In our experience, developing and implementing a personal action plan is the most direct route to upgrading your Best Boss skills and impact. We suggest a four-step self-development process, which is outlined in the following sections. These steps will be familiar to you, and you can decide how rigorously you will apply yourself in each of the following:
1. Assessment
2. Analysis
3. Action planning
4. Actualization
This process assumes you are analyzing with the intent to improve your overall leadership approach with direct reports. In some instances, however, you may want to complete this analysis and action-planning process separately for a specific employee who requires singular attention.
Step One: Assessment
The successful initiation of any improvement process requires a baseline and a focus. We offer two alternative methods that differ in time requirements and level of rigor to facilitate your initial assessment work.
Rigorous Self-Assessment
The first method is the more rigorous of the two. The concluding sections of chapters 4 through 8 each presented a set of self-reflection questions regarding your extent of use of the specific Best Boss behavior dimensions. You may or may not have replied earlier, so to complete a rigorous self-assessment, now is the time to turn back to those chapters and complete the self-reflections for each of the five dimensions.
Table 9.1 Best boss behavior dimension extent of use scores and rank order of priority for improvement
Extent of Use Score (Average of Ratings) |
Rank Order of Priority |
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Leads from a Higher Purpose (Chapter 4) |
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Activates Potential (Chapter 5) |
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Promotes Dynamic Autonomy (Chapter 6) |
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Provides Pervasive Feedback (Chapter 7) |
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Inspires Continuous Learning (Chapter 8) |
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Once your chapter self-reflection ratings are completed, simply add up and average the ten behavior ratings for each dimension, then fill in the totals in Table 9.1. Based on the dimension average, fill in the rank-order, with “5” assigned to the highest average score down to “1” for the lowest average score. These results indicate the emergent priority of attention on your journey to improved Best Boss proficiency—wherein the lowest average score is considered your highest priority for improvement.
In addition to filling in the average extent of use scores in Table 9.1, you may find it useful to construct a profile of your extent of use of these dimensions by entering the average scores in Figure 9.1. Place a dot on the point on the scale that corresponds to the average extent of use rating. A completed example is provided in the Appendix.
Figure 9.1 Best boss dimension extent of use profile
You may be content with a more general, faster-paced initial assessment. One of our favorite methods is based on paired-comparison self-assessment. To try this approach, fill in your replies to this question in Table 9.2. Which of the two Best Boss dimensions in lines 1 through 10 in the following matrix do you most frequently exhibit in your on-the-job relationships with direct reports? Circle the one dimension title of the two in each line that you use most frequently. Then, for each column, total up the number of times you have selected that dimension. Finally, based on the dimension total, fill in the rank-order, with “5” assigned to the highest score down to “1” for the lowest score. (An example of the Quick Self-Assessment is presented in the Appendix.) These results indicate the emergent priority of attention on your journey to improved Best Boss proficiency, with the lowest score indicated as your highest priority for improvement.
To facilitate your decision making, we have provided a reminder of the definitions of each component of the Best Boss model below:
• Leads from a Higher Purpose: The Best Boss demonstrates a purpose beyond self and/or organizational interests by taking positive action on behalf of the direct report through an authentic relationship.
• Activates Potential: The Best Boss observes, values, acknowledges, and takes steps to activate the present capabilities and future potential of the individual.
• Promotes Dynamic Autonomy: The Best Boss imparts organizational knowledge and big picture thinking, establishes clear expectations, and creates an autonomous space for the individual to perform.
• Provides Pervasive Feedback: The Best Boss doesn’t miss an opportunity to provide constructive and reinforcing feedback to the direct report.
Table 9.2 Paired-comparison evaluation matrix for frequency of use of best boss behavior dimensions
Leads from a Higher Purpose |
Activates Potential |
Promotes Dynamic Autonomy |
Provides Pervasive Feedback |
Inspires Continuous Learning |
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1 |
Leads from a Higher Purpose |
Activates Potential |
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2 |
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Activates Potential |
Promotes Dynamic Autonomy |
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3 |
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Provides Pervasive Feedback |
Inspires Continuous Learning |
4 |
Leads from a Higher Purpose |
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Promotes Dynamic Autonomy |
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5 |
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Activates Potential |
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Provides Pervasive Feedback |
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6 |
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Promotes Dynamic Autonomy |
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Inspires Continuous Learning |
7 |
Leads from a Higher Purpose |
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Provides Pervasive Feedback |
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8 |
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Activates Potential |
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Inspires Continuous Learning |
9 |
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Promotes Dynamic Autonomy |
Provides Pervasive Feedback |
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10 |
Leads from a Higher Purpose |
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Inspires Continuous Learning |
Total Choices |
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Rank Order 5 = highest 1 = lowest |
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• Inspires Continuous Learning: The Best Boss acknowledges the inevitability of mistakes with a direct report, encourages discussion of them when they occur, and ensures lessons are mined for immediate learning.
