Who works for whom?

One of the bosses I’ve worked for who had the greatest influence on my leadership style happened to be someone with whom I spent the least amount of time. In early 2007, my methods of managing others were still based mostly on having worked lots of retail and directing the efforts of Marines in fast-paced working environments. My communication and decision-making was usually very straightforward and based on my first instincts. It would also have been fair to say I could be somewhat abrasive at times toward the people I supervised. Still, a senior manager at my organization saw some potential in me, and took a chance on promoting me within his group.

I sincerely think of that year as a major turning point in my professional development. Up until then, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with my life, or even of my upward path at that company. Working for this particular boss changed that. His guidance and mentoring style not only made me a more effective leader, but gave me the confidence in myself to narrow down the direction in which I wanted to take my career.

This senior manager was what many people would consider a servant leader. He embodied a lot of the principles which I strive to continue to develop and abide by in my leadership roles to this day. He led by example, he empowered me and the other junior managers to do our jobs as effectively as possible, and he was responsive to our needs. Not all of my peers responded well to his style, but boy, I sure did! He pushed us out of our comfort zones and constantly gave us as much responsibility as he felt we could handle. He would always show us, or ask us for, a better way of doing things. He loudly celebrated our successes, and quietly after-actioned our failures to see where would could turn them into wins the next time around.

I learned better ways of talking with my employees while working for him, as his communication style was always very warm and friendly. He was so consistently positive with every situation, every team member, that I could tell he was sincere about it, and I wanted to be that way, too. Although I’ve never developed the easygoing style that seemed to come so naturally for him, I nevertheless learned to lighten up on my employees and colleagues. I also learned to stay optimistic and think constructively regardless of how frustrating a situation (or subordinate) was getting, and to continually look for, and enjoy, the positive things in my environment. This optimism has carried over into my personal life as well.

Most of all, he removed every obstacle to our success. This absolutely did not mean cutting us a lot of slack or letting us get away with anything we wanted. Instead, he listened to what we had to say and collaborated with us in improving our performance, audit scores, and customer experience. He asked what we wanted out of our time working for him or for the organization, and found creative ways to focus our growth and energy such that it always seemed to fit our business needs.

This particular boss enabled me and others to bring forth the best within ourselves -- for our own good, for each other, and for our customers. I decided I wanted to be like him, even though at that time I didn’t fully appreciate why we were such a high-performing team. The reason our group was was so successful was because all the time we thought we were working for him, he was truly working every day for us.

Have you ever worked “for” a really amazing boss? Please feel free to contribute to the discussion in the comments section! If you’ve enjoyed spending a few minutes reading “The Boss Perspective,” subscribe and share this site with your friends, Like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @BossPerspective.