The Metiss Group's Blog

Too many of us had bad first bosses, and we saw all kinds of behaviors that, without context, we assumed were “boss behaviors.” That means that our paradigm of how we look at bosses was flawed. All bosses were mean. All bosses were petty about their power. All bosses gave no guidance or feedback.

That may sound harsh. But if those comments described your first boss, you only had a sample size of one. Your first boss was “all” bosses. Your brain naturally helped you out, by storing away a belief, leading to a paradigm, that made “all” bosses that way.

What can leaders do? If you’re a boss with first-time professionals, make sure you’re doing it right. Develop your relationships, give plenty of professional performance feedback, and develop them. Find out what they’re good at and make sure they do a lot of it.

You’ve probably heard a lot about young professionals needing more coddling today. It’s not true. Get to know each one of them, individually, rather than accepting some gross generalization. Expect them to perform at high levels. Tell them when they do so. Tell them when they don’t.

Empower your first-time professionals to reach their potential and you’ll both experience much success.

(Source: manager-tools.com)