Whether you wear a uniform to work, a golf shirt, or a suit and tie – there’s a huge difference between being a good worker and a good boss. Sometimes people are good at their jobs, but bad at managing others. Unfortunately, many people wind up in jobs where they’re the boss of someone (or two or a thousand) and not quite prepared for it.

Workplace relationships are like other relationships in that they involve two people and work best when both are invested in the relationship. There will be conflicts — it’s a fact of life that if you spend enough time around someone they will eventually irritate you — but a good boss can go a long way toward making the workplace a better environment for everyone.

Anyone who’s held a job probably has a ‘bad boss’ story to tell. And truth-be-told, I don’t think anyone wants to be known as a ‘bad boss.’ Just like no one wants to be a jerk. It seems they’re always the last to know what everyone else thinks of them. So, unless your employees actually come up to you and tell you you’re doing a bad job at being their boss, how do you know?

Do you praise your employees? A good boss understands that everyone wants to be thought of highly by others and appreciated for their work. It’s amazing what a compliment and acknowledgement of a job well done can do.

How’s the morale of your employees? A good boss recognizes that in the best workplaces, everyone wins or no one does. In a “We’re in this together!” environment, workers go home happier and arrive with better attitudes the next morning.

What do you do when the proverbial-poop hits the fan? Bad bosses immediately look for someone to blame when there’s a problem. Good bosses focus on solving the problem, rather than who caused it.

Do you promote your employees? Good bosses help their employees by using their position of power to pull employees up rather than push them down. They also know that rewarding employees is the best way to get them to continue doing a good job. And that’s good for everyone, including the boss.

One of the hardest situations for a boss to deal with is having an employee with a bad attitude. Unfortunately, a bad attitude is like a virus -– if one employee’s got one, it’s only a matter of time before it spreads and poisons the whole work environment. And most of the time, the attitude won’t go away by itself. A good boss will confront an offending employee and make it clear the attitude won’t be tolerated and gives the worker the opportunity to change. Then it’s up to the employee to either give up the attitude or the job.

Do you allow your employees to make mistakes? Everyone wants to succeed. We should applaud achievements and employees who do great work, but you can’t have success without failure. If employees are worried about failing, they can’t perform at their best level.

About the author of this article:

everett christensen has spent more than 45 years analyzing and evaluating the development of interpersonal relationships. take his relationship quiz at http://www.dillstreetpress.com/quiz.htm. christensen is the author of “60-40 or fight: how to get along with someone besides yourself.”