6 Qualities of a Good Boss

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StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article | Leadership | 6 Qualities of a Good BossIt is easy to distinguish what makes a bad boss, but describing what makes a good one can be difficult, with many bosses being mediocre. Why is it important that you be a good boss, though?

Lack of employee satisfaction may force good workers to leave and provide a bad reputation for both your company and you, as the boss. Online forums and discussions make it extremely easy for businesses to be bad-mouthed and can damage the perception of potential new employees and customers. Therefore, it’s important to learn that whatever happens in the office doesn’t necessarily stay in the office.

A boss should boost productivity and create a work environment that encourages employees to enjoy their working life, rather than turning up as a matter of need’s must. Being a boss does not solely mean you need to focus on the work being done and produced, in fact, it is much more valuable for bosses to concentrate on their employees instead.

If you are concerned about whether your employees view you as a good boss, here are some useful qualities that you should aim to work towards.

1. Creates a positive workplace culture

Every employee within your firm is there to ensure your business is a success; therefore, potential new candidates shouldn’t be disregarded when it comes to their race or disability. Invite them to an interview and acknowledge what they can bring to the table, as well as asking if they may have any needs for a safer and more positive work environment.

An approachable boss should instill an ‘open door policy’ so that employees can ask to talk at any given moment and feel comfortable to have a discussion about any issues or concerns within the workplace. Doing so means that issues are ironed out, so positivity can be increased, meaning greater employee satisfaction.

2. Sets clear performance expectations

Reduce the level of employee stress by setting clear goals and expectations of what you would like your employees to achieve on a daily basis. When they have little understanding of what they need to do, it can often lead to decreased productivity throughout the entire office. The boss should have a one-to-one discussion each day with the employee; whether it be face-to-face or via email and set out clear guidelines of the tasks that need to be completed and how they can do so.

3. Nurtures development

Many young professionals are keen on the idea of moving forward within a company and will often only apply for a role if the job advert specifies that there is an opportunity for training and promotion in the future.

A boss who allows employees to work within other sectors or on more complex will make their employees feel far more appreciated by their leader, rather than being managed by an individual who doesn’t have their best interests at heart. There are many ways in which training can be achieved while holding down a job; whether it be practical day courses or long-term degrees which can be studied flexibly online in their own time. An engineering firm, for example, may decide to invest in their employees to enroll onto an electrical engineering online degree which teaches Bachelor’s level engineering graduates a vast amount of new skills and will enhance personal development and opportunity for career progression.

4. Praises employees

According to a study conducted in early 2017, 35% of employees in workplaces stated that one of the biggest hinderances in workplace productivity was failing to be praised for their achievements. If you don’t praise your employees enough, now would be a good time to start.

In order for your team to work well for you and reach their full potential, you need to be in keeping with each employee’s goals and achievements so that they can be rewarded for good work. Praising employees may also mean that you will retain good talent within your company rather than facing a high-turnover of staff, which can waste both time and money.

There are many ways you can praise your employees; whether it be a simple yet personal ‘thank you’ card, a financial bonus added onto their paycheck or a voucher for their favorite store.

5. Provides feedback

There are some instances when you need to be upfront about an employee’s performance, and one way of doing so constructively would be by providing feedback. Acknowledge when employees are doing a good job and where key improvements may lie.

It is often the case when employees don’t even realize they aren’t meeting the requirements unless they are discovered to have been completing work wrongly by chance. Feedback, however, can be achieved through regular coaching, in which meetings should be held on a monthly or quarterly basis for an in-depth discussion on how they can improve and what to work towards.

6. Builds up trust

There is nothing worse than a boss who doesn’t hold the trust of their employees. Therefore, you should always aim to get on their level and build a personal connection with each of them. Establishing trust ensures successful communication, greater engagement, and better job performance.

One way to build trust is to display honesty, even if there is bad news to share – no-one likes to be lied to, especially when it comes to the status of their job position or job performance.

You should treat all employees fairly and judge each individual based on their actions. Never feel threatened by those who shout louder. As the boss of the company, you should be able to stand your ground and ensure that everyone gets fair treatment.

