The Best Boss Leadership Approach
The approach of a Best Boss seems to embody three distinct features:
1. A trusting relationship between self and direct report;
2. A virtuous (i.e., positively reinforcing) system of deliberate and focused interaction between self and direct report that accounts for the growing trust; and
3. A favorable cycle of performance that unfolds between Best Boss and direct report that is born out of the first two features.
In short, the Best Boss approach is represented by a virtuous system of interaction that leads to a virtuous cycle of performance. Allow us to explain.
A Relationship Based on Trust and Mutual Respect
We hypothesize that there is a virtuous system of interaction between a Best Boss and direct report, and that “relationship” lies at the heart of it. The relationship develops because the direct report understands the behaviors, traits, and demeanor of the Best Boss (typically a person with formal organizational power) convey positive intent, and that intent is focused directly on the individual. To put it simply, trust is established between the Best Boss and direct report.
He was always willing to support me. Regardless of the situation, he had my back.
Most of all, I always felt that he had my back. Joe celebrated my successes, always making me feel like the one being celebrated and he shared responsibility for any setbacks. Truly a gem!
He helped me to retain my sense of ‘self’ and to stay calm and productive in a highly stressful environment. He made me feel trusted.
More specifically, it is through positive interactions across robust dimensions—ones that are highly relevant to both employee and boss—that trust develops. To get a sense of how we arrived at this, it is revealing to look across an individual participant’s responses to the entire survey, versus looking across participants for responses to an individual survey question. Below, in Table 3.1, is a single study participant’s verbatim quotes, presented within the context of our defined dimensions and derived from the entire, completed survey. In this case, a VP level employee describes their executive boss, “Joe.” From this type of analysis, we can imagine how a trusting relationship forms over time: One can observe the employee’s perception of a positive or virtuous intent to underpin each dimension.
There were other notable observations about relationship we were able to discern. First, not every Best Boss will connect with every direct report—in other words, the relationship appears to depend on both the boss and the employee. We had firsthand evidence of this when author Duncan was able to confirm that he had also worked with Joe, and that while he was a good boss, never did Duncan consider Joe one of his Best Bosses! Furthermore, we noticed relationship took on a variety of forms, since not every Best Boss described in the study was actually a boss. Some people chose to write about a former coach or teacher, where another chose to write about a very senior leader—an indirect boss. From this angle, we described relationship in a variety of ways; for example, the trusting relationship could be described as collegial, mentoring, coaching, personal, etc. Despite these differences, the common thread in the survey replies suggests a trust that developed between the individual and the boss, which grew out of the behaviors, traits, and overall demeanor of the Best Boss.
Table 3.1 A single participant’s verbatim responses to the Best Boss survey
Leads from a Higher Purpose |
Activates Potential |
Promotes Dynamic Autonomy |
Provides Pervasive Feedback |
Inspires Continuous Learning |
“He made me believe that you could lead with your heart as well as your wisdom, that competence and firmness need not be at odds with compassion and integrity.” |
“He believed in me and trusted me to lead. My competence was a given in his mind.” |
“He gave me room to lead my own organization, but was always available if I needed him.” |
“He helped me feel more confident when I was reaching beyond my comfort zone, and was an honest mirror when I needed to see how others were perceiving me.” |
“He believed that mistakes were fine if you identified them quickly, owned them, and learned from them.” |
A “Synergistic and Virtuous System” of Interaction
A closer look at the five dimensions reveals that in addition to positive intent, there is a natural synergy among them. In other words, the interaction of these components produces a total effect greater than the sum of the individual elements. Theoretically, it makes sense that “Leads from a Higher Purpose,” “Promotes Dynamic Autonomy,” and “Provides Pervasive Feedback” work together. For example, a Best Boss would be remiss to “promote autonomy” without providing regular feedback to a direct report in order to reinforce and reward progress and to redirect effort as needed. With regular feedback, learning and individual growth are likely occurring, and from this, an employee might conclude that the boss is truly focused on something other than the boss’ own self-interest, which suggests a higher purpose.
We also believe that synergy develops between the boss and the employee based on the content of their interactions (i.e., the behavioral domains represented in the dimensions, to be discussed in further detail in forthcoming chapters) and the skill and overall demeanor with which the Best Boss relates to the employee. To wrap our arms around this, we initially envisioned a simple reinforcing loop as depicted in Figure 3.1.
Our initial view of the creation of synergy between dimensions included the following:
• Boss who leads from a higher purpose, meaning that she or he leads for more than self-interest, activates employee potential by simply acknowledging an employee’s background and experience, and thus provides an opportunity for the employee to contribute a perspective on an important issue.
Figure 3.1 Best boss “system” as a single reinforcing loop
• Employee is attentive now. Engaged!
• Boss continues to capture employee attention by sharing wisdom, knowledge, and clear expectations for performance; now gives the employee “space” to perform.
• Boss is invested in employee success, so he or she provides continual feedback to help employee grow, develop, and achieve goals.
• Boss informs the growing relationship by saying, “I know you will make mistakes, just don’t keep them from me. We will learn from them and fix them together.”
Trust continues. Relationships grow and higher purpose is achieved for the Best Boss as the employee learns, develops, and achieves real results.
As we continued to review the data, we quickly realized there were likely limitless ways for a Best Boss and direct report to connect, as shown in Figure 3.2.
