Moment of honesty: when was the last time you stopped and considered if you were a good or a bad boss? Not whether your organization was hitting its goals and your MBOs were in good order, but whether you’re truly a great boss.

In a recent HBR blog post, Robert Sutton argues that most bosses believe they are far more effective than their teams perceive. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe is a sobering read, and I’d strongly encourage you to take a look if you manage any staff, period.

Sutton explores many counterintuitive views he believes great bosses embody. Among them, good bosses believe their success – and their team’s success – depends on mastering mundane tasks over breakthrough ideas. Or, bad is stronger than good – eliminating the negative has more impact than emphasizing the positive.

One rule in particular stood out to me given its relevance in service operations where bosses are several layers removed from the action. Sutton claims that many bosses live in a “fool’s paradise” but great bosses accept that they have a flawed, often skewed, sense of what it is like to work for them. They accept staff members having a far more accurate view of reality.

Here are simple set of considerations that I’ve personally witnessed in the course of working with hundreds of executives and their teams:

1. Do you formally expect your team to be the driving force of ideas? Not yourself, but your team. Sutton highlights the story of David Kelley, Chairman of IDEO, who made it a point to “disappear” in meetings (both literally and figuratively) to ensure his presence wasn’t an unnecessary distraction and those closest to the problems ideated on their own. In my own experiences, I’ve seen great bosses ask more questions than issue directives in brainstorming sessions, encouraging ideas rather than pronouncing them.
2. Are you really taking time to listen to the frontline? I know every single service organization has some programs where execs and managers spend time listening to a handful of calls a month, but when was the last time you spent 30 minutes picking the brain of a CSR? I’ve attended meetings with organizations where a supervisor or CSR stops the room cold with amazing insight into a problem.
3. When was the last time you openly admitted you were wrong? Perhaps more an outcome than a practice, but the best bosses will admit they hadn’t considered all the variables at hand, or a particular initiative did not work. This provides staff an opportunity to contribute and think through solutions.

Certainly this is not a comprehensive list, but I hope it encourages you to think about the best bosses you’ve had. What made them so great? What are the most creative ways you’ve seen bosses avoid a “fool’s paradise?” Please share!

For CCC members, our talent management area on the site is loaded with ideas to improve managerial effectiveness and staff performance in the service organization.

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1. The Benefits of Managing Smaller
2. Snowed In…and Moonlighting as a Remote Rep