This Time To Decide Bosses or Leaders?

Bosses or Leaders, A good work environment is essential to retain and attract talent and maintain adequate motivation and performance to keep an organization on growth and success. That is why a good leader who knows how to lead teams healthily through active listening, participation, dialogue, trust, and communication is essential. But that is why we must differentiate between bosses and leaders. There are many bosses, thousands, it is the person who has authority in a group and who tries to impose their criteria on the rest of the team, but the leaders are the ones who generate trust and with whom you can work side by side, those are rare. 

On the contrary, there is also the toxic leader who would be the opposite. He is the one who tries and ruins the so-called ‘expectations management’ which is the set of actions carried out by an organization both to attract talent and to maintain the motivation of a collaborator so that he maintains the daily effort in his work and checks that his actions are not in vain so that he does not lose interest or enthusiasm for his work.

The difference between bosses and leaders is that the latter empowers people.

Gallup’s ‘Guide for Great Managers: What They Do Differently and Why They Matter’ starts from the idea that good leaders are influential because they act not like bosses but like coaches. While the former says how to succeed, the latter only conveys what needs to be done. “Just as a ‘toxic boss’ can ruin a good job, a great leader can make a good position even better,” says the document resulting from an investigation by the consultancy.

Characteristics of a good leader

This guide identifies five characteristics that a good leader and boss who leads a group should have: motivates and engages team members; is assertive and resilient; help create a culture of responsibility; they build relationships based on trust, transparency, and dialogue and, finally, make decisions based on productivity and not on politics.

There is a critical differentiation that this document makes. The coaches (leaders) establish clear expectations and objectives for the performance of the tasks, with comments that optimize the individual strengths of the collaborators and result in an increase in the team’s effectiveness. This is an unusual practice, according to the consultant. Only 26% of employees acknowledge receiving feedback that helps them do a better job. ‘Toxic’ bosses, however, routinely look for opportunities to correct or make their employees feel that their performance is not up to par.

Now, once we are faced with a superior of these characteristics, how can we manage the situation? The ideal would be to speak with the human resources area and honestly expose the problem to reverse the situation.

Also Read: What Distinguishes A Brand From A Company That “Only” Sells?