If I were a boss

If I were a boss

If I were the boss I would treat employees like people, not like machines or "resources". Make sure they feel comfortable asking those questions or raising issues. Celebrate everyone's birthday with a cake. These little things make a world of difference.

Be open with them about what is going on in the business side of things. The point is to make employees see at least some of the big picture in addition to their immediate responsibilities, so that they feel more like partners in the company, and less like cogs in a machine.

Good working conditions. Also, having a meal together regularly, like once a week, preferably with beer, is great for morale.

If I were a boss I would motivate my employees to perform more in my company and choose a team leader to help me when I’m not around. I would discuss the project plan with my team leader and ask them how they see the new person being utilized over the remainder of the project. Highlight activities that I think would benefit from additional resource and what the payoff would be to the project, say, reduced risk of missing a key deadline.

This takes the conversation away from the difficult territory of criticizing my team leader and into a more productive conversation about what's best for the project.