A close look at the assessment information established by one of the aforementioned methods provides both an initial baseline for your improvement planning as well as an initial focus for your consideration based on priority. All else being equal, the dimension that demonstrates your least utilized Best Boss behavior is the highest priority for your improvement plans.
Step Two: Analysis
We suggest two methods for a more in-depth analysis of your assessment results in order to set the stage for your improvement planning. Both methods assume that you’ve established an understanding of the priority of dimensions for your improvement attention. Given this understanding, the first method is based on a more careful examination of the individual behavior descriptions at the end of chapters 4 through 8.
Analysis Based on Self-Assessment
If you chose the more rigorous assessment approach, you have already considered your extent of use of specific behaviors in each dimension. If you chose the quick self-assessment, go back to the chapter that discusses your highest priority dimension to improve upon, and rate each behavior statement on the extent of use scale. Our belief is that any increase in extent of use of these less-frequently used behaviors will have a positive overall impact on your relationship with your direct reports.
Such changes in your behavior, however, will require much more than posting a note on your computer monitor as a reminder to demonstrate this behavior once each day. Some will require careful development of a relationship over time. For example, in the Leads from a Higher Purpose dimension, the behavior described as “work to get to know direct reports personally, not just as workers,” will require time, the recognition of appropriate moments to discuss more personal matters, and even some note-taking to keep track of key aspects of a direct report’s life outside of work, such as family, career aspirations, potential personal issues being faced, et cetera. In the “Provides Pervasive Feedback” dimension, successfully delivering the behavior described as “serves as a skilled provider of feedback to direct reports” in fact depends upon the development of observation, analysis, communication, and leadership skills that are certainly not developed overnight.
Working on the less-frequently-used behaviors of your highest priority dimension is a powerful way to begin your journey toward becoming a Best Boss. However, for those in search of more context and in-depth detail for behavior change, we offer a second analysis method based on informal interviews.
Analysis Based on Interviews
This method involves conducting an informal yet focused discussion with trusted confidants who are familiar with your working style and on-the-job behavior. In the discussion, you identify a behavior and ask for reactions, ideas, or suggestions as to how you might better approach this behavior in the future in order to be a more effective supervisor. For example, in the “Leads from a Higher Purpose” dimension, you may ask how, in your organizational situation, to better deliver the behavior described as “stand by your direct reports in practically every circumstance.”
Your completion of one or both of these analysis suggestions will set the foundation in place for moving on to the action planning phase.
Step Three: Action Planning
The challenge in taking action to develop a stronger Best Boss skillset is to identify concrete behaviors that will make a difference in your relationships with employees, and that are sustainable over time. The analysis and interview work outlined in the prior sections are intended to provide useful ideas on necessary behavior changes. Additionally, before you begin to set specific objectives on a dimension-by-dimension basis, we offer some additional considerations on possible preparation and actions you can take to move forward. We conclude this section with a personal action-planning tool—the Best Boss Action Planning and Actualization Worksheets, to help focus and facilitate your own development. Finally, in the Appendix we provide several examples of analysis and completed worksheets so as to give you a useful point of reference.
Leads From a Higher Purpose
Managers seen as exhibiting strength in this area behave in ways to convey that while business results and/or successful personal performance matters, so do other value-based considerations. Coincidentally, this is often accomplished without ever talking about said values. Managers not seen as quite so strong in this area may define the job of “boss” more narrowly and may not have yet found a way to incorporate aspects of important personal or company values into their leadership style and behavior at work.
In this regard, author John is reminded of an executive he worked with as a consultant:
At the time I first met him, he was a mid-level financial manager. His usual behavior seemed to match the finance stereotype—the only thing that seemed to matter was the numbers. Imagine my surprise when later in his career, after he became a CEO, he emerged as a national advocate of children with special needs—an activity he had been involved in all along. He was highly respected by his people, and my guess is that—spoken or not—these values impacted his on-the-job behavior. Not surprisingly this organization became known as a best place to work.
Developmental suggestions related to Leads from a Higher Purpose:
• Conduct a “personal values exercise” where you examine the alignment between your own values vs. the values of your company.
• Define your personal leadership philosophy.
