All of us at some point in our careers have sat back in our chairs,
evaluated our boss and thought how much better we would be as supervisor if we
were in charge. Our dreams often include
better communication, increased employee respect, motivational programming,
supervisory flexibility and many other ideas that would create the perfect work
environment. However, one must recognize
that institutions do not offer a “Boss” degree.
Most supervisors mimic the actions of their historical leaders, which
gives birth to a chain of either good or bad bosses as their employees are
promoted into management positions. So
the question must be posed; is there a readily available resource for supervisors
to learn from and gain an understanding of what it takes to be a great boss?
Welcome to URT, the University of Reality Television! This evening sit down not to be entertained, but
to be educated. Be sure to not just
bring a glass of wine to this viewing event, but also pen and paper. Reality TV presently offers course after
course for supervisors and aspiring supervisors who watch or DVR; Hotel
Impossible, Restaurant Impossible, Bar Rescue and Tabatha’s Salon Takeovers –
to name a few.
After watching a few episodes of each, it seems that 95% of
the time, the root of the problem is the boss, or lack thereof. The top three issues being:
- The boss has lost sight of the objective, has
given up and has turned leadership over to whomever claims it, qualified or unqualified.
- The boss wants to be everyone’s friend, treats
them like family and ultimately allows them to take advantage of that status.
- The boss is a power monger, managing in an aggressive dictator fashion, unable to create an environment of respect and teamwork.
The next most prevalent weakness is that of product or
service. The top three issues being:
- The product or service is inadequate or
substandard, but the blame has been placed on a differing dynamic such as
economy.
- Too many products or services are being offered
without having perfected the core products or services, often centered on lack
of training.
- The environment that the product or service is offered in is disorganized and dirty, therefore unappealing to re-visit as a dedicated customer.
The final dominating issue is that of employee behavior and
morale. The top three issues being:
- Employees are working without formal guidelines,
therefore delivery of product or service is inconsistent.
- Employees feel that they are mistreated and/or
treated differently, therefore are motivated to work independently instead of
as a team member.
- Employees are considering pursuit of alternate employment, therefore lessening their commitment to the existing product or service.
These three categories consisting of nine items are
applicable to almost any organization, especially multi-family housing. As a seasoned employee and supervisor, I
personally have experienced each one at some point in my career.
Dreaming of being a supervisor and being a supervisor are
two different things. As a supervisor,
you are ultimately held accountable for the good and the bad. It becomes your responsibility to have
sleepless nights over the challenges, mediate the controversies and enforce
sometimes difficult decisions. Likewise,
you get to identify, train and mold employees into an amazing team that
ultimately brings personal recognition and fulfillment for being an outstanding
leader.
One of the best owner/boss/mentors that I ever worked for
strongly believed in the power of the team meeting. I vividly remember sitting in one of those
meetings and him asking the question, “What can we do differently to make our
employee and/or resident lives better”?
Seemingly off track, one of the employees responded with the idea of
providing coat hooks in each cube so they did not have to hang their jackets in
the communal closet. That evening as I
pulled my coat out I noticed it smelled of smoke (I did not smoke) and had pet
hair on it (I did not own a pet). I
therefore took note of this lesson; listen to everything, even seemingly off
track ideas. Thirty coat hooks were
purchased, wrapped with a bow and laid on each cube desk – cube land was
buzzing with motivation, they had been heard.
Also at that meeting someone began to complain about an issue, I
remember him quickly and respectfully stepping in and directing employees to
take 60 seconds to present the issue in order to allow the remaining 14 minutes
to be spent as a team resolving the issue.
No boss is perfect, but an aspiring boss should be taking notes of those
elevated moments they witness as an employee.
We all know the saying, “It’s not over until the
horizontally challenged lady sings” (edited for political correctness), use the
acronym O.V.E.R. as your guideline for being a superior boss.
O – Open yourself to communication; provide your employees a
forum to express
ideas
ideas
V – Validate their talent; use their ideas and thank them
for their commitment
E – Exemplify professionalism; consistently be an
approachable resource and role
model
model
R – Reward them; publicly and tangibly recognize their exemplary
efforts
All dreams can come true, especially with proactive preparation.
So the next time Robert Irvine says, “You’re offering too many items on your
menu”, or Jon Taffer says, “Clean this place up”, or Tabatha Coffey says, “You
need more training” – take note, these are truly words of wisdom. Being the boss is not all rainbows and
unicorns, sometimes it is facing frustrating facts, reorganizing and
re-positioning for success. Each of these
professionals would be the first to tell you, flexibility and an acceptance of
reality are imperative for the position of BOSS!
Stop dreaming and start doing! Even as a colleague you can show your
potential for a supervisory role, just remember O.V.E.R. – listen to your
colleagues, get excited about their ideas, be a colleague role model and toss
them candy bar when you know they went the extra mile. These behaviors will soon get you recognized
as potential management material.
I have one word left to type for you, PROMOTED!
Okay, two, CONGRATULATIONS!
