You may have inherited, hired, or promoted people who you’ve recognized and rewarded for exceptional production and output—only to hear rumblings that they're getting those results in ways that damage your company’s reputation, aggravating fellow team members and undermining everything that you’re trying to accomplish for the long term. These are usually me-first versus we-first people who put their interests before the Core Values of the organization.

In the meantime, they continue to produce results, but they get those results in ways that go against the company culture. In other words, while they are highly productive short-term, they're killing your company long-term.

If you’re like most bosses, you do most of the talking. Frankly, this one-way-street behavior needs to change. Your job is to ensure that the dialogue is 80/20, where your direct report is doing 80% of the talking and you’re talking only 20% of the time. The only way to make that happen is to ask questions instead of making statements.

Here’s a guiding principle that will separate you from the pack of not-so-good bosses: A great boss creates a work environment where people are fully engaged and highly accountable.

How would you rate the level of accountability in your organization, on a scale of 1–10? If you’re like most bosses, you’d rate accountability low—maybe a 4. It’s one of the many people issues that frustrate you. You assign jobs to your people, only to be frustrated when they don’t follow through and accomplish them.

There are four truths that you must embrace if you truly desire to be a great boss. If you don’t embrace them, no amount of reading, teaching, coaching, or effort will make you great.

Some of the best meetings that I’ve been in lately are the ones where members of the leadership team challenge each other. There’s debate and pushback and the discussions are heated. Each person is actively engaged putting the greater good of the organization ahead of personal agendas. Sometimes the feedback they give each other stings a little. But, when the dust settles there’s clarity around the root cause. Conflict creates clarity.