This conceptualization raised questions:
• What if we were to think of the Best Boss traits and behavioral domains as the apparent boundaries for interaction?
• What if it is not necessarily an orderly progression from one dimension to the next, but one that pivots and ricochets off of one dimension to another as boss and direct report interact in ways that build trust and meaningful connection over time?
• In other words, we suspect that by continually directing attention toward two or more of these five areas, a Best Boss can bring about a unique, generative, and rewarding relationship with their direct report based on trust and respect, which essentially entertains the interests of employee, the boss, and ultimately the organization.
We looked at our theory in relationship to the response frequencies for the five dimensions, as shown in Figure 3.3. By far, the most frequently reported dimension was Activates Potential, with 54 percent of respondents suggesting their Best Boss was focused on their professional development and success at work. On the other hand, study participants reported the other dimensions between 9 and 16 percent of the time.
Figure 3.2 Best boss synergistic system of interaction
Figure 3.3 Response frequencies for the five dimensions of the best boss model
Why might Activates Potential be identified as a distinguishing feature of a Best Boss? Perhaps it is due to the notable effect that a boss’ positive attention on an employee’s growth and success can have on not only his or her work satisfaction, but also their life satisfaction. Everything is different when your boss has your professional best interests front and center, and as an employee—you know it! For the moment, put yourself in the employee’s shoes. Bosses exert a lot of power over their employees and a boss has significant impact on the employee’s ability:
• To derive intrinsic motivation through work, based on assignments, opportunities, and experiences offered by the boss;
• To be held in regard by other leaders, based on how the boss presents the employee to peers and higher-level leaders; and
• To stay employed and be rewarded based on performance appraisals, which of course are of monumental importance
to the individual in order to meet basic human needs for self, and potentially others.
These are true attention-getters, particularly in the context of a boss who is focused on activating an employee’s potential.
Rather than conclude, however, that Activates Potential is the most important dimension, we are drawn to the realization that it is the interaction of the dimensions that is key. To argue by analogy, is it appropriate to identify the nervous system, the circulatory system, the digestive system, or any other internal system as the most important in the successful functioning of the human body? Obviously not, as it is the successful interdependence of these systems that yields a healthy, functioning body overall. We believe the same sort of interdependency exists between and among the five Best Boss dimensions we have identified. And, because of the positivity that underpins all dimensions, trust, and meaningful connection between the Best Boss and employee are reinforced over and over again. Study participants said as much.
To demonstrate this point, see Table 3.2 to consider the resulting impact on an employee’s ability to trust and meaningfully relate to the boss when comparing a boss’ neutral or negative orientation to a positive one in the areas of purpose, feedback, autonomy, and learning.
A Virtuous Cycle of Performance
Is the impact of a Best Boss sustainable? Old habits and unproductive ways of behaving can be hard to change, not only for employees, but for those trying to become better leaders as well. There is a human tendency to regress back to old, less effective ways. In the relationship between a Best Boss and direct report, we observe dynamics that work against this gravitational pull: We propose that the synergistic and virtuous system of interaction becomes self-reinforcing over time, and leads to a virtuous cycle of performance as mutually beneficial impacts become realized. In other words:
• The employee may become more engaged by working on projects of interest that grow skills and knowledge;
• The boss observes high levels of performance and is gratified to observe individual growth in the direct report; and
• Goals are achieved and performance is recognized and/or rewarded by the organization for both employee and boss, increasing the probability of success in future endeavors involving boss and employee.
Table 3.2 The importance of boss’ attention in leading direct reports
Dimensions (Traditional Areas of Focus) |
Nature of Boss Attention |
|
Neutral or Negative |
Positive or Virtuous |
|
|
Common Employee Response (based on experience with the boss or through “default” interpretation in the absence of the boss’ deliberate philosophy and/or behavior) |
Employee Response in Best Boss Study (based on Best Boss deliberate philosophy and/or behavior) |
Purpose |
Employee may feel like a tool toward the purpose of “maximizing shareholder profits” |
Employee feels his or her interests are incorporated into the interests of the boss and organization |
Feedback |
Employee may feel put down, defensive, paranoid, demoralized |
Employee feels supported, motivated, engaged |
Autonomy |
Employee may feel micromanaged versus trusted to act autonomously |
Employee can show what he or she knows, trusting that the “dynamic” support of the boss exists “[He] had the uncanny ability to summarize a major corporate challenge on one piece of paper and then explain. He brought out the best in others and did not lose a sense of humor under pressure. Working for [him] helped me see the corporate world through the eyes of the CEO. He taught people to apply principle and mission assessment before analytics.” |
Learning |
Employee may feel shame for mistake; strives to “not rock the boat” |
Employee feels safe to learn through both mistakes and successes |
This line of reasoning is conceptually related to some of the impacts identified by those direct reports in the study, as shown in Table 3.3 below. We will take a broader and deeper look into impact in Chapter 11, Why Best Bosses Matter.
Trust is at the foundation of the relationship between a Best Boss and direct report. It begins when the employee realizes that through both character and behavior, the Best Boss fundamentally “has his/her back” in key areas as suggested by the dimensions we identified. Over time, as the relationship grows, a virtuous cycle of performance unfolds. This dynamic often carries forward into future relationships as a leadership legacy, when the direct report moves into a leadership position. Employee, boss, and organization all win as a result of the Best Boss Leadership Approach.
Table 3.3 Direct report impacts identified in the Best Boss study