How to Give Off Good Boss Energy, According to 9 HubSpot Leaders

We each cognize "good brag energy" erstwhile we spot it.

Maybe it's the brag who begins each 1:1 by checking-in with you and ensuring you don't consciousness excessively overwhelmed oregon stressed.

Or, possibly it's the brag who goes retired of her mode to find caller maturation opportunities for you, and is ever your biggest champion.

If you're a leader, it's captious you show qualities related to bully brag energy. But those qualities tin beryllium hard to pin down — which is wherefore I spoke with 9 HubSpot leaders who were nominated by their nonstop reports arsenic leaders with bully brag energy.

Here, we'll dive into however those leaders judge they foster bully brag vigor successful their roles — and however you can, too.

Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader: Data from 500+ Marketing Executives connected How to Get Ahead successful 2023

What is "Good Boss Energy"?

Before we dive into HubSpot leaders' tips for embodying bully brag vigor … Let's screen what it is.

The word was started by HubSpot's Social squad arsenic an accidental to present positivity erstwhile it comes to discussing firm civilization connected societal media.

Leslie Green, HubSpot's Managing Editor of Brand Social, told me, "#CorporateTok is the internet’s favourite enactment vent venue. But to turn better, you person to bash things differently. When we entered TikTok, we saw a immense accidental to flip the publication connected firm negativity and observe each things 'good work' and 'good leadership' by introducing 'Good Boss Energy.'"

She continues, "Good Boss Energy is our Culture Code in action. HubSpot's civilization is driven by a shared passionateness for our ngo and metrics. It is simply a civilization of amazing, growth-minded radical whose values see utilizing bully judgement and solving for the customer. Good Boss Energy highlights the value of authenticity successful enactment and having HEART (being Humble, Empathetic, Adaptable, Remarkable, and Transparent.)"

To motorboat the campaign, HubSpot's Social squad leveraged creators of each sizes — including TikTok superstars Rod and Natalie — to capable the For You Page with inspiring and acquisition #GoodBossEnergy videos.

As Green puts it, "By creating our precise ain Good Boss Energy ambassadors, we filled #CorporateTok with much-needed positivity, established HubSpot arsenic our audience's maturation soulmate, and demonstrated however increasing amended tin commencement with you. The h2o cooler truly is fractional afloat erstwhile you person Good Boss Energy around!"

Next, let's dive into however you tin show Good Boss Energy — including some authenticity and HEART — successful the workplace.

How to Give Off Good Boss Energy, According to 9 HubSpot Leaders

1. Having bully brag vigor means having bully radical energy.

Resa Gooding, a Principal Manager connected the Customer Success team, told maine that she started disconnected her week with 2 of her nonstop reports resigning.

Admittedly, this made her question whether she was, successful fact, giving disconnected "good brag energy". If she was, wherefore would those employees leave?

"I was tempted to berate myself and ask, 'What did I bash wrong? Why are they leaving me? Was I specified a atrocious manager?'" Gooding told me.

However, she realized her nonstop reports weren't leaving her … They were leaving their jobs. As she puts it, "Sometimes, circumstances hap and beingness has a antithetic calling for you. And it's good to reply that call. That is maturation and advancement — learning to determination retired of your comfortableness portion and get uncomfortable again."

She adds, "Both individuals were precise astute and bully astatine what they did, and I judge my relation was to assistance them enactment connected different aspects of themselves that would empower them to go risk-takers."

Good brag vigor means helping your employees larn and grow. It's captious arsenic a person you look for ways to make each employee's strengths — and if, successful the end, those strengths instrumentality them successful caller vocation directions, that's okay, too.

Gooding says, "In the extremity I see my 'good brag energy' to beryllium truly a translation of 'good PEOPLE energy'. We request to retrieve that whether you are a brag oregon idiosyncratic contributor, our intent should beryllium to permission everyone we travel into interaction with amended disconnected than erstwhile we met them."

2. Having bully brag vigor requires you to perceive well.

Kyle Denhoff, Director of Marketing for HubSpot's Media team, believes that being a large listener helps him springiness disconnected bully brag energy.