One of key ways of building a trusting relationship is to show an understanding when it comes to difficulties in their personal life and ask if all is okay if you happen to notice that they are performing poorer than usual. Insist that you are always available to talk to and that help is at hand if needed. Expressing your own vulnerabilities not only allows you to build up a more human relationship with each of your employees but will establish yourself as a mentor that they confide in.

Ethical Viewpoints & Environmental Investments: Helping Your Business Profit Emotionally (Without Wasting Profit)

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Business Management | Ethical Viewpoints & Environmental Investments: Helping Your Business Profit Emotionally (Without Wasting Profit)For every business leader out there, it can feel like stepping into the unknown from time to time, whether we believe we are making wise investments or not. Sometimes we forge a path all of our own, but sometimes we go with the grain. As far as the modern industries are concerned, money is tight, yet we are still expected to comply with numerous rules and regulations. Our carbon footprint is one of those common examples that we have to adhere to by implementing the most environmentally-friendly processes, but these come at a cost. With this in mind, are there any ways for us to embody a more ethical outlook while also keeping our finances down?

Making The Right Investments

We are told to minimize our paper usage, maximize our recycling, and ensure that our digital carbon footprint doesn’t go over a certain amount. In many ways, this is asking you to do contradictory things, but this is where you have to find the lesser of evils. The best place to begin is by looking at your business and how compliant it is from an ethical standpoint. If recycling hasn’t been a priority, and you want to rectify this, it’s a very simple change. You can buy a product like this one, the BearSaver – Mini Depot Recycling Enclosure which has individual compartments for plastic, mixed recycling, glass, or landfill. It’s a fairly simple starting point, but it gets the message across. Because improving your carbon footprint is a long journey, it’s far better for you to start by assessing where you’re falling down and getting the basics right.

Encouraging Employees To Take Responsibility

If we encourage employees to take responsibility for their work, then it’s not a big leap to encourage them to be responsible for their carbon footprint. Of course, we can’t force them to do this, but by providing them with the facts, and giving them the opportunity to realize what their individual impact is, such as by a carbon footprint calculator, it will make them think twice about what they’re doing and how their approach hinders the planet.

Finding The Right Ways To Give Back

And for those employees that believe the message of saving the planet to be “preachy” or that we’re forcing these things upon them unfairly, we have to lead by example. Giving back doesn’t have to be complex. For example, if you are a business that uses a lot of paper, and you are trying desperately to change this, by starting to plant trees, it’s a small gesture that can go a long way. From there, you can start to build up initiatives like cycling to work or encouraging certain employees to use public transport, we can feel more content that we are doing the right thing.

Some are sick to the teeth of rules and regulations, especially when it comes to the environment and carbon footprint, but we still need to push forward with this. For those companies that don’t think about it, you’ll soon see that your customers won’t align with your ethical viewpoints or you may have financial penalties. Either way, maybe it’s time to do your bit?

Four Meaningful Careers and How to Start Them

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Career Development |Four Meaningful Careers and How to Start ThemConsidering your future in the world of work, it’s not uncommon to find yourself utterly bewildered by the sheer quantity and diversity of roles available in the job market. Many of these roles require training or qualifications, which constitute a large investment of both your time and money. To ensure that you’re working towards a career that’s meaningful and wholesome, it’s best to choose wisely from an early stage in your working life in order for you to always get the most out of your working life, enjoying every day you spend in the job. Below are four ideas help you select a meaningful career.

Journalism

Speaking truth to power and making public issues that ought to be, journalism has always been regarded as a noble and esteemed vocation. While the pay doesn’t necessarily reflect the hours you put in, the variety, excitement and fast-paced action is what attracts people to the world of journalism. There simply isn’t a comparable job that’ll keep you curious and on your toes for decades. To get into journalism, you’ll need to read and write extensively, and you’ll benefit from a degree or qualification in the discipline.

Teaching

Another esteemed and well-regarded job, teaching is seen as one of the most rewarding and varied vocations out there. Again, you’ll need to complete courses of training in your desired discipline – whether that’s primary-age teaching or higher education lecturing – and you’ll need to feel confident in the materials that you teach. As well as transferring knowledge to the younger generation, you’ll also be a role model for hundreds, maybe thousands of children over your long career. That’s where you really extract meaning – and pride – from your day-to-day job.

