How to Be a Laid Back Boss
As different kinds of management styles emerge within the field, many in management positions try to affect a "laid back" style. Some managers truly want to be casual about leadership; others want to have the appearance of being casual to keep the wolves of mutiny at bay. Either way, attention to a few principles helps a boss appear laid back in the office and contributes to a greater positive vibe.
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Instructions
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Find your own work/life balance, and let your employees find theirs. In reality, there are very few project specifics that should get between a worker and his/her own balance. In most cases, work loads can be shifted to accomodate the needs of each person on your team (to a reasonable extent). Thinking about how you create a healthy work/life balance is crucial, and even in these days of hyper-capitalist pressure, good management is making a work/life balance education a part of their program. The work/life balance is how you can be productive without wearing yourself out, and helps individuals find the best ways to contribute the maximum to their job.
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Find ways to focus employees without appearing obsessive, demanding, or otherwise overbearing. Instead of quotas and deadlines, use more subtle tools like long-term goals and conceptual guidelines to get employees to recognize what needs to be done. Instead of ranting, educate. Instead of pleading, instruct or demonstrate.
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Delegate leadership. A common way that a boss avoids being bothersome or too conspicuous is to get "team leaders" to share the burden of orienting, directing and monitoring employees. Delegating leadership shifts some of the burden of control, but be careful not to delegate too much, or you will appear useless and lazy. Take the steering wheel and guide the overall process and let your team leaders worry about the details of things like personal quotas for team members.
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Reinforce rules with subtlety. Use things like information sheets and group work to tell employees what must be done, rather than trying to explain everything directly. When it's time to lay out challenges and mandatory obligations, put yourself in the background.
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Keep reprimands private. If you do need to prod an employee along, or otherwise get someone in line, do it in a one-on-one session with the individual. Keep these kinds of sessions few and far between by creating a positive flow in your office, and don't let yourself be seen as someone who is nervous about deadlines or quotas, or someone who is watching others closely.
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