Best Boss Ever!

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true.?Leaders are made rather than born. —Warren Bennis

Employers are still in the midst of a recruiting crisis. As a leadership and business coach, I am in the soup every day with my understaffed clients. My firm works with a variety of business sectors, including many hospitality clients. Unfortunately, the hospitality industry is in an awful position. Scores of qualified candidates have abandoned the industry, and there seem to be fewer people interested in the industry as a career. One unfortunate bellwether is the attendance rates at culinary and restaurant schools. For example, the esteemed, 40-year old New England Culinary Institute closed its doors last year for lack of attendance.?

My firm, One Degree Coaching, has been working on a recruiting attraction initiative called Employer of Choice. We have partnered with Drexel University and several Philadelphia-based hospitality companies to attack what we believe to be the root of the problem: manager training. There is no doubt that a significant part of the solution to the recruiting dilemma for the hospitality industry is building better workplace cultures. Creating a culture is one step in the right direction, but managers drive and maintain cultures. Cultivating a positive culture is a complex, learned skill set.?

Meanwhile, think about your best boss ever. It is a widely accepted notion that employees don’t quit jobs; they quit people. Therefore, employee retention has never been more crucial. If turnover is an issue in your organization, what are the causes? Google “why is everyone quitting their job 2021,” and you will find a dizzying array of statistics and theories on this trend. It still comes down to how employees are treated.

My best boss ever had a combination of several traits that kept me engaged and happy at work. At the time, I wasn’t 100% fond of this individual, but in retrospect, she had an uncanny ability to connect to people and help them grow. She was brutally honest with me. She inspired me. I trusted her. She loved what she was doing, and that was fun to be around. She challenged me and took risks with me. She was a natural leader.?

Unfortunately, “natural leaders” aren’t a common occurrence. I believe that leadership isn’t natural at all. Humans are wired for survival, and that natural mechanism makes us uncanny at detecting threats but, unfortunately, not at nurturing beyond our immediate, close relationships. We are wired to treat casual acquaintances (like employees) as “others,” not with empathy or caring. Hence, the concept of “the boss.”?

My “best boss ever” combined an ability to connect and build trust with her team while setting clear expectations of our performance. It was a great work environment. The only requirement for membership in this wonderful organization was a desire to be better and be open to feedback. There were no codified values or mission statements, but we all knew how our culture worked. As a result, we were quite a team. We grew each day, had a blast, and worked like a well-oiled machine.?

Unfortunately, this is was not a common experience in my 40-year career.? That is because effective leadership must be taught, but it rarely is. I was never formally taught to be a leader. Then, about 25 years ago, someone tossed me a copy of The One Minute Manager, which started a journey of discovery. Twelve years ago, we established a system for training managers on how to be better leaders.?

The One Degree methodology is modeled after my experiences with good and bad leadership (including my own) and my studies of human nature. It is now more evident than ever: find people who share a common vision with you, set common goals, and help each other grow. Then, you can learn to be the “best boss ever.”?