Share your philosophy, beliefs, and values with your direct reports and discuss how to put them into action within the company culture.
• Take time to reflect on the way you spend (or fail to spend) time with direct reports.
• Conduct an “ethics in our current business environment” meeting with direct reports, based upon the company’s code of ethics.
• Talk with respected colleagues about how they act out their values both at work and in their lives, and what these values are.
• Identify “missed opportunities” in your own career where your behavior did not align with your own “higher purpose.”
• Reflect on the extent to which your own Best Boss demonstrated higher purpose and/or values in their working relationship with you.
• Imagine you were composing a story about higher purpose from your work experience to tell a child or grandchild. What led up to the situation, what did you and others do, and what was the result?
• In one of his books, author Peter Drucker suggests that annually, managers should conduct a time log exercise to examine how they are spending their time. Whether or not you choose to undertake such an exercise, what would your daily or weekly use of time tell us about your values?
Activates Potential
Managers that are particularly effective in this area behave in a way that conveys a strong belief in the potential of their employees, show determination to bring out “the best” in their performance, and have a knack for arranging suitable developmental opportunities. Managers that are less effective in this area may not believe they have sufficient time (e.g., due to large span of control) or skill to get to know, much less figure out how to further develop an employee. In addition, they may not want to risk nominating an employee for a developmental opportunity, lest poor performance reflect back upon them as the employee’s sponsor. Lastly, some managers are simply unwilling or do not understand the value in taking on the responsibility for a direct report’s development beyond what is absolutely necessary to do the job at hand.
Developmental suggestions related to Activates Potential:
• Get to know more about the capabilities and developmental needs of your direct reports via one-on-one meetings (beyond traditional performance reviews), luncheon discussions, or simply stopping by their work station for a chat.
• Request that direct reports prepare a written description of their desired next career step (e.g., one to three years out), and the strategies they believe will get them there. Then, work with them over time to assist them in moving toward these goals.
• Actively seek opportunities to showcase the talents of direct reports:
Stretch assignments
Participation in corporate initiatives
Invitations to meetings at the next level
Training or mentoring others in areas of special expertise
• Solicit input and suggestions from direct reports on various issues and directions you are considering, or problems and opportunities you are addressing.
• Conduct a talent assessment of each of your direct reports to establish estimates of sustained performance and potential (e.g., learning agility, resiliency, leadership potential, aspirations, etc.).
• Candidly convey your views of a direct report’s potential to him or her, and seek their input on situations or assignments that could help them better realize their own potential.
• Engage colleagues in a candid discussion of their perception of direct reports’ potential and solicit their suggestions for better realization of this potential.
• Share stories with your direct reports about how your own Best Boss provided you with experiences and opportunities to better realize your potential.
Highly effective managers regularly convey knowledge, business acumen, and “big picture” thinking, establish clear expectations, and allow direct reports the freedom to perform their roles. Establishing an understanding of context, providing perspective on industry and organizational dynamics, and conveying confidence in their ability to “get it and act accordingly” are the hallmarks of this dimension. This leader does all he or she can to create a context in which a direct report can optimally execute their responsibilities. In contrast, less effective managers have difficulty communicating the “big picture” and may even engage in micromanaging. In part, this may result from the boss’ own lack of understanding of the “big picture,” much less the challenge of conveying this understanding in terms that are meaningful to an employee in the context of their specific role within the organization. Finally, a high need for control and difficulty in tolerating uncertainty will dampen a manager’s enthusiasm for granting autonomy.
Developmental suggestions related to Promotes Dynamic Autonomy:
• Work to ensure that a “line of sight” between organizational goals and the direct report’s work objectives is fully understood. This includes being mindful of the organization’s formal objectives-setting processes, as well as your own informal management practices. Important elements to consider include:
Definition of annual objectives and performance standards for direct reports and discussion of their relationship to company direction
Provision of feedback and coaching
Making your expectations for communications and performance explicit (e.g., how often do you want to hear from employees and on which topics)
• Conduct periodic strategy update sessions with your direct reports during which you reinforce the company’s vision and values, strategic direction, and update on progress toward diverse goals (operational, financial, people, etc.)
• Twice per year, hold a meeting with direct reports to review and discuss the external landscape, including information on economic, regulatory, competitor, workforce, consumer, and customer trends.
• Reorganize your work processes to increase opportunities
for greater individual self-initiated action and autonomy for direct reports, for example, allocating one full day per month to pursue a self-defined initiative or project.
• Sponsor contests and/or “friendly” competitive events to foster identification of individual, team, and work group autonomous action opportunities.