He told me, "I pridefulness myself connected this. My parent is simply a objective societal idiosyncratic and she taught maine however to perceive to radical and genuinely recognize however they spot the world. While galore leaders person skills and acquisition to nonstop the team, the champion leaders perceive first."

He adds, "You'll privation to conscionable with squad members 1:1 and inquire thoughtful questions. Get to cognize them arsenic a person, and effort to recognize their symptom points and motivations. Be an progressive listener and inquire follow-up questions. You'll besides privation to assistance your squad members spot the wider discourse by connecting the dots for them — It volition assistance them recognize however they lend to the larger goal. Once you person this skill, you volition announcement that your squad members spot you more."

Listening is yet a captious accomplishment for gathering immoderate bully workplace relationship. We've each been successful situations wherever we've felt our managers aren't genuinely listening, and it tin travel crossed similar they don't attraction astir our progress, our challenges, oregon adjacent america arsenic people.

Irina Rosenblit, Senior Director of Partner Success, agrees that listening good is simply a large constituent of bully brag energy. As she puts it, "Being a bully brag is hard. It requires a batch of intentionality successful the mode you attack problems, squad members, and communication. For example, to assistance a squad subordinate genuinely consciousness heard you request to perceive without interrupting and past repetition backmost what you understood to marque definite you’re connected the aforesaid page."

Rosenblit adds, "I besides find it invaluable to beryllium susceptible and admit what assemblage connection you’re observing oregon if you’re picking up connected things not being said arsenic a mode of opening the doorway for squad members to beryllium much unfastened with their reservations."

Practicing active listening takes time, but it's easier if you bounds distractions during 1:1s. Close each tabs connected your surface too Zoom, and instrumentality handwritten notes if it helps you ore connected your nonstop reports, alternatively than the emails successful your inbox oregon the different tasks connected your to-do list.

3. To person bully brag energy, amusement empathy.

Customer Onboarding Specialist Manager Rory Kelly believes that having bully brag vigor is really precise elemental … As agelong arsenic you show empathy.

As helium puts it, "We’re people societal and empathetic creatures and that indispensable construe to the workplace … it’s astir apt 1 of the astir important environments to really ‘be human’, considering we walk astir of our lives successful this abstraction and with different people."

He continues, "As a leader, I effort to conscionable beryllium quality — which means gathering radical wherever they are, considering an contented from their perspective, taking a genuine involvement successful them, and knowing their ambitions, goals, and adjacent what causes them anxiousness oregon stress. Empathy is thing you can't fake. If you privation to springiness disconnected bully brag energy, you request to look successful the reflector each greeting and inquire yourself, ‘Do I attraction astir my squad due to the fact that I person to, oregon due to the fact that I privation to?' The close reply is due to the fact that you privation to — with that mindset, you tin physique genuinely outstanding teams."

Empathy is simply a captious constituent of enactment occurrence — successful fact, a caller survey recovered that 80% of CEOs judge empathy is simply a cardinal driver of success, arsenic it builds trust, prevents a toxic workplace, and helps summation worker retention and engagement.

Katie Walsh, HubSpot's Sales Director, agrees that empathy is critical. She says, "You request to measurement extracurricular of the numbers and the information and retrieve it's each astir your people. If you genuinely attraction astir your people, they consciousness it and admit it. Then, arsenic a leader, you tin thin into that emotion to ignite a occurrence wrong your radical to assistance them execute what they erstwhile thought was impossible."

It's a misconception that beardown leaders shouldn't beryllium excessively compassionate towards their employees for fearfulness of being seen arsenic 'weak'. Instead, empathy and compassion tin assistance your squad members consciousness valued, which is captious for ensuring they execute to the champion of their abilities.

4. Being a bully brag requires you — sometimes — to entertain the anticipation that you mightiness not beryllium one.

Humility is simply a halfway rule of bully leadership. Humility leads to a much authentic enactment style, which tin assistance your nonstop reports link with you and spot you more.

Principal Manager, Mid-Market Sales, Raleigh Dugal told me, "Being a bully brag astir apt starts with entertaining the anticipation that you mightiness not beryllium one. I'm starring a comparatively ample fig of nonstop reports astatine immoderate fixed clip who are each going done their ain idiosyncratic stressors and celebrations, trials, successes, failures, and the due (or not truthful appropriate) emotions that travel them."

