“Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.” - John Steinbeck

Early next month, I will take on a new assignment at the university. I think I’m ready for this change and I appreciate that my new boss has been very interested in my input as we talked through options for my new role. I believe I’ll be able to be useful in this interim capacity and I’m looking forward to a new opportunity to make a difference working with a group of dedicated professionals.

This has me thinking about the sort of bosses I’ve had and the sort of boss I am and I will share some thoughts about that today. I’ve had several very good bosses, some pretty bad ones, and many that were good solid leaders and managers. During my career in IT, I’ve had between 15-20 bosses over 36 years and I’ve watched many others in action or worked with them during my years in management.

While bosses have different styles, strengths and weaknesses, there are some basic functions we are all called on to perform. We are expected to provide vision and direction to accomplish the objectives of the organizations we serve and to participate in planning to identify these. We make decisions about priorities and how to accomplish these through work assignments, budget management, and technology that will help deliver results. We monitor the results and making appropriate adjustments. For me, some of the most satisfying work of being a boss has been coaching, mentoring, and facilitating professional development for our team members. I enjoy recognizing people for their contributions and expressing appreciation for their efforts whether successful or not. I don’t enjoy addressing performance issues with counseling, discipline and other measures, but it is part of the job.

One of the most significant functions a boss provides is communication. Ultimately, I think it is this, and the ability to think through what is communicated, that distinguishes the best bosses from the worst. Good communication is critical if we are to understand the goals of the organizations we serve and to share these with those we lead. It is only through effective communication that we can set direction, make clear assignments, and understand the feedback we get from staff about what it will take to achieve our goals together. It is especially important that we listen effectively so that we can communicate the ideas, and needs, of staff as we report on the progress our teams are making toward our goals.

The best bosses I’ve had have been very good listeners who were genuinely interested in the well being of the people they were leading. These were the men and women who had the greatest impact on my development and the ones I still think of today when I am faced with challenges. They tended to give away the credit for success to contributors on the teams they lead and to take responsibility when the team was struggling to deliver results or made mistakes. I trusted these people and had confidence that they trusted me. They were leaders who inspired me to give my best and to go the extra mile when needed. They built the strongest teams.

The worst bosses I’ve had were either not well suited for leadership positions or arrogant and not good at benefiting from others’ contributions. They tended not to communicate clearly what was expected, or only what they wanted and not why it mattered, and sometimes failed to communicate clear and accurate information about the needs and challenges of the team to our executives. The weaker bad bosses I had didn’t engage well with their teams to develop, and pursue, effective approaches to the work we were called on to complete. The “stronger” bad bosses I’ve had tended to advance their own ideas without considering input from the team and to take credit for the results in ways that didn't strengthen that team.

I’d like to think that most of the people who’ve worked for me would consider me to have been a good boss. I know there are a few who will consider me pretty bad and I hope there are more who would consider me very good. I’m sure I am not the best judge of what kind of boss I’ve been so you should consider this as you read my thoughts about that today. I am usually harder on myself than just about anyone else, and I’m sure I have some blind spots where I simply can’t see what it’s like for others to work with me.

On the bad end of the spectrum, I’d say that I have had to learn not to hold people to the same standards that I apply to myself as these are often too demanding. I think I’ve learned this lesson but it did cause me quite a bit of frustration earlier in my career. While I can expect too much, sometimes, I am also too accepting of less than stellar performance. I am not fond of conflict and can be reluctant to confront staff who need to improve the quality and/or quantity of work they complete or the attitude they bring to the job. I struggle with people who don’t take advantage of opportunities to change when they need to and it can be difficult to find effective strategies to encourage these adjustments. I’m not a very competitive person and I hope that hasn’t been negative for those I lead. Sometimes I wonder if I should have fought harder for them. I also tend to be protective of my team members, and I’ve been told I can be overprotective and put my team's well being before the needs of the organization.

In the middle of the spectrum, I have needed to learn to delegate more effectively and I think I have made progress there. I could be better organized and, while I can play some of the political games well, I generally despise them and will never be a natural winner at those. While I want to help them, I can’t always accomplish the things my staff wish I could. There have been times when I was sure individuals deserved to be better paid, teams needed more capacity, and budgets were not adequate to support the level of service we wanted to deliver, and yet I was not always able to secure the funding, and other support, we needed. I have been successful in dealing with some performance and discipline issues, but I struggle with this aspect of my work and I’m sure I could improve.

At my best as a boss, I listen well and genuinely care about the people who work with me. I support their growth, look for ways for them to use their skill and experience to do what they’d like to do, and help them find opportunities for professional development. I mentor, coach, and help them find satisfying ways to make a difference. I am a bottom-up and not a top-down manager. I see myself working in service of those I lead as we work to support the mission of our university. I prefer to provide our teams with a clear understanding of what is needed and then look to them to define creative and effective solutions. The ideas we explore together are almost always better than those I come up with on my own. While there is always room for improvement, I think I am a good communicator and this helps me be a good boss.

In early December, I will have a new set of teams to lead. For the first time in my career, the scope of my responsibility will be less with this new assignment. I am looking forward to this chance to focus on a smaller part of our department’s mission. I’ll be working more closely with the teams that support our faculty and staff’s end user computing needs and the specialized computing needs of our schools, colleges, and administrative divisions. Friends and colleagues have said this assignment is a good for my personality and management style, and I think their right. I hope I can be a good boss in this new role. I’m looking forward to what comes next!