The boss wants to see the business going on the right path, while the employees want to earn their daily living and this core connection makes the relationship between a boss and his employees fairly sensitive. Many people believe that a friendly relationship is not the proper one and should not be a part of the working environment. While others are in favor of a friendly and easy going boss/employee relationship.
In fact, the extreme of any side can have worse effect on the business, i.e. being friend to the employees you cannot get the things done in the right way and having a stringent policy can stress out the employees easily and the productivity will fall.
Ideally, the employee-boss relationship should exist somewhere in between the two end, i.e. a friendly boss is a good gesture, but a friend boss doesn’t make sense. And, a boss strictly concerned about business goals is very productive idea, but a boss concerned about controlling everyone all the time is certainly not something appreciable.
Being a business owner and having employees doesn’t just give you an upper hand, rather it brings a big responsibility too. Being at the top means being responsible for the actions of all who report to you. So, being a leader is rather better idea than being a boss.
Related Readings:
6 Tips to Increase Employee Motivation at Workplace
4 Tips for Startups to Create a Relaxing Workplace
10 Leadership Best Practices That Every Entrepreneur Should Know
The good about being friendly (not being friend) to employees
Being a pal for your employees means to get involved at a totally different level. You care about their needs in a different manner and they can talk to you more freely about the issues which are causing low productivity at their end. This is a plus and being friendly yo employees makes them love the workplace and once they love the workplace, they do their best to help you take it to the next level.
Related Readings:
3 Reasons to Have an Employee Field Day
5 Tips for Small Businesses to Improve Employee’s Mental Health
The bad about being too close to employees
The negative thing about being too close to the employees is that your authority might suffer to some extent. As they become familiar with you, it will be easy to question your decisions. You might feel frustrated to explain everything and this new level relationship might go too far if you do not clearly set and communicate the limits.
Related Readings:
4 Employee Orientation Tips to Make New Recruits Comfortable at Workplace
How to Write an Employee Handbook
So the best thing is to keep a balance between these two approaches. You need to be sensitive to their needs, but also exercise your authority at work!
Be friendly, NOT A FRIEND!
