Will you miss your boss?

Last week I was invited to attend going away party for one of our retiring senior managers who was direct manager for one of my close friends.  In the end of the event my friend was very upset and could not hold back her tears. While comforting her I was wondering how many people do cry when they lose their manager.  

My friend has worked with him for eight years and she truly believes that he is the best manager and a leader she ever had. She said that he helped her to reach her full potential by challenging and pulling out the best of her even when she did not believe that she had it in her.  He knew everyone’s job inside out and found time to share his knowledge with her and the other employees.  

Although he was never my manager and we never worked in the same department, it was very sad for me to see him leave and many other employees felt the same way. He had leadership qualities that many of us wanted to see in our own managers.

There are many leadership theories describing different leadership approaches, such as trait, situational, and skills approach.  “Servant leadership is an approach focusing on leadership from the point of view of the leader and his or her behaviors. Servant leaders put followers first, empower them, and help develop their full personal capacities.” (Northouse, 2013) Spears (2002) identified 10 characteristics that are central to the development of servant leadership which are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.  I will say that this retired manager certainly displayed behaviors of the servant leader.  He was available to anyone in our company. Even I went to him from time to time to ask for advice.  He had an extraordinary impact on his employees by helping them to grow personally and professionally. For example, majority of his employees who did not have undergraduate degree, either working on finishing them right now or already finished it. Turnover in his department is mainly due to promotions. His employees are very confident and self-sufficient and as a result more effective at accomplishing their jobs.

According to Northouse (2013), one of the outcomes of servant leadership is that followers themselves may become servant leaders. I am certain that because of this manager’s behaviors, some employees in his department will become just like him – servant leaders, who will also make positive impact on their followers’ personal and professional lives.  He will be greatly missed. Would you miss your boss?

Reference:

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.