Blog Series: Secrets of the Best Bosses and Their Teams

They say, “People don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad managers.” It’s true, but the sentiment ignores that many managers feel just as trapped as the employees they struggle to serve. This series is about the need for managers to instill a cadence of growth and development in all their team members. When individuals feel invited and empowered to grow, teams transform. Read on to find out how the Best Bosses can inspire that transformation.

Here’s a mystery for you: Where do your best employees get the motivation and energy to not just show up to work every day but get engaged and take a sense of ownership for their performance? 

Oh, are they not all doing that? Don’t worry. You’re not alone. A recent Gallup Poll asserted that 1 in 5 employees are not just “quiet quitting” but “loud quitting,” actively working against their company’s goals. But it’s a mixed story. The same poll noted that a higher percentage of employees were “engaged” than ever before, except that oh-so-high number was 23%. Don’t like the idea of trying to help your company survive when less than a quarter of your people share your enthusiasm? Read on because neither do we.

“The Numbers” Shouldn’t Be Your Only Numbers

In our “stress on steroids” world, many managers focus doggedly on whatever KPIs are put in front of them. Are you a front-line manager who lives and dies by customer surveys? A middle manager who has to hit production quotas every week (or day) just to keep your parking space? Maybe you’re a division leader who wakes up every morning to check their quarterly PNL…after dreaming about it all night. It seems we all have numbers that seem very good at “doing a number” on us.

For example, a large telecom provider hired me to lead a team of trainers to help their contact center representatives be more consultative with customers. Leadership believed that improving how reps asked questions and connected client needs to other products would drive sales. In the first two weeks, sales tripled for the target product. Then, the sales cratered again. After a series of focus groups, we knew why. Front-line managers had started disciplining the reps for doing what we taught them. 

“Why would they do that?” you ask – baffled, but knowing I’m going to tell you.

The front-line managers were encouraged to increase sales – just like the reps we trained – but they were required to keep AHT or “Average Handle/Hold Time” down. More sales were nice, but if customers had to wait too long to talk to a rep, heads would roll. Leadership hadn’t connected the dots until it was too late. Wrong signals were sent. Employees felt tricked. And managers felt left out to dry. “The Numbers” made it impossible to improve “the Numbers.” 

Cut to “the Numbers” on engagement according to Gallup: 59% are “quiet quitting” and 18% are “loud quitting.” At the same time, 51% of respondents are looking for a new job. (Why!? So they can go quit somewhere else?)  Nevertheless, if you want to be a “Best Boss,” you have to consider these numbers with nearly the same attention that you do whatever KPIs your own leader is putting in front of you. Engagement is now every manager's job…even the ones who don’t feel that engaged themselves. With unemployment under 4%, the Best Bosses are realizing that they are not just fighting for the best talent, but for any talent at all.

The Courage to Develop Talent Anyway

In high school, I heard about this thing called “The Anyway Poem” by Mother Teresa. 

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

Etc. Etc. It was like a modern Ten Commandments, a calling to do better no matter the consequences. It turns out that’s all I had right about it. It’s actually called The Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith. 

In the world of work, I would suggest these:

Based on Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace and The Paradoxical Commandments.

If you recognize employees for their specific contributions, some will get embarrassed and a few of their peers may get jealous and resentful.

Praise people anyway.

If you make yourself more open and approachable, some days you will get drawn into other people’s drama and get even less of your own tasks done.

Open up anyway.

If you grant more autonomy to your people, some will disappoint you and might make you look like you’re not “on top of everything.”

Share power anyway.

If you provide more learning and personal growth opportunities for your people, some will leverage those newfound capabilities to get better jobs with your competitors.

Help them grow anyway.

If you do those little things that show respect, you might do it wrong sometimes and someone might accuse you of playing favorites or being disingenuous.

Respect people anyway.

If you give everyone a fair chance to get promoted, your “safe” or “reliable” choice might lose out to someone who doesn’t always do things the way you like.

Promote fairly anyway.

If you take the time to give clearer goals and provide stronger guidance, some will accuse you of micro-managing.

Model clarity anyway.

If you make your people more important than your numbers, none of them will likely run into the streets yelling, “my boss is a BEST BOSS,” in fact, some of them will not even notice.

Be a Best Boss anyway.

Why are these our Paradoxical Lessons? Because they reflect the seven answers from the Gallup Poll that spoke to “Engagement and Culture” (p. 2). In answering “What would you change about your workplace to make it better?” responses like these made up 41% of all responses. Concerns about “Pay and Benefits” only made up 28% and the emerging trend of “Wellbeing” made up 16%. (In case you missed it, “Wellbeing” is the new “Wellness,” and spans the “physical, mental, financial, and social” needs of employees. But don’t let the 16% fool you; competitive organizations need to be thinking about Wellbeing. Check out Marsh McLennan Agency’s write-up on the subject.)

What we’re suggesting isn’t easy. Easy is keeping your head down and riding your people to hit the department’s KPIs no matter what. Well, maybe it’s not easy, but it’s probably safer. But Best Bosses can’t play it safe. Because they are fighting for great teams made up of great people, people who stay.

The Best Bosses Build Futures

“‘The more the employee feels the company is investing in their future, the higher the level of engagement,’ says Brad Shuck, an assistant professor at the University of Louisville” in this article from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. (P.S. I’m a proud member of our Chicago SHRM chapter. If you’re also in SHRM, please let me know!) 

For years, I’ve taught people how to “act like a manager” using lessons from professional comedy improv and theater. What I know is this: employees will only ever feel “the company is investing in their future” if their manager does.

That’s where you come in. You will probably be the one who needs to go to bat for the employee who wants to attend a conference on the company’s dime. You will be the one who deals with scheduling when they need hours to get to a class for their current graduate degree. You will be the one to invest your own time in coaching them through a new, difficult workplace challenge. The Best Bosses build futures. How do they do it? 1000 little decisions, accommodations, and extra conversations. It’s not easy. It’s work. And you probably already have more than a full-time job.

To do this right, you must manage in more directions than “down.” As a Best Boss, you likely have a boss of your own. And, while they may applaud the odd pizza party and “lunch-n-learn,” they may not be ready to see “the Numbers” slip. When everyone is staying until 7 pm to hit a deadline and you let an employee leave early to “go to their class,” you may be the one called into the principal’s office. When you hear your name called over the loudspeakers, perhaps bring along some of the sources cited in this article.

It takes courage to look down the longer road of engagement and sacrifice for your people, as a Best Boss should. Your Boss may get mad, and some of the people you work so hard to keep may (will) remain disengaged and still leave. Please, in the name of all the people whose lives you can — even if you never get thanked — can make better…

Be a Best Boss anyway.

This has been the first installment in our series, Secrets of the Best Bosses and Their Teams. Future blogs in this series will address how best to handle some of the challenges we’ve issued in this piece. In the meantime, we recommend getting yourself a copy of Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report. Use it to make the case (to your boss and yourself) for why supporting the growth of your team members is so critical.

And, of course, if you want your managers to be the "Best Bosses,” talk to PLAY Polarities about delivering one of our half-day or full-day courses in Full Self Management.