Everybody Deserves a Great Leader

Thanks to all of you who read, shared, liked or commented on my recent Linked In Pulse article, ‘The Extraordinary Impact of a Best Boss’. I was gratified to receive such a nice response and would like to continue the conversation.

A while back I was having a meeting with Carol, Senior HR VP for a large financial institution. We were discussing the leadership challenges in her organization and during the conversation I asked her to share her personal Best Boss story with me. After a very poignant reflection about a special person in her life, I inquired how many of her senior leaders possessed the qualities of her Best Boss. After thinking about it for a few seconds she answered, “One … and everyone would like to work for him”. 

That was an interesting comment on the state of leadership at Carol’s company. Unfortunately, based on my experience, Carol’s remark could apply to lots of organizations. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who has told me that their company needs to be better at people leadership.

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to lead leadership discussions with a variety of audiences. One of the first things I do with a group is to ask them if they have ever had a Best Boss. It’s a sweet question because it gets people engaged right away. Most people will recount one, and only one, specific individual who they would say possessed the full array of our five Best Boss behavioral characteristics (for those of you needing a quick tutorial, our five Best Boss characteristics are Leading from A Higher Purpose, Activating Potential, Granting Autonomy, Providing Pervasive Feedback and Encouraging Learning through Risk Taking). And usually around 10% of the group will reluctantly admit that they have never worked for anyone with these special qualities. One of my former colleagues, a very accomplished professional, once told me that he has never had the opportunity to work for a leader like this anytime during his career. For a couple of reasons, this really bothers him. First, he missed out on the enjoyable and inspiring ‘in the moment’ experience of working for someone great. But secondly, and perhaps more troubling to him, was the fact that he didn’t get the long term and cumulative benefit of learning from a leader who brought out the best in him.  

It’s disappointing that there aren’t a lot of leaders around who possess the Best Boss characteristics. But what’s really disturbing is the number of bad bosses out there. And they can really wreak havoc in our professional and personal lives.

In April, 2015, Gallup released a study finding that about 50% of the 7,200 adults surveyed quit their job to get away from a bad boss. This is nothing new for Gallup who has regularly found bad managers as the top reason people quit their job. Think about that the next time you contemplate your organization’s engagement scores and retention numbers. In an earlier survey, Gallup determined that poorly managed work groups are on average 50% less productive and 44% less profitable than well-managed groups. Another study, this one by Ernest and Young released this year, indicated that 50% of American workers do not trust their direct manager, which again leads to engagement and retention issues.

And the effect of a bad boss goes well beyond the workplace. It can impact us personally as well. A 2014 Washington Post article entitled “Is Your Boss Making You Sick?”, cited a Swedish study that showed men who rated their managers as good, i.e. those who were considerate, provided information, gave regular feedback and provided an autonomous space to work, had at least a 20% lower risk of developing heart disease than those who rated their manager’s poor on the same such attributes. Not surprisingly, people often find that their boss causes the most stress on the job which might explain an online survey of 1,118 people done by Badbossology.com that found fully half of us would fire our own bosses if we could.

Really, nothing is more intolerable than working for a miserable boss. On the other hand, nothing is more elevating than working for someone great. When I think about my own personal Best Boss, he not only impacted my work and career, but more importantly, he made my whole life brighter.

I often wonder what would happen if working for someone great was not the exception in our working lives but the rule. I also wonder why more organizations don’t expect their leaders to inspire, teach and engage. What if an organization committed to a value proposition that promised just one thing - that their employees would always work for someone great? Amazing things might just happen.

And that’s what we saw with our Best Boss study, as evidenced by the following quote from a survey respondent:  

“Thank you!! He made me a better person... not just a better leader. He made me learn how much more people can do when they feel supported and appreciated. Far more importantly, he made me a better wife, mother, daughter, and friend by sharing his contagious love of life. He taught me to take chances, celebrate success, and appreciate that if I don't make mistakes, I'm not challenging myself enough! I have never worked harder or had more challenging successes than when I worked for (my Best Boss). I gave him and the organization 150% if not more.”

The idealist in me would like to see every leader have this kind of an impact on the people who work for them. In reality I know that not everyone has the capacity to lead this way. And not every relationship can blossom into a Best Boss experience. People and organizational life are just too complicated. But don’t you think that everyone who has been given the special opportunity to lead others should always aspire to lead well? After all, we deserve it, don't we?

May all the leaders in your life be great!

Please share your comments and thoughts on this article or my previous article, The Extraordinary Impact of a Great Boss.

If you would like to share your personal Best Boss story, please go my blog, https://yourbestboss.wordpress.com/; and click on ‘Share Your Best Boss Story’