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65% of Americans Choose a Better Boss Over a Raise -- Here's Why

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Hard to believe?

According to Michelle McQuaid, a world leader in positive psychology interventions in the workplace, if you feel unappreciated, uninspired, lonely, and miserable, you’re not alone.

In a survey of  1000 American Executives McQuaid found a "whopping" 35 percent of Americans are happy at their job. And, 65 percent say a better boss would make them happy. Only 35 percent say a pay raise will do the same thing.

It would appear that working in the cubes is no picnic for a very large percentage of the workforce.

As I write this, we’re in the midst of National Boss’s Day. I wonder if Patricia Bays Haroski (the woman behind the holiday) and her colleagues felt this way when they registered the day with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958.

You might also be interested to know that most people trust a stranger more than they trust their boss.

A 2009 study published by the Harvard Business Review suggested, “…the majority of people say they trust a stranger more than they trust their boss.”

My wife and I were talking about this in relation to the Presidential election and the fact checking the media is conducting this election cycle. I know politicians are accused of making promises they don’t keep. I also acknowledge I only trust about 40 percent of what they say is true (regardless of whether or not they are Red or Blue). I just don’t remember fact checkers calling “Pants on fire!” after every debate or public appearance.

Unfortunately, it looks like my 40 percent rule is now applied to the boss. How would you fare if your statements to employees were fact-checked?

Most of the bosses I’ve not trusted shared a common trait—they could talk the talk, but weren’t very good at walking the walk. In other words, I couldn’t count on what they told me today being true tomorrow.

In my opinion, corporate America has a real crisis in leadership. In her column earlier today, my friend Cheryl Conner mentions a couple of very successful guys who happen to have reputations for being terrible bosses—Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump. “Trump even made a second career of horrible bosshood with The Apprentice,” she writes.

Cheryl also mentions a number of other CEOs that are incredibly successful and take creating a good place to work very seriously. She writes:

  • Larry Page at Google introduced “20% time” that allows employees to select projects of their choice during this time to work on.
  • Tony Hseish at Zappos is so serious about ensuring his company finds the right people, after new hires complete four weeks of intensive training, to ensure they truly love the Zappos culture, he offers them a week’s salary plus $2,000 if they’d like to leave. 97% of them stay.
  • Howard Schultz at Starbucks spends more on training than he spends on advertising to help make the work environment more engaging and satisfying.
  • Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, who believed his employees came first and he came last, pioneered the concept of “servant leadership.”

Business schools seem to do a great job of teaching people how to be managers, but a lousy job of teaching people how to lead and inspire people. I’m convinced the biggest challenge faced by most business leaders today is fostering an environment where their people are engaged, enabled, and energized. Page, Hseish and Schultz have demonstrated that they can do that. Although these guys may not have their own TV shows, I don’t think there’s any question as to their ability to successfully lead their oranizations.

If Trump and Murdock are so successful, does the success of a few companies like Zappos really make a difference? I think so.

We work in an age of instant messaging, email, and other almost-instantaneous communication.  We should not let the immediacy of the medium allow us to become callous and casual in how we approach our colleagues and subordinates, even when problems arise and mistakes are made.  Even in today’s workplace, there is a place for common courtesy. Although there is no overnight fix, here are a few suggestions that might help the workforce feel better about the boss on boss’s day:

  • Take time to make communication thoughtful and cordial: When time-lines are truncated and people are asked to do more and more, take an extra few seconds when writing an email or other communiqué to consider that your communication is going to a real person.  I like to begin every email with a salutation, which reminds me that I am writing to someone.  The extra seconds it takes me to address the person I’m writing to doesn’t negatively impact my productivity, but it does help me foster a productive and cordial working relationship.
  • Take time to be polite: Sometimes difficult decisions are required—but that doesn’t mean we can throw civility out the window.  In the thirty plus years of my professional career I have watched what used to be considered common courtesy among superiors, subordinates, and coworkers become “quaint” and considered “unnecessary.”  There is nothing wrong with considering the feelings of someone needing correcting, regardless of how stupid you think they are or how big a mistake you think they made.  Being polite and considerate of each other is the very least we should be able to expect from our “professional” colleagues.  Anything less is unproductive and immature.
  • Remove the criticism from “constructive” criticism: I was taught early in my career by friends and colleagues much wiser than myself, that “criticism” was never “constructive.”  I don’t think I have ever worked with colleagues that agreed all the time.  Creative problem solving implies that it is seldom done right the first time.  Fostering a creative environment where people are solving problems and pushing for excellence requires collaboration, not criticism.  Where disagreements arise or a course change is required, “I don’t like this,” should be followed by, “Here’s why, and here’s are some suggestions as to how you might proceed. What do you think?”

Becoming a boss people can trust and creating an environment where people want to work and contribute isn’t rocket science, but it does take effort. Because of the negative impact of badly behaving bosses, Mcquaid has launched a global day of action on October 16, National Boss Day, to empower employees to help build better bosses at tellyourboss.com. Maybe you should check the site and see if any of your employees have something they’d like to say to you.