The key for any professional seeking employment, promotion, or career satisfaction is to be surrounded by the right kind of people. This is why career coaches, such as myself, suggest you get to know your prospective manager during the interview process.
Whether you are just starting to do this or you have actively been interviewing bosses and not just looking for opportunities, here are 3 qualities you will want in your ideal boss and why:
1. Integrity
A boss with integrity behaves in private as if the whole world is watching. They do what they’re supposed to do even when there is no threat of being found out or being held accountable. I have a friend I will call Love. He talks with admiration about his boss. He works in an industry that requires certifications, but not all of them can or are enforced. What he loves about his boss is that she made sure to meet new state qualification requirements even when there was no governing body forcing her to do so. If you don’t think that matters to you, consider what you see your boss do in private and how that impacts the way that you view them.
2. Milestone-Minded
Milestones are the times in our lives that determine the course of how we live. They include births and birthdays, deaths and marriages, and even severe illnesses. It is a cycle of growth referred to as Life/Death/Life to correspond with the life, death, and rebirth that happens when these milestones take place. Love, my friend, painted a picture for me of a village where one family experiences a death and the entire community descends upon them with casserole upon casserole. The community cares for all the family’s earthly needs so that, for a time, they could simply grieve. What does your boss do to rally the tribe so that you feel supported during such milestones? How do you show up when your boss calls upon you to pitch in?
3. Invested
The third sign of a great boss is someone who is invested in their people and, according to my friend Love, “sees them as a resource in the best possible way.” This does not mean that they merely spend money on the people in their professional care, but that they acknowledge, recognize, and celebrate the HUMAN part of HUMAN RESOURCES.
Great bosses believe in their people both in theory and demonstratively, so that those same people are clear that they matter and together you are all working to achieve something great.
While it can be easy to say that anything we don’t like or approve of makes for a bad boss, it is just as important to consider the fact that great leaders may not be born, but made. What do you do to not just identify, but to contribute to the making of a great boss?
Whether you are actively searching for your next boss, or are investing in your current one, it is important for you to know what makes for a great boss so that together you can aspire to extraordinary things.
