Listen to your people. Know your goals and listen to your people. Find them, talk to them and listen.

Being a good boss can be that simple. Sometimes it is called management by walking around. But it is also being aware of your surroundings. People talk about different things. Some people just like to complain, don’t just filter them out, listen and see if there is a way to make things better. Some talk about their families, look around see if there is anythingthat can be improved. See if you can make their life better. Sometimes people will actually say how to make things better, that is a really good time to listen, and do something. Try. If you can’t figure out how to make things better, figure out why, then explain why it couldn’t happen. Maybe an alternative solution may be found. Try to make things better.

Unfortunately most bosses are not good bosses. It is just human nature. They may unjustifiably belive they are smarter, or have a better idea. Things like ego and narcissism commonly get in the way. I am old enough to have had many bosses. Occasionally I myself have been boss. I find it a bit frightening because of the responsibility. That actually may help me be a better boss because I want my people to be happy. That is why I talk to them, to see what makes them happy. I may remind them why we are here in the job. It is very productive to be able to explain your job simply. It is how we do things. The vast majority of people want to do things right. Some do not, they will need to find something that they will be happy at.

Sometimes people will ask me how I put up with a bad boss. I will say I have had worse. Let me tell a few stories of bad bosses I have had. These are sad, but true.

Some time ago a neighboring department had a new electrical engineer that was fresh out of the Navy. She was smart, and pretty. I will call her Cherry. Cherry quickly moved up into management. She went from engineer to supervisor, to foreman of the department next to where I worked. She also liked her boy toys. She would provide her toys with promotions. Really. She liked to party also. She had a nice chromed Harley and a big jacked up Jeep. They then put Cherry in charge the entire floor of 500 people. That included me. She put one of her boy toys in charge of me. I will him Jerry. Jerry was an alcoholic and on the shift before mine. I did not have a problem with him. I would go up and ask what he wanted me to do, then I would do it. Sometimes he would get mad about silly things. I would try to diffuse the situation. However this story is not about me. It is about Benn. Benn was a good natured mechanic, in a way I was his supervisor for a time because I would assign machines and teach him how to do his job. Before he worked for me I had noticed a couple times I had some unexplained accidents. When Benn worked for me, I would explain what he needed to do, and he would happily do it. Very nice guy and fun to be with was what I thought. He had no accidents when he worked for me. We shared good times.

This not a story about me. I was fortunate enough to get an early retirement so I could leave and find a different job. This is a story about Cherry, Jerry and Benn. I had a couple of go around with Cherry before I left, but that is a different story. When things did not go Jerry’s way, he would yell at the problem. This is a pretty common, but non productive way to deal with stress. The he would call people names. This is a bit less common, and even less productive way to deal with stress. At this point Cherry was on top. She was the plant manager. She allowed the behavior.

One thing I did was defend my people from abuse from above. Sadly I was not there to defend Benn. I was told Jerry was particularly abusive to Benn one day. Benn went home and hanged himself. A year or so later Jerry retired and tried to start his own business. He was unsuccessful and ended up shooting himself dead. When Cherry retired I stopped by and congratulated her as the longest serving plant manager. Cherry was unhappy because she never moved up in the corporate world, in her eyes she was stuck in the hinterlands.

I knew these people and their families. I knew the cars they drove. But I only remember one license plate, it belonged to Cherry. It was “Meaner”

Before that I had another boss in a welding shop I worked at. Well it really wasn’t a shop, we worked on the road a lot. One time I was working in the bottom of a hydroelectric power plant cleaning a turbine. There was safety tape around the top of the hole I was in. It was tied in part to a cast iron table. My boss was up there talking with someone when he leaned on the table and pushed it into the hole I was in. It almost missed me. It put a nice gash in my arm that took years to heal.

Later on the same boss had me build a three story scaffold in a chemical refinery to remove a six inch valve that was painted orange. When I removed the valve it had a terrible smelling orange fluid in it. It was like chlorine and ammonia. I had to carry the valve down the scaffolding. Later he wanted me to remove a long pipe painted the same color. I made him promise three time the pipe was empty. It wasn’t. I felt like I was going to die. For three days all I would say is “I Quit”. After three days they brought me home. I was not going to give that guy another chance to get me. A few years later I was told he had fell off a bridge and broke nearly every bone in his body. People felt pretty bad about it. I said that it could not have happened to a nicer person. I was very glad that it wasn’t me.

I have fought back with my bosses. They can be bullies. I had one that would get mad and randomly fire people every month. It was like clockwork. I could see it coming. I would try to warn people when I saw him in his mood. Most people understood and listened. Some did not. One time he was going to fire me. We went outside and yelled in each other’s faces. After that he did not bother me.

I have a few other stories, but I will end with this one. Not long ago I had a boss we called the whistler. Every time he came into the shop whistling, he would fire someone. Everytime he fired someone he would whistle. He never whistled unless he fired someone. Really. This went on for many years. He finally retired.

Be a good boss, don’t be mean. Don’t allow people to be mean to each other. Finally, give people proper instruction. Set them up for success.