There have been many discussions on resignations and toxic workplaces in various forums. So I decided to check it out with a good number of people on how they felt about their immediate boss. All they had to do was to type one word to describe him/her on the question I had posted on www.menti.com. The word cloud that emerged as you can see is very interesting.
Three words stood out – Rude, Inhuman, and Considerate. What surprised me was that the first two go hand in hand, but the third one is almost the opposite!
There were many negative words but, it was heartening to see quite a few positive words used for describing the Boss.
What I did next was to check whether their boss’ behavior impacted their performance. The answers were a vehement YES.
The ones who had described their bosses with negative words were keen to move out of the organization at the first opportunity. The toxic workplace atmosphere was affecting their well-being in terms of physical and mental health as well as relationships. They couldn’t take it anymore. This again leads us to the cliché saying that employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.
The ones who had used positive words were happy to stay on and were doing well almost in all aspects of their life.
“Being considerate of others will take you further in life than any college or professional degree.” – Marian Wright Edelman
A positive attitude can work wonders in the workplace
My conversation with my respondents brought to light qualities that make people great bosses. I have summarized my understanding of what they said as to what made a person a GREAT boss. Let me explain this by using GREAT as an acronym:
The Acronym GREAT
- Greet people with a smile – their smile radiates that they are warm and approachable
Reach out to people – they have no ego, they are there for everyone
Empathetic – they feel the pain of others and find solutions to help
Appreciative – they appreciate people even for little things
Teach and learn – they are eager to teach what they know and have the humility to learn from anyone
I understand that the pressures on people at the workplace have led to turning working humans into working machines. There is no time to be human in the true sense.
The good news is that it’s never too late for anything!
The world is terribly in need of compassion and kindness. People spend the greater part of their life at the workplace – physically, mentally, and of course online. A toxic work atmosphere can do great harm to mankind.
Can we do something to make the world a little better by spreading kindness?
I believe it is possible. Let me share how. The first step is to appreciate the little things around us. People who help us, work with us to make our life comfortable. They could be just anybody – our chauffeur, the cleaning staff, mom, spouse, children, colleagues, the cafeteria guy.
Appreciation helps in feeling grateful. Gratitude in turn makes us feel kind toward others. Acts of kindness add grace to our lives and make others as well as ourselves feel good. It brings blessings from God.
I received this thought-provoking message and it provides deep insight:
“Our phone stays close to us. It supports us in various ways. We always need it and keep it charged every day of our life.”
Action:
Identify those who support you in various ways and charge them daily with love, appreciation, kindness, and compassion. Remember the golden rule – “ Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”.
So, wait no more, just start your day by Greeting with a Smile and follow the steps given in the acronym GREAT.
Be a GREAT Boss and have a GREAT day every day!
