How To Be The Boss People Won't Secretly Wish Falls Off A Cliff

To all the bosses out there secretly wondering what your employees are talking about in the break room or are typing into the survey HR sent out to your department- let me give you some insight.

Leadership skills and industry skills are not always the same thing. Trust me, your employees will know if you are an expert in the field. Having leadership skills is great but employees want to trust they are working for someone that understands their job. If you haven't done their job but want to learn- ask questions. Employees are more likely to appreciate your honesty over your bravado. Some of the best bosses either have done the work of the employee before (so they understand it) or they make the effort to understand the work their employee's do. Faking it won't make it- trust me your employees will know the difference right away.

Don't be the boss that says one thing but does the other. You are ten times faster to lose your employees respect if you give them rules that you yourself constantly break. Here's a few examples of what I mean:

• "Don't eat at your desk." (Your employees will smell if you break this rule)
• "No pictures or clutter on your desk" (if your company is paper based and/ or family oriented that's going to be a little tough)
• "Move those boxes faster" (If you're sitting down while telling employees top move physically move move object faster, you may want to stay out of their way. They might "accidently" drop a box on your foot.)

Ever hear of helicopter mom or helicopter in law? It means extreme hovering or to micromanage. Let me give you an example: You're sweeping the floor and in walks your worst nightmare, your helicopter in law. As you are sweeping the floor your in-law hovers over your shoulder giving you critiques on how to sweep. Every other minute you hear "You missed a spot" or "Why don't I do it? You don't seem to be good at cleaning". Are you getting annoyed just reading that? Imagine if this happened in your home real time. Take that emotion and double it, I guarantee this is how your employees will feel if you do something similar to them. Employees are well aware that the boss controls their paycheck, most of the time they'll grind their teeth and try to please you as best as possible. What you won't hear is them ranting to their co-worker after work at the nearest bar because their helicopter boss drove them to drink.

Mission impossible is a movie, not real life. Setting clear expectations for employees is great but making your expectations reasonable is even better. If you ask your employee to make you coffee do not expect a Starbucks worthy cup. If you ask them to deliver a package to downtown in less than an hour, consider traffic. Consider the task you gave your employee and then consider if it's a task that's even possible to complete. Employees are not mission impossible agents; they won't risk their job to tell you that but they will start looking for another job very soon if you keep giving them impossible tasks. You may be willing to risk life, limb, and personal life for your job but that doesn't mean everyone else wants to.

If you're the kind of boss that takes care of your employees and considers all the factors mentioned above, then your employees will go above and beyond for you. Think of your employees like an investment, the more you invest the more you get back. They might even leave you a great review with HR and never complain about you in the break room. If you're the kind of boss that expects perfection- good luck. You hired people not robots.

To all the good bosses out there that understand the job, respect the employees, doesn't hover, and gives clear instructions- on behalf of your employees we thank you!

To all the bosses that micromanages, makes impossible tasks/ demands for their employees, break rules, and disrespects their employees- on behalf of the bar industry we thank you. Driving your employees' crazy gives bars great business. Never get into an accident outside of the office, your employees will call an ambulance but then they'll celebrate that they get a few days of you not being there. And don't expect a goodbye party if your leave the company, your employees won't miss you.