6 Powerful Actions to Make You a Better Boss

What is a great boss, anyway?

Recent research found that direct managers impact their employees mental health more than doctors or therapists and as much as their spouses or partners. There is science behind the "people don't leave companies, they leave bad bosses" statement.

A bad boss can seriously break you, and a good boss can seriously lift you up.

A bad boss can (literally) destroy your mental health, and a good boss can care for it together with you.

A bad boss can destroy your experience at work and make you feel miserable (by intentional action or just because), and a good boss can make your work experience the most remarkable, ever.

There is so much said about bad bosses, and even some images showing how they differ from "leaders". But here is the true: while there are some bad bosses out there, there are many others that are truly remarkable.

What makes them so remarkable and exceptional?

Ultimately, it boils down to this: a great boss cares for you as a human, not just as a worker. And these are six ways in which they live up to that promise, on a day to day basis.

Treating People with Dignity, Kindness and Compassion

One of the most powerful actions with the highest "human ROI" is treating people with dignity, respect, kindness and compassion. The latter two are about understanding what each individual in your team is going through and use their talents and resources to alleviate their pain and suffering. Dignity and respect are about thinking of everyone as worthy of respect and consideration.

Caring for Everyone as "Humans" and not Just as "Employees"

Work has reduced people to their condition as "employees", while neglecting or plainly rejecting their condition as "human", and that's wrong. But, even though "work" and "workplaces" do that, a boss can make a difference in his or her team by caring for the people, first and foremost in their condition as humans and, only then, as employees. Be curious about the people and they will discover some wonderful things.

Recognizing Team Members for Their Efforts

Good performance isn't just about producing more outputs with less resources (an "industrial" concept that workplaces are still dragging on to this day). Performance is about effort, too. And effort is about process, outputs and outcomes. A good boss recognizes team members not just for what they produce, but for what they learn, for their creativity, their experiments, their human skills, etc.

Becoming a Role Model of All the Beautiful Things that Make us Humans

Work has become so utterly dehumanizing in so many levels that genuinely behaving as humans and role modeling what makes us human has in itself become a powerful and revolutionary act that now requires teaching and encouragement (when it should be completely natural to us!). You can be the greatest boss of all time if you embraced what makes your team members human: feeling vulnerable, seeking a sense of belonging through meaningful connections, pursuing happiness and joy.

Helping People Grow Because They Care About The Now and Future Self of Their Employees

Many bosses worry so much about getting the most out of someone's "current-self" that they forget that they can become amazing agents of positive change and transformation for the growth and development of their people. The best bosses help their people grow with support and challenge. They see the potential in people and invest their time, resources and talents in developing that potential.

Delivering Today's Results While Keeping an Eye on the Legacy

Bosses have to deliver for their people, but also for their companies. They have to deliver corporate results. Their performance is assessed by the accomplishment of goals. And we know that that doing that consumes most of their energy. But there is one thought that the greatest bosses never, ever forget and which guides their everyday actions: the positive legacy they can leave behind and how they want to be remembered.