• Regularly allocate one-on-one discussion and team discussion time to share stories of successes, failures, and lessons learned in relation to taking autonomous action.
• Conduct a RACI analysis of your job and your direct report’s job to provide a foundation for autonomous action (isssp.org/the-raci-chart-simply-explained). This acronym RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Communicate, Informed) identifies a process for clarifying job responsibilities in any job.
• Seek input from your direct reports on which parts of your job they feel ready to take on; then, create opportunities for them to do so.
Provides Pervasive Feedback
Managers that are particularly effective in this area consistently and unabashedly utilize multiple approaches to feedback in their interactions with direct reports. These approaches fall along many continua, including:
• From direct (e.g., “here’s what you did that worked, and here’s what you did that needs to improve…”) to indirect (e.g., “let’s let the consequences of your actions tell us both whether or not they were effective…”)
• From formal (e.g., included in the annual performance review) to informal (e.g., “as I was passing by your desk, I was reminded to tell you how thorough and well-organized your analysis presentation came across in the senior management meeting…”)
• From quantitative (e.g., “your revenues are up by 20 Percent”) to subjective (e.g., “when you conveyed your point of view, it made me feel proud to be your boss…)”
It is particularly important that the feedback be valid, candid, timely, and presented respectfully using communication approaches that are appropriate to the employee and the setting.
Author John Furcon recalls one of his favorite personal feedback experiences with his consulting career Best Boss:
She asked if she could conduct my annual performance review meeting while completing a four-mile jog at a client’s residential conference center in Wisconsin. I thought it would be quite “interesting,” so, of course, I agreed. Happily, while the setting was quite unconventional, the content of the discussion was mostly positive, and by the time she was finished, I felt fully recognized, highly appreciated and was “basking in the glow” of the experience. However, part of the reason this event stands out so vividly in my memory is the fact that, at this point in our run, two German Shepherd watchdogs came running down an adjacent driveway in hot pursuit—of us. Fortunately, the owner was nearby and called them back, and they turned out to be large puppies, not the ferocious animals we initially perceived. So much the better if feedback can be tied to a “significant emotional event!”
Developmental suggestions related to Provides Pervasive Feedback:
• Make provision of multidimensional feedback a part of your daily routine with each of your direct reports.
• Begin asking colleagues for feedback on your own performance and take note of how this impacts your own motivation, learning, and growth:
Ask what was favored about what you did in a specific situation, and why?
What opportunities for improvement does the respondent note?
What additional advice for improvement would he or she offer?
• Seek feedback on your performance from direct reports in order to build their awareness around the key details of performance as well as the handling of the feedback process.
• Use “after action” discussions with your colleagues and direct reports to highlight the positives and areas of improvement for individual and work group performance.
• Organize formal and informal recognition events to describe, highlight, and celebrate individual and team successes.
Inspires Continuous Learning
Managers who are highly effective in this dimension love to encourage learning—even in the context of mistakes and calculated risk—for the dual purposes of achieving great business results and continuous personal and professional growth. They understand the tremendous learning opportunities that await when situations fall short of expectations or in situations where genuine mistakes and oversights have occurred. A virtuous cycle of performance is cultivated by establishing a “philosophy of mistakes” between the leader and employee that includes early identification and sharing of mistakes or problems, followed by analysis, correction, and the application of learning going forward. The propensity for taking the risk grew out of the learning, and the learning occurred because the boss allows for mistakes.
When questioned by a reporter about his many failed experiments, Thomas Edison is reported to have replied, “I have not failed, not once. I’ve discovered ten thousand ways that don’t work.”
Less effective managers demonstrate maladaptive behaviors in response to mistakes, appearing less concerned with learning and more concerned with blame or punishment. The inevitable result is a culture wherein making a mistake is housed in fear that, in turn, limits learning and even the taking of reasonable risks based upon real-time learning.
Developmental suggestions related to Inspires Continuous Learning:
• Use “after action” discussions with your colleagues and direct reports to highlight the positives and areas of improvement for individual and work group mistakes and problems in performance.
• Use both financial and nonfinancial rewards to acknowledge behavior and performance that is consistent with continuous learning along with your “philosophy of mistakes;” for example:
When someone brings a mistake to your attention, positively acknowledge the behavior as a part of your process of working through the mistake.
Take time to recognize and celebrate advancements and improvements that are traced back to learning from an earlier mistake, , for example, Fleming’s discovery of penicillin when a laboratory dish was accidentally left uncovered.
• Understand and be able to articulate the significance of continuous learning and the relationship between reasoned risk-taking and learning.
