As a leader or boss, it can be hard for you to engage employees in projects and achieve results when you are not liked. Your employee/boss relationship may be formal and distant, or you may not have one at all.

It is important as a boss that you foster a relationship with your employees, (no matter how high up in the ranks you are). Research shows that the bosses who interact with their employees on a day-to-day basis were the most likeable and that likeable bosses achieved more results due to the respect and trust their employees had for them.

The following are some tips that you should follow if you wish to improve your relationship with your employees.

Tips for improvement

Be positive

Emotions are contagious, so you can understand that if you’re grumpy, angry and moody all the time it won’t have the best outcome on your employees and consequently your business. By remaining positive and optimistic it enables you to appear more approachable to your employees, as well as spread positive vibes.

Be cooperative

The purpose of an organisation is to work together to achieve a goal. If your employees see or hear about you being uncooperative with others, it will leave an impression of your values and what the organisation’s values are thereby defeating the purpose of an organisation.

Show integrity

Whilst it is important to cooperate, that doesn’t mean that you should give up your views and values just to appease a client or co-worker. It is important that you strictly stick to your values as that demonstrates integrity. This will not only reinforce the organisation’s values to your employees, but also gain you respect and trust from them.

Be a coach, mentor and teacher

People value those who have helped them develop or learn a new skill, so it’s important that as a boss you foster learning and conduct mentoring. If you’re a leader or boss, you obviously have skills that are valuable to have, so make an effort to help others.

Inspire your employees

If you ask a younger employee what the term ‘boss’ means, they will most likely respond with something along the lines of “A boss bosses you around and makes decisions!” And whilst a boss does make decisions, they don’t (or rather shouldn’t be) making bossy demands. A good boss will show their employees that their goals are achievable and take part in the work load. They will inspire their employees to achieve the best results possible, and to inspire is a likeable quality.

Focus on your future vision

Whilst it’s important to be aware of what is going on in the present moment, it is important that a leader constantly has their eyes on the image they have for the future. If employees don’t know or understand what their work is working towards, they may get frustrated. So it’s important as their boss that you keep them up to date and in the loop on projects they’re involved with. By remaining focused, and ensuring your employees understand your vision, you make them feel valued. This in turn, will cause them to value you as a boss.

Receive and adapt to feedback

Make an effort to seek out feedback from your employees. People often can’t see what other people other than themselves can, so if people deem themselves likeable, there’s a chance they are not as likeable as they think. As a leader it’s important that you are always deepening and developing your skills, so it is critical that you seek and receive feedback from fellow employees and take the time to actively adapt to that feedback.

Ensuring that you apply the above will help to make you a likeable boss.