He continues, "Trying to beryllium mindful of wherever radical are coming from during immoderate fixed engagement is important — possibly they had a pugnacious time and aren't acceptable to perceive immoderate feedback today, possibly they truly request to conscionable vent astir worldly not adjacent related to work. Or possibly they request a heavy dive connected a occupation they've been trying to lick for weeks and you request to sideline little urgent items."

To show humility arsenic a leader, you might:

• Ask for assistance from your peers
• Admit your mistakes oregon erstwhile you don't cognize the reply to something
• Encourage caller ideas and alternate perspectives from your team
• Show your enthusiasm and enactment for each squad member
• Take accountability erstwhile issues arise

Dugal adds, "If you run nether the presumption that you won't always, oregon adjacent often, get everything right, that's going to enactment a nonrecreational situation built connected spot that gets arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable right, arsenic often arsenic possible."

Additionally, being a bully leader means fostering your employees' maturation and helping them scale-up connected their strengths.

Dugal says, "The biggest yardstick I measurement myself against is however my nonstop reports are developing. Are they overcoming obstacles, taking connected caller challenges, and increasing successful places that are going to assistance them scope achievements that motivate them connected a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. How americium I keeping those lines connected my deliverables to the enactment astatine large? If each of that is reconciled, everything falls into spot for everyone."

5. To show bully brag energy, trial retired strategies that assistance them consciousness challenged and empowered, similar "voluntelling".

Holly Park, Principal Manager of Customer Onboarding, told me, "Of each the strategies I employment arsenic a manager to merchandise this potential, the 1 that comes up astir often from erstwhile squad members is my quality to 'voluntell' them for peculiar assignments. Apparently, I person a mode of volunteering my squad members for a agelong task that feels some empowering and challenging. It is successful that discomfort that my squad members grow."

She continues, "How bash I spell astir matching squad subordinate imaginable to opportunity? I support a precise abbreviated database of skills and ambitions of my nonstop reports and adjacent their nonstop reports. That way, erstwhile I perceive of an opportunity, I tin bash the matching successful my head. The cardinal to this is to lucifer idiosyncratic to thing that is caller but inactive leans into their skillset. Then, erstwhile you manus it to them, explicit your assurance successful their abilities and wherefore this is an accidental for them. After that, proceed to connection support. As 1 mentor told maine 'get bully astatine delegating and not abdicating responsibility'."

In different words: Looking retired for caller opportunities for your employees to turn isn't the aforesaid arsenic handing them tasks from your to-do database that you don't privation to do. It's astir being thoughtful and intentional astir identifying their areas for improvement, and past uncovering projects that assistance them flex that muscle.

6. To exude bully brag energy, beryllium authentic.

Paul Weston, Senior Director of Product for HubSpot's Service Hub, believes that authenticity is the cardinal to being a bully leader.

He says, "Don’t we each person imposter syndrome from time-to-time? I’m astatine my champion erstwhile I’m conscionable being myself, not overthinking oregon 'acting' similar a leader. In that sense, authenticity is key. I deliberation that radical admit that realness, positivity, and reliability. Over time, this leads to spot and intelligence information arsenic relationships grow."

Weston adds, "My squad knows that I’m ever disposable to enactment done hard problems together, and consenting to get my hands dirty. Even erstwhile enactment gets busy, I marque country for async drawback ups, speedy Zoom calls, oregon a whiteboard session. This besides helps maine to enactment plugged successful and shows done actions however important the enactment really is. The information is that gathering large relationships takes clip and a batch of behind-the-scenes hard work. Throughout it all, it’s important to pb with humility, wide expectations, and affirmative 'we’ve got this' energy."

7. To springiness disconnected bully brag energy, beryllium direct.

Kyle Denhoff told maine that 1 of the astir important components of a beardown person is idiosyncratic who tin beryllium nonstop with his oregon her team.

He told me, "Whether it is affirmative oregon constructive feedback, it's ever champion to beryllium direct. Give radical feedback successful the moment. Help them recognize the 'why' down the feedback. If you would similar to spot a alteration successful behaviour oregon output, manager them by mounting wide expectations."

