Liesbeth van der Linden recalled an experience where her sales team was preparing for a crucial presentation to their new CEO. When a fire alarm disrupted the meeting, their sales director reacted with anger, furiously yelling at the hotel reception and losing focus on the bigger picture. Linden, a Fast Company contributing writer and a leadership coach, said she instantly perceived from his frantic energy and behavior that “his focus was 100% on the process and on his own winning.”
As the adage goes, people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses. In fact, the number one reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss, according to a Gallup poll of over 1 million U.S. residents. The study found that 75% of employees who voluntarily quit did so because of their boss, not the position itself.
Though bosses tend to say the right things about the type of leader they strive to be, employees often report bosses as “bad” for behaviors they exhibit when they feel stressed, frustrated, or insecure, according to Fast Company‘s research.
Intentional or not—such behavior can make even the best jobs unbearable. Stress and pressure can bring out the worst in a leader, leading to frustration, disengagement, and high turnover.
In today’s rapidly evolving workplace and economy, this rings more true than ever. With employee engagement levels dipping and quiet quitting on the rise, leaders are under increasing pressure to manage tasks while cultivating a positive, supportive work environment.
The best way to learn how to be a good boss is to learn from a good boss. But if one is not available, here’s a playbook to help you successfully adopt a people-first approach to foster employee engagement, happiness, and well-being.
Importance of worker happiness
One thing remains true amid significant societal shifts in how we work: Worker happiness is crucial to business productivity and success. Happiness at work is a driving factor in people’s decision to take, stay at, or leave a job. Happier employees are more productive, collaborative, and less prone to burnout.
However, U.S. employees reported feeling more detached from their employers, with unclear expectations, lower satisfaction with their organizations, and weaker connections to company mission and purpose in comparison to four years ago. In 2023, more than 50% of employees reported quiet quitting, meaning they were not actively engaged, while an additional 16% said they were actively disengaged.
The consequences are severe: disengaged employees account for around $1.9 trillion in lost productivity across the U.S.
The solution lies with leadership. Nearly 70% of employees reported that their manager affects their mental health as much as their partner does. There’s a clear opportunity for leaders to bolster their employees’ well-being and satisfaction at work.
12 essential traits a good boss must have
Being a good boss demands more than overseeing tasks. It’s about building trust, fostering growth, and empowering your team. The following are 12 essential traits and habits that every leader must cultivate to lead with purpose and create a positive, engaged workforce.
Kindness: Kindness is essential to driving success and innovation. An organization is five times more likely to be considered innovative if it is also considered kind, according to the CEO and principal founder of DISYS, Mahfuz Ahmed’s research.
Organizations that put kindness ahead of profits have employees who are 120% more likely to feel a sense of meaning and purpose in their current job, and 89% more likely to have a strong desire to think of new and innovative ideas, according to Ahmed’s study findings.
Genuine kindness goes beyond simply being nice. As Ahmed says, niceness typically centers on being polite and pleasing others so as not to offend. Kindness, on the other hand, involves actual interest and care.
This means acting meaningfully to support employees, finding solutions to challenges, and fostering a sense of purpose.
For the founder and CEO of Jotform Aytekin Tank, that means not just listening to an employee telling her they’re struggling, but taking action to improve their situation. For example, if an employee was having a hard time with their mental health, a “nice” boss would simply say that they were sorry to hear it and leave it at that. But a kind boss would not stop at just expressing sympathy—they would actively listen and take meaningful steps to help, such as reducing the employee’s workload or encouraging them to take much-needed time off.
Tank said kindness is a choice to actively care, to find solutions, and to show up time and time again even when things get hard. The following habits and traits of good bosses dive into more specific ways leaders can show kindness and support for their employees.
View employees as people first: Lead with a lens of empathy and compassion. Managing people is both a responsibility and a privilege. Good bosses respect that employees have families, personal obligations, and interests that will sometimes need to take priority.
But more than just respecting their employees, good bosses put time and care into getting to know their employees as people. This often means one-on-one conversations, which are ideal for understanding the complexity people face and conveying true compassion, according to Harvard Business Review writers Mark Mortensen and Heidi K. Gardner.
During these conversations, actually listen to your employee and actively ask questions to understand their pain points, whether it be struggling with feeling engaged while working from home, or balancing caregiving responsibilities that are creating tension between work and home.
“Leaders need to collect data on what employees really care about rather than assuming they already understand,” Mortensen and Gardner wrote.
Upon discovering these insights, act on them. Kindness means being helpful, and that involves finding solutions.
Clear communication: A leader’s ability to define roles, tasks, and expectations sets the foundations for success, said communication specialist Leah Mether. This clarity applies to every aspect of communication.
