What Great Bosses Know

Managers often say that smart employees know their bosses want "no surprises", meaning that the boss doesn't get blindsided by bad news employees knew but didn't share. Still, it happens all the time, and not necessarily because the employee was trying to hide something. Sadly, bosses may send out signals that discourage people from being candid with them. How do you know if you are sending those signals?
The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares a series of questions to ask yourself and your staff. This podcast accompanies a Great Bosses column on the Poynter website, which you can read here: http://bit.ly/dczPZs

In today's podcast, the Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler identifies some very common ways bosses get into trouble with their words. She offers advice on eight scenarios. This podcast accompanies a column with additional information on the Poynter website. Here's a link: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=34&aid=177017

It's not enough to be a boss who's an expert on your product.
You have to understand how to get the best out of people -- and you can't do that without emotional intelligence. The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler talks about what emotional intelligence looks like in the workplace, why it matters, and how to improve yours. For more information, you can read her column "What Great Bosses Know about Emotional Intelligence" on Poynter's website here:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=34&aid=176576

The best leaders are continuous learners. But how do you find the time and what do you choose to learn? The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler offers tips to help managers make the best use of their learning time and some personal insights for those who want to go beyond learn topics and skills and pursue a graduate degree while working.

You can be a great boss with great employees -- but still not succeed if your systems for getting things done are flawed. That's why the Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler believes leaders need to do "systems checks" -- examining and updating the technical and human processes in organizations. In this podcast, she offers a way to get started -- with a look at four systems you can check right away. And for more, check out her column on Poynter.org:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=34&aid=175886

A key to growing as a leader and helping your team succeed is understanding that managing today's workload isn't enough. It may be tempting to get totally involved in putting out today's fires, but unless bosses understand and communicate strategy, they're limiting their chances of success. There are six things you can do to become a strategic leader, no matter what level you occupy in the organization, and the Poynter Institute's Jill Geisler shares the six -- and some helpful advice. Here's a link to her column, with more information, on Poynter.org: http://bit.ly/8XPHUP If you haven't seen the website, it is a wonderful free resource on leadership, writing, photojournalism and ethics.

Doubling the amount of feedback you currently give employees is a great way to build their performance as well as yours as a leader. But you have to have a system for doing it, which involves custom-tailoring it for each employee. It's not as time consuming as it sounds, once you learn to wear what the Poynter Institute's leadership expert Jill Geisler calls "feedback glasses."

Five resolutions for the New Year can help you become a great boss. They involve the way you lead people, manage yourself, and analyze your work and workflow. The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert, Jill Geisler explains the five key things, and offers advice on how to make your resolutions stick.

"Best Practices" are the kind of boss behaviors that employees applaud. The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler collects examples of them. She's read thousands of feedback reports that employees provide the managers in her seminars, so she knows what constitutes "best." In today's podcast, she shares some of the most impressive comments about bosses -- and the trends she has seen in the past year.

Malcontents can bring down the performance of an entire team. It's the manager's challenge to find out if they are chronic Grinches or good employees with grievances -- and to address their behaviors. The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler talks about tackling behaviors first rather than attitudes - the how and the why.

Time management is much easier for supervisors when their bosses are in on the plan. Many middle managers tell me their struggles to get control of their time are exacerbated by some of the actions of their bosses. The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares a series of tips for bosses who want to help, not hinder time management.

Tips for rookie managers are important -- because many of them never had management training before or even after their promotions. In a Poynter Institute seminar for new managers, the group shared a list of top tips, and seminar leader Jill Geisler summarizes them in this podcast.

Incentives are the way we let our best people know we value them. But what's a boss to do when the economy puts the squeeze on pay, perks and promotions? The Poynter Institute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler looks at 8 approaches to successful incentives, even in tight times. She also offers advice to make certain the incentives don't backfire.

Brand new managers often step into the role of boss with little or no management training. As a result, they learn from trial and error. To minimize those errors, the Poynter Insitute's leadership and management expert Jill Geisler looks at the five most common errors new managers make and how to avoid them. She also takes on the challenge of "imposter syndrome" that bedevils both new and experience managers.

Saying "no" to requests -- assignments, tasks, favors, can be tricky for managers. Lacking an effective strategy for saying "no," they too often take on work they shouldn't be doing and they lose control of their time and priorities. The Poynter Institutes leadership and management expert Jill Geisler shares a strategy for saying "no" and why "maybe" isn't a good option.

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