Finding Leadership: 10 Qualities of Great Bosses

I’m writing because I hear many stories about terrible bosses. Leadership is such an important part of your professional success. A good boss can make or break your career. Being a strong leader is a heavy responsibility.

And I have a degree in leadership. Not bragging, I’ve always found leadership psychology fascinating.

What makes a good leader? Are they born or made? What qualities do people look for in a good boss?

Let’s jump back a few years. I’m with my DaVita Team.We’re in Denver. The weather is a bit gloomy like I like it. This workshop is all about becoming better leaders.

“You aren’t the leader you think you are, but the leader you are perceived to be.” Ricardo, my previous Operations Director walks us through the workshop presentation.

He showed us how your thoughts of how you are as a leader are subjective and bias. Do you have feedback to frame your perceptions? Do you have data? What are the facts about your leadership skills?

You can’t argue with reality. And sometimes that reality takes a bit of analysis to accurately define.

What’s more important that your perception, is the real experience your team has of your leadership style.

What’s critical here — and I see people miss the mark on this all the time, is that we are setting aside time, face-to-face to examine and improve on a skill.

So many people will complain about something; either it’s an aspect they dislike about themselves or a problem with their employees or boss, but whatever that THING is, it’s left to die as a complaint without any real action or improvement.

More often, people don’t lean the fuck in and own that shit.

If it’s important, work on improving it. Read a book, take a workshop, find a mentor, do SOMETHING to level it up. Especially if you know there’s a problem.

My leadership program at WGU had a few core frameworks we relied on constantly. One of those artifacts is this list of 10 qualities modern workers rated for great bosses:

• Self-Confidence — Does your body language show confidence? Are you comfortable relying on your wisdom and skills?
• Humility — Do you approach life as a lifelong learner? Do you share success with your team?
• Self-Evaluator — Do you make time to ask: “What’s my role in this?” Do you evaluate your approach and success? Can people see you improving?
• Trustworthiness — Do you trust your team? Can they trust you and your integrity? How will you build that trust?
• Sense of Humor — Can you laugh at the tough stuff? Can you find something funny to crack a smile with your team?
• Authenticity — Do you open up and share who you are with your team? Do you share the tough stuff with other people?
• Enthusiasm, optimism, warmth — Do you smile? Do you look at life with a glass half-full mentality? Does your language convey positivity?
• Assertiveness — Do you stand up for your own or other people’s rights in a calm and positive way, without being either aggressive, or passively accepting ‘wrong’.
• Extraversion — Do you ask questions and show interest in the lives of others? Does your leadership style build stronger relationships?

JK Rowling once said “I believe in hard work and luck, and that the first often leads to the second.” Hard work doesn’t simply translate as: Get your Starbucks, show up at the office, work your ass off. It’s much more than that.

It entails working hard on yourself. From this lens, I’m talking about cultivating your leadership qualities.

Do you have these qualities? How would you rate yourself in each? Cindy, one of my early-career managers asked me: “Would you work for you?”

Honestly, at the time that answer was hell no. I was so high-strung. I was 22 and could run circles around most of the colleagues on work assignments. I was also not a great leader. I was too hard on my team. I put way too much pressure on them and treated them more like slaves than teammates.

It took a long time and a lot of work to take a step back, recognize my shortcomings, and develop both short and long-term growth strategies.

If you struggle with some of these aspects, here’s a great resource: Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors.

Other Effective Tips and Techniques:

• Ask a friend to role play specific scenarios which will help improve your approach and confidence going forward.
• Check out some Ted Talks on Leadership.
• Take an online test to understand your personality traits.
• Keep a leadership / growth journal to track your progress. Evernote works too.
• Ask for feedback from your team or trusted friends: What could I do to improve on this thing?
• After handling challenging situations ask yourself: What did I learn from this? What would I do differently to improve?

I hope this helps and would love to hear about your personal experiences with leadership.

Until next time,

-R