Employees crave straightforward, transparent messaging that clearly explains the task and short-term plan. But good bosses take it a step further and clearly articulate the team’s larger vision, direction, and priorities. They explain the ‘why’ behind decisions. Such strong, clear, and regular communication allows the team to understand what “done well” looks like, so they can align their efforts and excel.
The best bosses engage employees in dialogue about the company and actively value their input, says Jeffrey J. Fox, author of How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules for Getting and Keeping the Best Employees. This is key for good bosses to foster a collaborative learning environment where everyone feels supported to share hurdles and new ideas.
Another difficult, yet crucial element of transparent, clear communication is proactively sharing necessary truths about the bigger picture that your team may not know. Even if the message is unwelcome, if it’s delivered clearly and empathetically, employees are more likely to understand and accept it, according to Mether.
“Employees hate ambiguity. You’ve got to get ahead of the ever-running rumor mill,” Fox said.
Set realistic goals: Setting clear and realistic goals is essential to maintaining both productivity and morale. In times of overwhelm or uncertainty, employees look to their leaders for clarity and guidance.
Good bosses ensure that their expectations balance ambition with what is realistically achievable, helping employees understand their roles, job requirements, and the behavioral standards expected of them. This clarity reduces confusion and sets employees up for success, writes Mether.
Effective leaders push their teams toward growth while also managing the workload to prevent burnout. By ensuring that workloads are sustainable, leaders foster a healthy work-life balance and reduce the risk of employee disengagement or burnout, which can lead to resignations or extended sick leave.
In today’s work environment, flexibility is crucial. Good bosses accommodate different working styles and personal circumstances by setting realistic expectations for work-life balance, including remote work options. This flexibility enables employees to perform at their best and stay engaged, creating a more motivated and resilient workforce.
Celebrate the wins! Another important aspect of communication is feedback, which should be shared early, often, and constructively.
Employees are hungry for insights that can help them grow, and providing frequent feedback keeps them engaged and motivated. According to Gallup data, 80% of employees who receive meaningful feedback in the past week report feeling fully engaged. By offering feedback often (a few times a week), leaders foster a culture of continuous improvement, where employees are empowered to adjust their performance in real time.
Effective feedback isn’t reserved solely for annual reviews—it should be an ongoing conversation. Eighty-nine percent of HR leaders agree that regular peer feedback and check-ins are key to successful outcomes.
Good bosses provide feedback that is constructive, focused, and specific. This means praising wins, even small ones, and addressing issues early before they snowball into bigger problems.
While it can be difficult to give negative feedback, one of the most valuable things a manager can do is preemptively share opportunities for improvement, according to Fast Company editor Kathleen Davis. This approach helps employees grow and improve before issues escalate or come to the attention of higher-level leadership. Providing concrete, clear, and constructive feedback—paired with actionable steps for improvement— empowers employees to address weaknesses early and fosters their development.
Moreover, feedback should be a two-way street. The best leaders listen as much as they speak, making feedback collaborative. By asking employees for their perspectives, leaders can build trust and encourage ownership of successes and challenges. This not only increases engagement but also leads to more innovative and productive work. The goal is to instill a continuous learning mindset for you and the team.
Trust your employees: Trust is at the heart of effective leadership, and good bosses trust their employees to perform without constant oversight. Micromanagement signals a lack of trust and is the number-one complaint employees have about their managers.
To avoid this pitfall, focus on hiring smart, capable people, then step back and let them do their jobs. As Fox put it, “If you hire good people, you don’t need to micromanage or waste energy worrying whether the work will get done.”
Micromanaging not only stifles creativity and productivity, but it can also lead to disengagement, especially among remote or hybrid employees. Micromanaging sends a message to employees that the boss does not trust them to do their jobs well or make good decisions about how to complete their assigned tasks. The employee feels like they have to wait to be told exactly what to do, leaving them feeling unheard, unappreciated, and unhappy in their work environment.
Good bosses focus on results and trust that the process will take care of itself, allowing their employees freedom to execute tasks in their own way. If you feel the urge to micromanage your employees, step back and think about what you really need to know. Understanding where the urge to micromanage is coming from can be the first step in curbing the behavior, said Fast Company editor Kathleen Davis.
Check your ego: Good bosses don’t just delegate from a distance—they roll up their sleeves and get involved when needed. Being hands-on shows your team that you understand their daily challenges and are not above pitching in. Whether leading a service-based company or managing a corporate team, you need to know how it feels to put in the grunt work. And you need to experience it regularly.
