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How to Be a Better Boss

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;dreamstimefree&lowbar;71764&period;jpg" width&equals;"564" height&equals;"423" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Being the boss is harder than it looks&period; Not only are you responsible for measurable outcomes&comma; but you also have to effectively manage employees with different abilities and personalities&period; Whether you&&num;8217&semi;re new at supervising employees or an experienced manager hoping to improve your skills&comma; read on for tips for being a better boss&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Make Expectations Clear<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Employees aren&&num;8217&semi;t mind readers&period; What may seem obvious to you may not be so obvious to an employee&comma; particularly a new hire&period; Make responsibilities clear and if you have additional expectations&comma; such as filling in for absent employees&comma; make those clear as well&period; Procedures should be clearly outlined&comma; preferably in writing so that the employee can reference them at any time instead of having to ask someone&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s much easier to be upfront with an employee than to be angry or passive aggressive when they don&&num;8217&semi;t live up to your expectations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Give Constructive Feedback<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Feedback and criticism should be constructive and help the employee improve&period; Proper feedback is clear about problems and potential solutions&period; Bad feedback is simply critical without any specifics or tips for improvement&period; Criticism should be balanced with praise&comma; because it&&num;8217&semi;s likely your employee has good qualities as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Don&&num;8217&semi;t Micromanage<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>If you hire the right people&comma; make expectations clear and give constructive feedback&comma; you shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t need to micromanage&period; Micromanaged employees are likely to feel resentment and even anxiety&comma; which can negatively impact performance&period; When employees feel some sense of autonomy they&&num;8217&semi;re not only happier but more productive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Be Consistent<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Consistency is important when following and enforcing policies and procedures&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s fine to make exceptions occasionally&comma; but don&&num;8217&semi;t do it so much that you confuse your employees or cause resentment&period; Be consistent with feedback and do what you say you&&num;8217&semi;re going to do&period; Consistency is crucial to earning the respect of your employees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Show Appreciation<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Your employees can make your job much easier and can make you look good to your superiors&period; Therefore&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s important to show appreciation when an employee or team does a good job&period; Praise can motivate employees to do their best because they know you&&num;8217&semi;ll appreciate it&period; If you never give recognition&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;re employees may just do the minimum required to get by because they don&&num;8217&semi;t feel appreciated and assume you aren&&num;8217&semi;t paying attention&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Don&&num;8217&semi;t Ignore Problems<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Many managers choose to ignore issues hoping that they&&num;8217&semi;ll resolve themselves&comma; but instead of going away they usually get bigger&period; Address issues head-on&comma; whether they be interpersonal issues or complications with a project&period; Problem employees and interpersonal conflicts are the most commonly ignored issues&comma; and the most difficult to address&period; However&comma; as the boss&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s your responsibility to stop them before they get worse and hamper productivity or employee morale&period; Good <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;must-have-interpersonal-communication-skills&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">interpersonal skills<&sol;a> are a must-have if you wish to be an effective manager&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To an employee&comma; the boss has an easy job &&num;8211&semi; sit back and let the employees do all the work while collecting a fat paycheck&period; But once you sit in the boss&&num;8217&semi;s chair&comma; you realize how difficult it is to manage both employees and business operations&period; The best managers earn the respect of their employees by taking an active part in their employees&&num;8217&semi; work and taking action even when it&&num;8217&semi;s difficult&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Andrea: