Be the Boss People Want to Work for

Key Takeaways

• To be a good boss, one needs important leadership skills.
• There are three major categories of leadership skills: self-leadership, relational skills and stewardship.

It’s National Boss’s Day! This is a time for employees to show appreciation for their managers. The chances are not all employees truly want to celebrate this day because not all of them are satisfied with their bosses.

Yes, being a boss is not easy.

Other than the constant needs of making tough and, sometimes, quick decisions for the organization and individuals, he/she has to frequently deal with interpersonal and intergroup relational issues. Not to mention the impending deadlines of their own projects/tasks that are key to his/her performance.

Despite this complicated and difficult work, the boss’s endeavors may not be appreciated by the people because of the lack of important leadership skills.[i] Being a leader is not only about using official authority to get the work done; it is also about being a role model, fair and trustworthy, motivating to one’s self and others to achieve goals, guiding the unit through the complicated intergroup relationships and communicating the personal and organizational values to the followers.

According to the BUILD leadership model, there are three main categories of leadership skills: self-leadership, relational skills and stewardship.

• Self-leadership is about gaining full knowledge about yourself and using it to self-motivate in achieving goals.
• Relational skills involve managing the complicated relationships with and among others in the organization.
• Stewardship includes higher levels of organizational skills, such as creating and communicating organizational visions, cultivating managerial wisdom and being strategic.

It can be a long journey for any manager to fully develop these skills, but it is never too late to start working on them. Be the boss people want to work for.

References 

[i] Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership Quarterly, 24, 270-283.

Dumdum, U. R., Lowe, K. B., & Avolio, B. J. (2013). A meta-analysis of transformational and transactional leadership correlates of effectiveness and satisfaction: An update and extension. In Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. 39-70). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.