Two things you can do to be a more effective boss
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Want to know two of the keys to being a top performing boss? Carol Hymowitz' column in today's Wall Street Journal, titled "Effective Management Remains An Art Steeped in Good Relationships" is the place to look. Here's the money quote.
"The more executives I interviewed and wrote about, the more I realized that the most effective ones review their own performance at least as frequently and as thoroughly as they review the work of their employees. They also constantly adapt their management styles to meet different challenges and to motivate different employees."
As Jim Blasingame would say: "Write that on a rock." If you don’t' want to carry a rock with you, put that quote on an index card you can read several times a day.
That quote sums up two of the things I found separated great supervisors from the rest of the pack. They're among the core behaviors I talk about in the Working Supervisor's Support Kit.
Great supervisors critique their own supervisory performance. I studied 36 supervisors who were rated excellent by their bosses, their peers and their subordinates. All of them, every one, had a way to critique his or her own performance.
Great supervisors adapt their behavior to meet the different needs of subordinates. They adapt communication and supervision to a subordinate's personal preferences and skill level.
Sure, there are other things that are important. But if you can improve your behavior on these two dimensions, you'll make a dramatic improvement in your effectiveness.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
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Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.
Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.
For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.
Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.


I strongly agree with the article. I have been reading a book called Leading With Kindness and it stress the importance of peer and self reviews for all employees including executives. I think some executives do not have reviews of their performance because they are too focused on the performance of other individuals and don’t consider looking at their own performance. Especially, in situations where no one in the company is in the position to feel comfortable critiquing an executive. The book just like the article makes it clear that the most effective bosses are the ones that review their own performance and look for honest feedback.
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Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comments and book recommendation. In fairness, I think many top executives don't seek feedback on their performance from subordinates because they came up at a time what that wasn't done.
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