By Victor Assad.

Perhaps you missed it, as I almost did, but it was bosses’ day last week. There were plenty of articles  on what gift to give your boss, and some of my clients asked me the same question.

I found this amusing. In my days as a boss, I was frequently thought about how to recognize my employees for their efforts and success, and sometimes just to let them know that I “saw” them.  On the other hand, I did not like receiving gifts from individual employees. It made me feel uncomfortable and suspicious. (What is this employee up to?) On the other hand, the team giving me a gift touched me deeply.

Bosses’ recognition is important for employees. It clarifies and reinforces good behaviors and outcomes, which makes employees feel not only part of the team but also successful. Success generates its own energy.

Middle management has always been a difficult role, sandwiched between the strategies and demands of top management, who often have too many priorities, and creating a healthy work environment for employees who are feeling the highest levels of stress. It is a difficult job. Being able to give effective recognition is only one of many traits’ bosses need to have.

Our research at InnovationOne, shows the following nine traits to be emblematic of a good boss:

No. 1. Constantly communicates: Whether it’s offering new information about goals, roles, or operating norms, the effective boss is always communicating. Today’s workplace is continually changing and there is constant pressure to improve efficiency all while implementing the latest digital technology. Managers need to continually update their teams with new information and goals and make sense of the changes to their teams.

No. 2. Treats their employees with respect and builds trust: Research from many other organizations points out that mutual respect and building trust are often an effective manager’s top trait.

No. 3. Knows the skills and abilities of their employees. InnovationOne’s research shows that when managers know the skills and abilities of each employee and gives them opportunities to demonstrate these skills, employee motivation and loyalty goes up. Managers can get started identifying the skills, abilities and career ambitions of each employee by holding engagement interviews. They are easy to hold but require courage as they require honest feedback from the employee. Effective managers meet with each employee and ask the following questions:

  • What do you like most about your job?
  • Like least?
  • What would you change if you could?
  • What do you believe are your strengths?
  • Development areas?
  • What do you want to be doing in three years? Five years?
  • How are we doing? Is there anything you would like me to change? Let the employee know what you can commit to changing.

No. 4. Encourages employees to make suggestions: An organization’s employees have many of the solutions to the opportunities and challenges facing the organization. They need to be given permission to ask questions and recommend solutions, with their solutions, whether accepted or not. And they need to be treated with respect.

No. 5 Allows time to innovate: Most employees have more work than they can complete in a workday. So dedicated work on innovation projects allows for the allocation of time (and resources).

No. 6. Encourages constructive conflict, debate, and problem solving while assuring collaboration. Our research shows that without a vigorous debate based on facts and different expert perspectives, organizations fail to identify their best solutions. Other researchers, such as INSEAD have identified the same traits. The catch is to have vigorous, fact-based debate while maintaining mutual respect and trust.

No. 7. Has an open door and provides resources to overcome obstacles. Productivity improvements and innovative breakthroughs seldom happen without access to experts and resources outside of the immediate team, whether in the organization or from an external expert. Managers need to open those doors for their teams.

No. 8. Reinforces and rewards innovation. Discussed at the beginning of this post.

No. 9.  Measures progress, provides feedback, and manages performance. Without excellent measures, timelines and metrics, and feedback, teams will not know if they are making real progress or just spinning their wheels.

In our fast-changing world, great bosses can be hard to come by. And when you have one, they are certainly worth celebrating.

About InnovationOne®, LLC.

InnovationOne®, LLC helps organizations worldwide build a culture of innovation and make it sustainable. InnovationOne® uses a scientifically developed assessment to measure, benchmark, and improve your company’s culture and capability to innovate and enjoy better outcomes and financial results. We have conducted research with The Conference Board and the US Department of Energy. Companies scoring in the top quartile of our InnovationOne Culture Index© reported higher financial performance than bottom quartile performers by as much as 22 percent. US Department of Energy labs scoring high on our assessment can have up to 3x higher performance over the lower scoring labs. Measure and ignite your culture of innovation.