Nursing

Giving care is often lauded as one of the most compassionate and meaningful jobs in the world, and it’s no wonder, really. You turn up to work with the sole purpose of making life easier, more comfortable and more enjoyable for those under your care. It’s relatively simple to convert your caregiving tendencies into a nursing qualification – simply find online Nurse Practitioner programs in Virginia to see if you’re eligible to take up a course and build the necessary skills to take to the hospital floors with a wisdom that’ll only grow as you care for patients in need throughout your life.

Public Service

A wide range of jobs fall under the ‘public service’ umbrella. Those include the emergency services – everything from ambulance drivers to firefighters and the police – through to the military, the civil service, and other public office roles. Whatever you feel most drawn towards, you’ll always be happy in the knowledge that your job is serving your community and your nation – a source of pride and meaning that’ll guide you to success in your vocation. Naturally, the wide range of job opportunities in the public sphere require a wide range of qualifications – but some, like policing and the military, take those without formal qualifications.

The four jobs listed above should give you adequate thinking space to consider your next move into a career that is truly meaningful: day-in, day-out.

How Business Coaching Can Boost Your Profits

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Business Coach | How Business Coaching Can Boost Your ProfitsIn addition to all the practical aspects of running a business, entrepreneurs are also human beings with problems just like everyone else. These issues may start to affect how well you run your business, or make it hard for you to see where you’re going wrong and what you need to do to correct it. This weakness can become a new business venture for yourself if you take up coaching on the side.
Business coaching is about combining the analysis of the business and how well it’s performing with an appraisal of a client’s thought processes, beliefs, and emotions, and then discovering how one is affecting the other. Sometimes business owners are their own worst enemies, and by pointing out the effect their actions are having a business coach can make a tremendous difference to their personal happiness as well as their profitability.

Accounts analysis

Most accountants will go through accounts at least to some degree with their clients, explaining what the figures mean and how well the business is performing overall. However, as a coach you could be doing far more. Accounting software can produce such detailed and precise reports and forecasts that it’s a waste not to make use of them. You can spot where prices should be changed to maximize profits, lines to drop, lines to expand, and a wealth of valuable information that would increase profitability quite significantly. Rather than just filing your completed accounts, a good business coach could dig deeper into the data and show them where they could be taking action to reduce costs and increase net profits.

Marketing advice

Business owners often struggle with the marketing side of their business. They might have a great product at a perfect price, and still be making little in the way of profit because no-one knows they exist. There are so many elements involved in running a successful marketing campaign, and the tactics that would be best for one business may not be as effective as for another. A good business coach can combine the analysis of a client’s accounts with a forecast illustrating the potential benefits of making changes to your marketing strategy.

Time management

Managing time is critical if you’re to maximize the influence you have on the fundamental workings of your business. It’s not always easy to see where you’re wasting time in your own daily routine, but as a business coach can spot all the ways in which your client could gain time and avoid spending it on tasks they don’t need to.

For example, if they are managing their own website maintenance and backups, as a coach you could point out the advantages of using a managed hosting service like Onyx.io, which would free your client from the bind of performing routine tasks like backing up their site, as well as improving the security. Identifying how they can manage their day more efficiently could not only save them a great deal of time, but improve their working life, as they will be able to focus their attention on more interesting issues like marketing campaigns.

A good business coach is one that helps support a business’ process and its people, making it a very profitable career to get into.

To Create Radical Outcomes – Make Sure Every Output Has A Purpose

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StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article | Business Outcomes | To Create Radical Outcomes - Make Sure Every Output Has A PurposeIn many work situations, random things are created because people are not focused on a specific outcome. They do things, launch programs, take actions, but they have no business outcome in mind.

The problem usually occurs, because people don’t understand the difference between an outcome and an output. There is a BIG difference between the two. In our work with clients, we have found that these two ideas are often misunderstood. The “stuff” people create does not, in itself, constitute an outcome for the business. Every email, meeting, presentation, or experience that they create is just one thing by itself. It’s an output. But if they know what outcome they are trying to achieve, then all of the outputs become vehicles to drive the desired outcome.

Outcomes keep everyone focused on what’s most important for an organization and provide a way to measure whether they’ve achieved a desired result. Put another way: if you can’t connect your work and your outputs to a measurable result and outcome, then you shouldn’t be doing it at all.

