Throughout my professional career thus far, I had the opportunity to work with a very diverse set of bosses – those who were from a different culture, different educational background, had different philosophies, different values and different leadership styles. I had both good and bad experiences working alongside them. These experiences helped me learn what makes a great leader and what makes a not-so-great one.

Here are 5 principles that build great leaders, the gist of what that I learned from my bosses.

• Respecting peers and subordinates

Great leaders give and take respect; no matter who you are. I have had bosses who did not respect their team and their subordinates. Teams with such a leader are not motivated to give their best.

Some bosses who appear not to care and respect their team, in fact may not know how to show their respect. They also fall in the hierarchical myth and fear that if they are not bossy, their team might not respect them. I also had some bosses who only cared about their team and were not respectful of other teams/team members. These bosses had their reputation at stake and when teams shuffle, they had a tough time to gain acceptance of the new team members.

I have also had bosses who were respectful of everyone in their team and also other teams. Their teams are very cohesive and strong. Others teams envy them and want to be part of their team. They motivate, inspire and leave a lasting impression on everyone they work with. Each member in their team delivers their best for their boss to succeed.

I learnt that it is not only important to respect but also show that I respect my peers and subordinates.

• Dealing with conflict and frustration

A boss should know how to deal with conflict and frustration in his team. I have had bosses who did not act when someone approached them with a problem or a frustrating situation. They empathized with them at that moment, but did not act on the problem resolution.

I also had bosses who looked deeper into the problem and acted on resolving it. Great leaders, in fact, proactively plan and schedule time to listen to their team. They know when to step in and help the team. This approach shows that the boss cares for the team and goes the extra mile to help resolve their problems.

I learnt that I should not only empathize and resolve my team’s problems but also look for ways to mitigate the cause of the problem in future.

• Creativity

Most bosses focus on getting things done on time, on schedule and within the budget. Bosses should have a clear vision and a creative angle. I have had a boss who showed a great level of creativity in solving problems and addressing solutions. This skill made us enjoy our work more, created tremendous opportunities to serve our customers and let our team standout in the crowd.

I learnt that creativity not only energizes the team but also helps team grow.

• Open-mindedness

Bosses who think they know it all and the team should always follow his way of doing things are not heading in the right direction. I had bosses who always imposed their solution to be adopted and did not encourage others ideas and suggestions. This had a negative effect on the team’s morale and team felt undervalued. After all, we humans need to satiate our zeal by solving problems in our own way.

When bosses had an open mind and listened to different perspectives of the team, they geared towards greater team success.

I learnt that keeping an open mind not only empowers the team but also helps identify efficient ways of getting things done.

• Communication

I have had bosses who did not interact with the team, even when they are co-located. They only communicated when they had to assign a task, review or get a status update. They did not feel the need to communicate anything that comes from the leaders above, or from the customers. The team felt disengaged.

There are several reasons that result in Communication Challenges. Some of them are discussed here. http://wp.me/p3ciCz-D

I have also had bosses who regularly communicated with their team on all aspects. They showed that it is important for the team to know what was going on within the rest of the organization and how they are contributing for the overall success. These bosses connect with their team at the personal level – they know the strengths and weaknesses of their team members.

I learnt that communication is not only information sharing but also a means for greater employee engagement.

Great leaders incorporate all of these principles. By missing one of them once in a while, one might be sliding from being a great leader to a not-so-great leader.

What are the lessons you learnt from your bosses?