Most of the time, unless we're incredibly lucky, waking up to go into work is in itself, a drag. You have to haul yourself out of bed at early hours in the morning, or stay late at night when you should be curled into bed sleeping. You spend a good majority of your week there.
What makes work more bearable, however, is great co-workers, and more importantly, a great boss.
Being in a supervising role gives you the ability to shape your employees into who you want them to be to help your workplace thrive. Productivity needs to be up, customer experiences need to be good, and overall performance needs to be improving, right?
We've all had that supervisor or manager that made your day. They'd walk into the building with a smile and ask how your day is going. When you do something well, they praise you for it. When you do something wrong, they pull you aside and talk to you privately. They only yell when they absolutely need to.
And we've all had that supervisor who took every chance they had to make their employees miserable. No matter what you do, you cannot succeed in their eyes. They're condescending and put you on edge whenever they're within your vicinity. They humiliate their employees in the presence of others "so you won't do it again."
This doesn't work well. Just because someone is in a position of power does not mean they should be abusing it.
Abusing power can become a vicious cycle leading to dissatisfaction from employees, customers, and anyone else affected by the business.
When an employee is constantly looking over their shoulder to see if their boss is standing there watching them, they feel more pressure. This pressure over time can get to a person, leading to stress. Stress decreases happiness and confidence in the workplace, leading to a decrease in performance. Because they aren't performing to the manager's standards, the person in the position of power also becomes increasingly frustrated and begins to take it out on the employees more.
Fear and respect do not go hand in hand. You do not need to have someone fear you to respect you.
A calm and supportive environment does wonders for employee satisfaction and productivity.
Don't be that boss people go home and complain to their spouse about. Don't be that boss that sends people home in tears. Don't be that boss that causes a high turnover in the work place. Be the boss that builds people up and promotes teamwork. Be the boss that develops relationships with their employees. Be the boss that makes employees feel valued and appreciated.
Don't abuse your power.
