8 Sneaky Great Leadership Lessons From Michael Scott

The Office connected with people in a way that transcended most television shows thanks to the creative ways the show portrayed the humanity behind workplace stereotypes.

Chief among those stereotypes was the looming presence of the well-meaning but bumbling boss, masterfully played by Steve Carrell as Michael Scott. Despite Michael’s habit of making cringeworthy mistakes, The Office also shared the rare moments when Michael got things right. 

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In honor of people trying to do their best, InsideOut Development brings you eight sneaky great leadership lessons from Michael Scott.

1. Start By Assuming the Best

In “Health Care” (Season 1, Episode 3), Michael is tasked to select a health care plan for the Scranton branch’s Dunder Mifflin employees. Naturally, Michael wants to give his employees the very best and reports back to his boss Jan Levinson (formerly Levinson-Gould) that he has chosen the top healthcare plan.

Jan reminds Michael that he must select a low-cost plan, and, eventually, Michael delegates the plan selection to Dwight Schrute, feeling unable to choose a lesser plan for his employees.

While pawning off responsibility conforms to the bad boss stereotype, there is a great lesson to learn from Michael’s actions: When it comes to how to treat your people, always start with the assumption that you will give them the best.

Reality may dictate a compromise, but good leaders strive to provide their people with the best of everything they can.

2. Know Your Customer

In “The Client,” (Season 2, Episode 7), Michael and Jan are set to meet with Christian, a government employee representing the paper needs of their entire county.

Rather than get right to business, Michael orchestrates a day of food and fun for Christian. After bonding over ribs, Michael makes the pitch that he’s a man who shares a hometown with Christian and that he represents a business that cares about doing right by their community.

Christian confides that he’s under pressure to make cuts and lets Michael and Jan know that he can give them the county’s business if they can meet him halfway on price. Jan agrees to Christian’s terms.

Michael successfully demonstrates another powerful lesson for business leaders: Good leaders take the time to understand the motivations and needs of the people their businesses serve and respond appropriately.

3. Help Employees Focus on What They Can Control

In “Murder” (Season 6, Episode 10), the Scranton office learns that Dunder Mifflin has encountered such financial difficulty that each of their jobs may be on the line.

Michael begins a murder mystery game for the staff after an emergency meeting to improve morale proves ineffective. The office employees become engrossed in the game as they await news of their fate.

While the prospect of office-wide unemployment is a very extreme example of the difficulties a leader may encounter, Michael’s lesson can still be applied to lesser situations: A good leader encourages employees to focus on what they can control when they encounter interference that’s out of their hands.

4. Recognizing Individuals Is Not Inefficient

In “Survivor Man” (Season 4, Episode 11), Jim Halpert is frustrated by the amount of time lost in the office due to birthday celebrations. Jim attempts to consolidate the celebration of three birthdays into one event, and after observing the conflicts caused by his decision, realizes the error of his ways.

In a later conversation with Jim, Michael reveals that he also tried to combine birthdays in his early days as a manager. Commiserating with Jim, Michael confides that they both made a “rookie move” that Jim will grow out of.

Michael doesn’t reveal what exactly made that decision a “rookie move,” but the lesson from Michael’s experience is this: A good leader understands that employees are individuals and can’t be forgotten in the name of efficiency.

We’ll all find ourselves in situations where we make mistakes as leaders. Like Michael Scott, we will find times that we do right by the people we work with when our hearts are in the right place.

5. Know When to End a Meeting

In “Launch Party” (Season 4, Episode 3), Michael is holding a meeting in the conference room. Unfortunately, all of his employees are more interested in what’s happening behind him, not what he is saying.

They were all watching the television monitor to see if the bouncing screen-saver would bounce perfectly in a corner. When it eventually does, everybody cheers and immediately leaves the meeting. Michael misunderstands and thinks the positive energy stemmed from his message.

I’m sure we’ve all been in (and maybe even held) meetings that last much longer than needed. Research shows that meeting engagement diminishes quickly after about half an hour. And attention levels keep dropping the longer the meeting goes.

While meetings certainly have their place, Michael’s meeting illustrates what can happen when we drag those meetings out longer than needed.

6. Know How to Defuse an Argument

In “Did I Stutter?” (Season 4, Episode 12), Michael gets into an argument with one of his employees, Stanley Hudson, during an office-wide meeting.

Throughout the episode, Michael tries various methods to resolve this argument — even pretending to fire him — until he finally just communicates his thoughts and feelings with Stanley. Through this open communication, they work out a compromise so that Stanley can still be productive without undermining Michael’s authority.

While Michael initially addresses this problem in all the wrong ways, he eventually pulls Stanley into his office and addresses the disagreement head-on. The two are able to clearly communicate their thoughts, and together they create a Way Forward that makes them both more productive.

7. Care About Your Employees as People

In “Business School” (Season 3, Episode 16), Pam Beesly has her art featured in a local art show and invites all her coworkers to come support her. Only one coworker, Oscar Martinez, and his boyfriend come but end up making fun of her art when they think she isn’t listening.

Pam starts to cry and is about to leave when Michael finally comes. He shows genuine admiration and offers to buy her painting of the building where they work. At the end of the episode, Michael is shown hanging this painting up next to his office.

Michael successfully demonstrates another powerful lesson for business leaders: Good leaders take the time to show they care about their employees’ successes — inside and outside of work.

8. Don’t Let Preconceived Notions Get in the Way

In “Goodbye, Toby” (Season 4, Episode 18), we once again see Michael’s hatred of Toby Flenderson, the Human Resources Representative. Michael decides to throw a huge party to welcome Toby’s replacement, Holly Flax, and, more importantly, celebrate the fact that Toby is leaving.

Michael automatically assumes that he will hate Holly because of her role in HR, but near the end of the episode explains: “Thanks to Toby, I have a very strong prejudice against Human Resources. I believe that the department is a breeding ground for monsters. What I failed to consider though is that not all monsters are bad.”

Anyone who knows how Michael and Holly’s story ends knows that Michael would have made a huge mistake to judge Holly solely on her job title. Good leaders know to not let stereotypes get in the way of productive work relationships.

Be the “World’s Best Boss”

In reality, no one — not even your team — really expects you to be the world’s best boss. We all find ourselves in situations where we make mistakes as leaders. But like Michael Scott, you’ll find that you do right by the people you work with when your heart is in the right place.

For managers looking to consistently bring out the best in their employees, coaching is key. To learn more about the importance of coaching, get our framework for building a coaching culture that drives results and grows people.