• Share stories of effective risk-taking from your functional area, business, science, current affairs, or history that illustrate the learning and performance outcomes from thoughtful and considered risk-taking. For example, the first heart catheterization was performed when a physician inserted a catheter into his own vein and guided it into the right chamber of his heart, and then X-rayed himself to prove it had been accomplished.
• Share stories of continuous learning and risk-taking successes and failures from your own career, including the lessons you derived from those experiences.
We trust this more detailed review of the key behaviors involved in each of the five Best Boss dimensions has helped further illustrate the intent behind those dimensions. The ideas for specific actions you can take to further develop and demonstrate desired Best Boss behaviors will set a strong foundation for your own action planning.
Best Boss Action Planning and Actualization Worksheets
Action Objectives and Plan
These worksheets provide a simple framework to focus and sustain your journey toward mastering Best Boss behaviors. Additional original copies are included in the Appendix along with a completed example to facilitate your weekly planning and activities over as many weeks as it takes to reach your desired level of mastery.
Step 1: Based on your self-assessment and review in this chapter, please identify between two and three of the most important areas for development and write the dimension titles in the chart below.
Step 2: Next, for each dimension chosen, identify up to three of the lowest-rated behaviors in the respective dimensions
Priority |
Top Priorities for Development |
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Dimension title |
Lowest rated dimension behaviors (up to 3 per dimension) |
1 |
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Dimension title |
Lowest rated dimension behaviors (up to 3 per dimension) |
2 |
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Dimension title |
Lowest rated dimension behaviors (up to 3 per dimension) |
3 |
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Step 3: For each prioritized behavior, create a weekly action plan using the forms provided
Behavioral objective |
What I plan to do this week |
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From the Priority List mentioned earlier, choose a low-rated behavior to address this week and write it in the space below: |
Get specific on what you plan to do as it pertains to this behavior: |
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Dimension title: Behavior: |
Who: |
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Learning partner |
Supportive stakeholders |
Contingent reward for success |
End of week Self-rating 10=high; 1=low |
Who will be your learning partner for this objective that will observe you in action and provide feedback? |
Who will you identify as key stakeholders for moral support? |
How will you reward yourself if you make notable progress this week? |
Based on input from others and your own self-observation, how would you rate progress on this objective? |
Step Four: Actualization
In this concluding section, we present a few ideas, suggestions, and mechanisms for ensuring your desired Best Boss behaviors are self-sustaining over time. Simply stated, three factors are at play when you attempt to change your behavior:
• Knowledge: This includes information and insight. Hopefully, your review of our research results provides useful insights; your assessment and action-planning work provides information. The challenge, of course, is converting knowledge into action.
• Skill: We can achieve an intellectual grasp of many activities, but successful performance of complex activities requires practice and skill development. In his 2008 book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the findings of psychologist Anders Ericsson, which set the 10,000 hours of practice standard for becoming truly expert at some activity. Later research suggests that focused, intense practice requires less time to achieve comparable levels of mastery. Our point here is that you will likely require quite a bit of practice to get really good at your desired Best Boss skills.
• Attitude and motivation: Colin Powell famously observed that “attitude is a force multiplier.” We can get a lot more done if we understand and leverage our own motivational dynamics. It may be something as simple as “I do my best thinking and writing in the morning,” to something as complex as “the continued existence and success of my work group depends upon my ability to get everyone on board with these needed changes.” Considering both the extrinsic (e.g., financial, reputational) and the intrinsic (e.g., sense of accomplishment, mastery or contribution) rewards will be key in your realization of desired changes in your own behavior. What will it take to get you moving and keep you moving in pursuit of your desired behavior changes?
Our favorite tools for supporting behavior change include the following:
• Put it in writing: Writing out your objectives and plans has been found to increase the likelihood of following through on them.
• Chart your progress: Calendars, wall charts, Gantt charts, dashboards, and the like provide visual reinforcement and sustain motivation.
• Go public: Sharing your objectives with key stakeholders in your work and in your life will help keep you motivated.
• Enlist a buddy (or two!): The value of personal support in making behavior changes is well documented in many aspects of life, including the overcoming of addiction in the 12-step rehabilitation program.
• Engage the services of a professional coach: Used for decades by leading organizations to facilitate the development of C-suite successors, research shows that one-on-one coaching work with an experienced executive coach over a period of six months to a year has a significant impact on the behavior and business impact of the coaching client.
• Celebrate successes: Give yourself credit for progress as the journey unfolds.
• Consider the wisdom of the ages including “Life is a journey, not a destination” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).