In Bruce Tulgan’s book, “It’s OK to Be the Boss,” he notes that many people don’t like the title of “boss.”

Maybe it’s because they’ve had bad experiences with a bosses who were “bossy” - i.e. mean, ornery, dictatorial task masters. Or perhaps they’re worried that being the boss means telling other people how to do their jobs, which would likely lead to difficult and uncomfortable conversations.

Tulgan notes that if we don’t learn to embrace our role as boss and accept our responsibility to be good managers, our team’s productivity, morale, and overall success is at serious risk.

Whether you call yourself Boss, Manager, Director, Leader, Head Honcho, or the Big Cheese, all members of your team are relying on you to guide them in the workplace.

Here are five tips to help you be a great boss and build a team of high performers:

1. Schedule management time every day: Set aside time every day (15 minutes should suffice) to manage each of your team members. Meet in person and ask specifically about their work. Use questions like: What are your priorities today? What steps do you usually take to accomplish task A? How long will each step take? Where do you need my help?
2. Build accountability by acting like a coach: Your goal is to build your employees’ trust, so they want to perform well and dread having to tell you that they didn’t do what they said they we’re going to do. When you meet with employees, talk like their performance coach. Be honest, descriptive, and specific about each employee’s performance. Set clear expectations for each project, and make sure employees know they will have to explain their decisions and actions to you on a daily basis.
3. Tune into your employees’ differences: Assess each employee’s needs and customize your approach to each of them. Ask yourself: What does this person need from me in order to succeed? Should I focus on individual tasks or high-level goals with this person? How should I talk with this person - should I be blunt or more nurturing? Should I check in daily or weekly? It takes time to learn to manage your employees based on their unique needs, but your team members will thrive when they receive meaningful guidance and feedback from you.
4. Track performance & reward success: Your new mantra as boss should be, “Let’s write that down.” When you write thorough, organized and accurate notes about each employee’s work, you have a record for subsequent conversations, and there won’t be surprises when it’s annual review time. Track expectations (goals, requirements, rules, and deadlines); concrete actions (What did the employee do? How do they think they’re performing? What is the end result or work product?); and measurements (Have expectations been met? Did she meet her own goals?). When employees perform well, give them specific praise and reward their success.
5. Nip small problems in the bud (before they flower into bigger problems): During your ongoing dialog with employees, don’t be afraid to nitpick the seemingly small things. Be descriptive when identifying a problem or negative behavior. Then connect the behavior with the effect it has on the work environment. And finally, spell out the appropriate behavior. Continuous performance improvement means that you are focused on solving one small problem after another, so you are fine-tuning for lasting change rather than trying to overhaul big problems when it might already be too late.

When you realize that “It’s OK to be the boss” and become a strong hands-on manager, you become a magnet for high performers. Your current employees will rise under your guidance and other high performers will be clamoring to work for you.

Carrie Hensel is co-founder and CEO of Inner Circle Media and co-founder of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw.