from holiday!’ This doesn’t mean that you, the leader, ought to be
soft or indecisive – staff actually don’t like that – but rather that you
need to convey the rich tapestry of authoritativeness, empathy,
decision-making and coaching ability that brings out the best in
others and in yourself.
Crucially, this depends on how you behave, as well as how you
think. It sounds like a simple step, but it can be a difficult one. It’s
analogous to the difference between reading about the Olympics and
learning how to swim.
As Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence notes, emotional or
behavioural patterns are more deeply set and require more effort to
change than knowledge-based patterns of thinking. We’ll explore this
some more in Chapter 6. It has also been convincingly illustrated that
the behaviour of a boss actually affects the blood pressure of his or her
team. Researchers at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College
concluded: ‘Your boss could be damaging your health.’ In a controlled
experiment, the researchers measured the blood pressure of healthcare
assistants who had two supervisors who worked on alternate days of
the week. Those who had one boss they liked and one they did not
had significantly higher blood pressure than a control group, who
liked both their bosses. (New Scientist, 5 January 2002.)
Everybody has a boss. Few would argue that they are not important
in their lives. And all of us can remember the boss from hell, as well
as the boss who really helped us to transform our lives.
Think about who your boss really is, especially if you have more
than one boss, or if you’ve had three new bosses over the last 16
months, or if you have a virtual boss.
Studies suggest that effective managers make the time and effort to
build effective working relationships with their bosses.
4
However,
momentum complete leadership chapter one
3
pages 2 /
All of us can remember the boss from hell, as well as
the boss who really helped us to transform our lives.