WRITTEN BY KATE FINAN, CO-OWNER OF BOOM BOX POST
I went back and forth about whether to write this post. I hope that I’m a good boss, but I’ll leave that to those who work with me here at Boom Box post. But, I can say with certainty that I’m always trying to become a better boss.
Management is often something that people get thrown into if they’re good at their job, sometimes with little training, But, in my opinion, managing others should be given just as much focus as your other duties. It is an area that I’m constantly working to improve because I know that my attitude, behavior, and communication can have such an immense impact on the lives of those who work under me. I’ve learned a lot of great lessons over the years about what to do and what not to do when managing a team.
This sounds like a post that will really only be applicable to a handful of people who are in upper management positions. But, if you really think about it, you don’t need to own a company to be a boss. You just need to be someone who leads others in the course of their work from time to time. Maybe you are sometimes assigned to head a project. Maybe you freelance and bring on other help as needed from time to time. Or maybe you’re an engineer and sometimes have an assistant help you with sessions. Whatever your situation, you may not be the boss. But, chances are you have the opportunity to make someone else’s work experience better or worse through your leadership from time to time.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the years:
Before offering criticism or asking someone to redo their work, always make a point to ask yourself, “Do I not like this because it’s different than what I would do? Or do I not like it because it’s wrong/bad?”
If the answer is that it’s unequivocally wrong or bad, then by all means, correct the person politely. Offer to show them how to do it better next time, or give specific direction on how to fix it this time. But if the answer is that it’s good enough, but just different, move on. No commentary necessary. We’re all different people and we all take on challenges in different ways. Part of being on a team is the wonderful nature of seeing how others tackle a problem differently than you. Delegation is all about letting someone else do a job their own way. Sometimes you’ll be surprised when they do it even better than you would have (albeit differently).
Give people a task with a clear outline of expectations and a specific due date/time. Then set them free to go about their business.
They don’t need you watching over them or micromanaging them to death. No one performs their best while living in terror that they’ll be caught taking a two minute Instagram break. If the results don’t stack up to your expectations, deal with it then (see above first, though). Everyone deserves respect and the assumption that they’re a kick ass team member until they prove you wrong. This also breeds confidence and often achieves much better results than if you train people to never do anything without checking with you first or getting every exact detail spelled out for them. We all have our own talents, and you need to give people the freedom to use theirs.
If someone does something that you feel isn’t up to standards, let them know what you would like to see instead and then move on.
If you stew about it and then just wait to see how many more times they do the same thing, you’re just going to keep being annoyed. But, if you tell the person after one time, you give them the opportunity to fix it immediately. And then you’ve just saved yourself from being angry all the time. Giving clear expectations right away solves 95% of all issues immediately, in my humble opinion. Most people want to please. Sometimes, they just need to be told how to do it.
When issues arise, always focus on best practices moving forward instead of what was done wrong in the past.
No one wants to have their boss give them a laundry list about everything they’ve ever done wrong (or honestly even a convo about one thing done wrong would be too much for many people). But, a casual “Hey, I noticed that you used clip gain on all of your backgrounds on this episode. No need to change this one, but for future ones, would you mind switching over to using the volume bars?” is way better than “Don’t ever use clip gain again! Now my mix will take hours longer than usual.” This seems like a small tweak, but pretty much no one feels comfortable with having their flaws exposed. But all of us love a positive goal to strive for in the future. (Fun side note, I use this with my kids and it works wonders. Trying not to say “no” or “don’t” and instead just telling them what you do want always has great results. A toddler will completely ignore “Don’t color on the wall!” but will gladly accept “Let’s color on this piece of paper!”)
Do not address issues, no matter how casually, in a public forum.
It’s always best to keep anything that could feel like a criticism or even lead to a criticism in a private chat or in-person conversation. Don’t even ask a question that could lead to an embarrassing answer (like an admission of falling short of expectations like a deadline) in a public space. The question itself may not be private or embarrassing. But if the response or ensuing follow-up convo turns out to be, then it’s still on you. Even if you then take it to a private space, at that point, everyone knows that that person is busted, and it makes for a bad workplace vibe if people feel like someone is always getting in trouble.
Sometimes you will have a different opinion of how someone under you is performing than they have of themselves.
This can create resentment over lost opportunities, wages, or lack of responsibilities. Again, you need to give the people under you the opportunity to improve, and that’s not possible if they don’t know what your expectations are. Take a moment to speak to the person (privately of course, see above) and mention that you’ve noticed that they want to move up and that you want the same for them. In order for that to happen, you want to make some specific shared goals. Then be very specific about exactly what you would want the perfect team member to do. Again, do not talk about things they did wrong in the past. Focus, instead, on what they will need to do in the future in order to achieve their own workplace goals. This feels much more like shared game-planning and a lot less like a takedown. Everyone will step away much more likely to see their needs met in the future.
I can’t say that I have all of the answers about how to be the best boss. But I do hope that these tips help you to strive to be a better boss. And lastly, remember that respect, kindness, and the benefit of the doubt go a really long way.