He adds, "Everyone wants to win and they admit erstwhile you assistance them determination forward. I personally similar to manager radical by showing them 'what bully looks like' — supply them with an manufacture illustration oregon amusement them thing you person done successful the past. Side-by-side is best."

Being nonstop and offering constructive feedback tin consciousness challenging, but it's 1 of the astir important traits of a beardown person and volition yet assistance your squad members proceed to consciousness engaged and challenged successful the workplace.

8. To springiness disconnected bully brag energy, check-in with your team's well-being.

At the opening of each 1:1, my manager starts with, "So, however are you feeling this week?"

I emotion this question. My reply — whether it beryllium stressed, productive, overwhelmed, oregon excited — tin assistance pass my manager connected what I request from her, and tin springiness immoderate discourse connected however champion to manager me.

Similarly, Alanah Joseph, HubSpot's Head of Creator Partnerships, believes it's captious to let her nonstop reports to marque mistakes and beryllium human, and she sees it arsenic her work to springiness them (and herself) plentifulness of grace.

As she puts it, "Being a 'good boss' has ne'er been my goal. Instead, it results from a batch of self-work and my regular signifier of giving myself grace. In battling my ain perfectionism, I’ve heightened my self-awareness astir my ain humanness. I americium allowed to my mistakes. Bad days are ne'er ideal, but everyone has them. Learning curves are breathtaking due to the fact that you’re processing caller skills, but inevitably you volition neglect on the way."

She adds, "The champion happening I tin bash for my squad is to beryllium transparent and spend them the grace that I springiness to myself. My gut feeling is that if you inquire your squad to bash their best, but supply a harmless situation for radical to beryllium human, you volition extremity up with a high-performing team. So acold it’s worked for me."

For Joseph, this includes starting each of her play squad meetings with “Red light, greenish light,” arsenic a wellness check. Green airy means you’re doing great, feeling motivated, and acceptable to tackle the week. Yellow airy means you’re adjacent to bandwidth oregon you request further support. Red airy means for immoderate crushed (no request to disclose), you can’t bash your afloat workload that week.

Joseph says, "When a squad subordinate calls a reddish light, the remainder of the squad splits up their work. We precise seldom person reddish lights, but it’s important to maine that I spend my squad the accidental to beryllium transparent and authentic. We’re conscionable human."

What "Good Boss Energy" Means to HubSpotters

When I was collecting submissions connected which HubSpot leaders' exemplify "good brag energy", I besides got immoderate fantastic responses from HubSpotters connected why their manager had bully brag energy.

For instance, Megan Scott, a Mid-Market Growth Specialist, recommended her manager Raleigh Dugal because, arsenic she puts it, "There was 1 constituent erstwhile I felt similar I was being precocious attraction connected his already packed calendar. He reminded maine that retired of each his responsibilities, helping maine win was his apical priority."

Similarly, Principal Customer Onboarding Specialist, Bridget Donelson, says:

"Amanda Volk is my manager and she is amazing! She has ace bully brag energy. Examples of her awesome brag energy:

• Always being disposable for maine to inquire a question and NEVER dropping the ball.
• Commenting backmost to maine connected a Sunday nighttime erstwhile I accidental I volition beryllium precocious to commencement connected Monday.
• Having my backmost 100% and bolstering my assurance erstwhile I americium experiencing imposter syndrome.
• Being capable to beryllium myself with her and bring each of my energy!
• Doing a psych information cheque successful play and expanding her 1:1s with maine erstwhile I was having a unsmooth time.
• Always asking astir my kids and hubby (caring astir maine arsenic a person)
• Offering constructive feedback and helping maine make a program for maturation and improvement successful my relation mastery.  Plus, being capable to admit to my weaker areas without worries of antagonistic repercussions!
• celebrating my achievements with maine and posting designation successful our squad channel."

Ultimately, giving disconnected bully brag vigor takes time, effort, and intentionality to bash effectively, but it pays disconnected by inspiring your squad to instrumentality bigger risks, encouraging them to beryllium much engaged and excited astir the enactment at-hand, and letting them cognize they tin consciousness comfy being honorable with you erstwhile mistakes arise.