As Monique Tatum, the CEO of Beautiful Planning Marketing & PR wrote for Fast Company, understanding the workload and tasks of your employees helps ensure that you remain grounded and realistic in your expectations. It also equips leaders to spot potential inefficiencies or areas for improvement.
Leaders who check their egos and get into the trenches with their team earn trust and respect. Employees appreciate when their boss doesn’t shy away from the tasks they are responsible for. It builds solidarity and shows that you’re a member of the team who doesn’t view yourself as above any task. This is especially important as your company grows—you don’t want to lose sight of what’s happening on the ground.
About Me document: Creating an About Me document is a simple yet powerful way to foster better communication and trust with your team. This document outlines your leadership style, work preferences, and values, helping your employees understand who you are and how you operate.
Sharing this kind of personal insight accelerates trust and clarifies expectations, especially when transitioning into a new role, according to leadership consultant Shanna A. Hocking.
An effective About Me document covers key areas such as your leadership approach, communication style, and the best ways for your team to work with you. For example, you might include details about your expectations, what motivates you, and how you prefer to receive updates. Transparency about your preferences—like favoring face-to-face communication over email or preferring to see your team’s thought process behind decisions rather than just the outcome—ensures that your team knows how to approach you for maximum efficiency and alignment.
It’s also important to acknowledge potential misunderstandings. By sharing how our leadership styles may be misinterpreted—such as Hocking’s strong conviction during conversations being seen as closed off to feedback—we create space for open dialogue. This clarity helps minimize confusion and allows the team to feel more comfortable providing feedback or asking for clarification.
Ultimately, the About Me manual is a tool for building stronger working relationships and creating a more cohesive, collaborative team environment. In addition to making your manual, encourage your team members to create their own documents to foster mutual respect and trust.
Advocate for your team: Effective bosses advocate for their employees with their supervisors.
Employees typically love a boss who “has their back,” said Robert I. Sutton, professor of management science at Stanford University and author of .
That means they can trust you to advocate for them, be honest, give them meaningful work, and provide a supportive and protective environment as much as possible.
Because research shows that a team member’s relationship with their supervisor is a key driver of employee engagement, it’s essential to set yourself up as an ally and an advocate for your employees. If you know how to advocate for your employees properly with upper management, they will advocate for you and your organization.
Support your team with learning resources: Good leaders also recognize when their team needs additional resources, training, or guidance, and they don’t wait to act. Whether through video tutorials, online training courses, or mentorship programs, timely investment in your team’s development prevents future issues and helps employees feel more confident in their abilities, said Tatum.
Offering early support is crucial in avoiding roadblocks and ensuring continuous growth, and exceptional leaders provide the support necessary for their teams to develop and grow.
People who are exceptional leaders of other people have typically had their mentors and training, said entrepreneur Bill Seagraves, author of . These exceptional leaders typically believe in paying it forward and using the skills they’ve developed over time to help their employees learn and grow in their careers.
Coaching questions: Great leaders are great coaches. Resist the urge to answer every “How should I…?” question, and instead lead with coaching questions to guide people to find their own solutions.
Nikki Barua, the CEO and cofounder of Beyond Barriers, suggested asking questions like, “How do you think we should approach this problem? What is your instinct here? What do you think X client is going to ask next?” By pausing, then replacing your recommendation with an open-ended question, you will help your team members discover solutions, become self-reliant, and gain confidence.
Prioritize your wellbeing: As a manager, you are balancing your own workload with the needs of your team and organization. To avoid overwhelm, learn how to manage your time by focusing on the right thing at the right time. This means ruthlessly eliminating low priorities, distractions, and multitasking. Manage your energy by following a healthy daily regimen that works for you. As Barua said, your ability to show up for others depends on how well you prioritize your own wellbeing.
Be a role model, not just a boss
To truly excel as a leader, focus on being a role model rather than simply a boss. Great role models lead by example, actively solve problems, and encourage learning and growth within their team. They remain calm and confident under pressure, creating a sense of security and stability that employees need to thrive. Role models focus on empowering others, helping them take ownership of their roles, and fostering an environment where leadership is shared and developed.
Leaders strengthen the connection between employees and the company’s mission by adopting a people-centered approach that prioritizes growth and kindness. Research shows that employees who feel their company’s leadership prioritizes kindness are 3.5 times more likely to share a sense of purpose with the organization’s larger goals, leading to a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Ultimately, becoming a role model means fostering a culture of trust, continuous learning, and mutual respect, ensuring long-term success for both the team and the organization. The best bosses embody what Tom Petty once described as “confident, but not really sure.” They have an attitude of wisdom—the courage to act on their beliefs and convictions while maintaining the humility to recognize when they might be wrong and need to adapt to better information.
