A good boss can make your career, but a bad boss can break it – and a new survey finds that plenty of Americans have learned that lesson the hard way.
A survey of about 2,000 adults, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the careers website Glassdoor, found that two-thirds of people said their boss had had some kind of impact on their career.
For about half of those people, the impact had been positive and their bosses had helped their careers. For about 20 percent, it had been negative and their bosses had hurt their careers. The remainder said the impact had been neither positive nor negative.
Bosses can be smart, talented and expert in their field, but that does not mean they are also good at managing people. They don’t understand that if you take care of your people, they will take care of you. In other words, when they perform well, so do you.
Good bosses support collaborative teamwork, listen, trust and lead by example. Of course, a boss/employee relationship goes both ways and there are plenty of things each can do to make the relationship better.
Put yourself in the other persons’ shoes. Ask to “shadow” your boss and what things keep them up at night. For bosses, do the same and listen. The best way to find out what motivates or demotivates someone is to simply ask.