you can leave.
Trust in companies is rarely destroyed by big scandals. It is destroyed by managers’ knee-jerk reactions like this sentence, and above all by what follows: nothing. Nobody comes back to the situation, nobody explains it and the tension builds up. A lack of integrity works the same way, when a manager does not live what they ask of people or promises things they cannot deliver, and so does withholding information.
We like to say that leaders usually make the best decisions they can, based on bad information. If people do not get information from above, they stop sending it upwards. And the boss then decides about a team they do not really know.
Balance between humanity and performance
Good leadership rests on balance. A leader should lead the team to results, but must not forget they are working with people. It is not either-or. The companies that manage it get results precisely because their people want to, not because they have to.
If you would like to listen to the topic, in the Srdce do biznisu podcast (in Slovak) we recommend the episodes on leadership styles, on giving and building trust and on naming your managerial expectations. Each is around twelve minutes, just right for the commute.