Show notes and links:

A bad boss can have a huge impact on your life — to the point that the most common reason cited for someone choosing to leave a job is that they’re working for a bad boss.

But – what about the other side? What makes a truly good, great, awesome, or amazing boss? That’s a topic that has probably had millions and millions and millions of words written about it. There’s some pretty common factors in many of these writings, which I think Time’s Business blog covered pretty effectively in 2012, in an article written by Jeff Haden. His five characteristics of a great boss are:

1 – That every employee is developed with training, mentoring, and opportunities. Focusing on this, instead of on goals alone, helps every employee and therefore the team.

2 – Dealing with problems immediately. Ignoring problems often causes them to grow, and Jeff argues that dealing with them quickly keeps them from becoming larger distractions.

3 – Rescuing worst employees, by providing as many opportunities and as much coaching as possible before defaulting to eliminating.

4 – Be a servant leader, choosing to focus the spotlight — and decisions — on what serves your team rather than yourself.

and 5 – paying attention to the small moments that are more meaningful to others than to yourself.

This is just one list of what one person thinks makes someone a good boss — but experience is always the better example, so I’m more interested in what your experience has been.

This script may vary from the actual episode transcript.