My Poynter colleague Butch Ward and I have a shared philosophy about being a boss. We discuss it with managers at the beginning of our seminars. Butch phrases it well: “Nothing you say or do goes unnoticed.”
It’s true. When you become a supervisor, you’re “always on.” Someone’s always watching you, looking for cues and clues to questions like:
- How are things really going?
- How am I doing, boss?
- What’s important to you?
You may answer those questions whenever employees ask — but this isn’t about direct conversations. It’s about the way people translate your actions as they observe you.
Knowing you’re “always on” — on stage, on display, open to interpretation — can be be intimidating. It can also be empowering, as you learn to be strategic, intentional and clear in your words and deeds, lest people misread you.
And believe me, they do. I like to ask veteran managers if they’ve ever discovered a rule they never knew they’d made. Indeed they have. They tell stories about casual remarks, one-off suggestions or situations that morphed — without their knowledge — into a mandate they supposedly made. A comment like: “I wonder if text message abbreviations are turning the world into terrible spellers?” turns into the common wisdom: “Don’t ever send a message to the boss using an abbreviation.”
So be on the alert for the messages people read into your behaviors. Here are some common cues or miscues:
- Work like me. People watch the hours you keep. If you’re a start early/stay late boss, some staff may assume you expect them to match you, hour for hour. It’s common for people to think the way to keep your respect is to be there when you are. Be clear about your expectations. And repeat them often.
- Talk to me 24/7. Technology is our friend, but it can telegraph wrong messages. Recently, a manager told me she’s changed her habit of sending staff e-mails very late at night or early in the morning. To her, it was simply about getting tasks done or thoughts captured before she forgot them. But for her staff, the wee hours time stamp on her e-mails seemed like pressure to reply asap. Today, the manager still writes those moonlight e-mails, but she files them as drafts and sends them out at reasonable hours.
- I like these folks best. Great bosses know that when they work the room, people are watching and listening. If you spend too much time, too often, with one group of staff, they can be seen as favored. Recently, a new manager told me he realized he’d been spending way too much time commiserating with the work group he was part of before his promotion. It was his comfort zone. But the rest of the staff wanted his attention, too.
- Here’s how people should be treated. If people see you address the cleaning crew and the CEO with the same level of respect, you send a powerful message. If you make it a point to visibly network and collaborate with other work groups, rather than just talk about “those people” from afar, your team is less likely to become a silo.
- Life is good/bad/meh. Is your office door open or closed? Are you walking with your head up or down? Are you smiling more or less these days? Giving more compliments or criticisms? You’re a walking barometer for the pressure in the workplace, especially in a tough economy or times of change. Now, YOU might not be thinking anything negative at all, but people who are fearful of the worst may read bad news into your behaviors, so beware.
Great bosses know that being on stage doesn’t mean being a phony or an actor. It means they have a unique platform from which to teach, coach and inspire. They also know their moods and actions are contagious. In today’s podcast, I talk about that contagion and the effect it can have on your team’s performance.
Poynter’s “What Great Bosses Know” podcast is sponsored by The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Poynter’s leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares practical information that’s valuable for bosses in newsrooms and everywhere.
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