Maintaining an Outcome-Based Mindset

An outcome-based mindset leads people to focus on results first, and outputs or actions second. When they identify the desired business result(s) first, they can then identify the tasks necessary to achieve them. For example, a salesperson for a large technology business, who is accustomed to orchestrating deals with a Chief Information Officer (CIO), would head into the first call thinking about how to have a conversation about the CIO’s role, challenges, and pressures she is facing, so that she finds value in the conversation and agrees to another meeting to explore how his company can help her. To be prepared for that outcome which will then lead to the larger outcome of making a sale, the salesperson has to be conversant in the CIO’s business. He’ll have to do some planning to learn about what other opportunities or contracts are already in play between the two entities. He’ll need to research where some of her challenges might be coming from, by reading annual reports. Some of those steps may lead to outputs — a discussion document or a whiteboard, for example.

But the outcome — agree to another meeting, to move a potential opportunity forward, to reach a shared vision of how his solutions can address her problems, is always what that salesperson has in mind. Focus on the wrong thing—such as selling her something she doesn’t need or spending too much time talking about his company or products—and she’ll become annoyed and feel like her time is being wasted. The outcome then becomes unreachable. When people are outcome-based, they always have the bigger picture in mind. Always. They make decisions about outputs and tasks based on whether or not they move them forward toward the outcome.

Maintaining a Group Output Mindset

Thinking in an outcome-based way can be an individual mindset, but it also can be a group mindset. It can even be an organizational or functional mindset. We believe strongly that having an outcome-based mindset is what makes all the difference in the work we do with our clients. The specific, measurable outcome becomes the north star that always helps us navigate.

Winning with Radical Outcomes

It’s arguable that there are many types of outcomes in business. The salesperson example shows outcome-based thinking for a single large deal.

And while a single large deal is great for that salesperson, there’s nothing radical about such an isolated example. By itself it doesn’t produce a major business impact. But what if someone could help 50 salespeople learn how to think and plan the way he did with the CIO? And 50 salespeople started closing large deals, repeatedly and consistently, because they knew how to have valuable conversations with their customers? Or 500 salespeople?

Radical Outcomes are tied to complex, high-stakes initiatives that yield tangible results. Examples include increased retention rates, improved acquisition rates, increased revenue, reduced costs, process improvements or efficiencies, increased profitability, increased word of mouth, increased conversion rates, and more upsell and cross-sell opportunities. These are or should all be measurable and quantifiable.

Here are the basic criteria that differentiate a Radical Outcome from something that is just run of the mill.

Executive Level, Cross Functional Stakeholders are involved. To drive change in the business where the impact is truly felt by customers, executive sponsorship is needed, usually because there will be so many different groups involved in working toward the outcome that it requires someone at the executive or business unit level of an organization to provide the endorsement of the initiative.

Results are achieved over time. Every executive wants change to happen “yesterday,” yet even so, it takes time for an organization to adapt and change, especially when the change itself is radical. Urgency defines the need for these changes, even ones that seem impossible to make. Most executives therefore expect to see roadmaps or plans that show how a change will take place, and they also expect to see consistent progress toward the outcome.

Results must be measurable and tied to the outcome. One of the most difficult things we’ve seen when clients are facing Radical Outcomes is determining what to measure so that progress can be conveyed against the outcome. Knowing that a change won’t happen overnight is one important guideline. Knowing what to measure and in what time frame are two additional guidelines.

The good thing about setting these guidelines? You can show the impact of what you have created. You can also more readily and accurately identify gaps and make the changes needed, quickly, in an agile manner, to meet the business outcome.
Radical outcomes actually make common sense and are comprised of tangible results. They’re the product of scope and scale, and something the executive level group is constantly envisioning. Imagine what would happen within your organization if you started having conversations about Radical Outcomes instead of just creating more stuff.

About the Author

Juliana Stancampiano, author of RADICAL OUTCOMES: How To Create Extraordinary Teams That Get Tangible Results is an entrepreneur and the CEO of Oxygen. For more than fifteen years, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies, both in them and for them. Her firm’s clients include Microsoft, DXC, Delta Dental (of WA), Starbucks, F5 Networks, Avaya, and Western Digital, among others. Her in-depth experience, along with the research that Oxygen conducts and the articles she has published, has helped to shape the perspective that Oxygen embraces. To learn more, visit: www.oxygenexp.com.