There's a good reason - besides the fact that most people had a lot more on their minds - that few workers remembered to thank their boss Oct. 16.

That's because most workers are so busy they wouldn't have seen the date on their calendar under all the projects stacked on their desks. Even if they did, management at all levels hasn't been a popular thing to celebrate lately - it's not hard to guess why "The Office" is a mandatory Friday morning discussion for countless workers.

While resentment for supervisors is as old as humanity itself, modern-day bosses can make a few changes in their management style to avoid being seen as a tyrant, an ineffectual paper-pusher or, worst of all, directly comparable to Michael Scott himself.

Here are some tips garnered from local and national leadership consultants on what bosses can do to create a healthier level of respect, which leads to better results. Just don't expect a fruit basket come this time next year.

Learn to listen

Michael P. Pitek, founder and president of Buffalo-based consulting agency The Performance Group, said that listening - actually, truly listening - is a "rampant" deficiency in many companies.

"In this multi-tasking age, everybody's doing everything they can in the amount of time they have," he said. "If the boss can stop whatever he or she is doing and focus on what the individual in front of him or her is saying, that's an incredible skill that a lot of people don't do."

Communicate

Rene Krist, owner of Full Spectrum Leadership in Youngstown, said middle managers (which is not, by the way, supposed to be a derogatory term) too often lose sight of their primary objective.

"The single most important role of a manager is to translate the long-term, high-level strategy, the intent and purpose of the organization, to the front line," Krist said. "It is also to communicate upward to the senior level of the organization the impact of that strategy."

Communicate earlier

It's not just what you say, but when you say it, that can make a big difference in how workers receive the message, Krist said.

If overtime might be necessary to fill an order on Friday, it's better to send the message Monday than Friday morning, Krist said. If financial conditions mean there might have to be belt-tightening, people want to hear about what the company's going to do earlier rather than later.

"Most managers will delay their communication, to their own detriment," Krist said. "The idea that nobody likes to hear bad news is a fallacy. People don't mind hearing bad news, but they hate hearing bad news too late."

Have an open-door policy

Staying visible and accessible to staffers - and not just through e-mail bombardments or dashes past their desk - helps keep them involved and helps a manager know what's really going on in the bullpen.

"One of a manager's primary jobs is to know what your staff is doing at all times, and help them to do it better," John McKee, business coach and author of "21 Ways Women in Management Shoot Themselves in the Foot," said in a release. "The best way to accomplish this is by staying visible and accessible ... not only by welcoming them into your office, but also by walking around the department."

Make more projects a collaboration

In a 2006 study of more than 9,000 workers in the United States, Canada, China and seven other countries conducted by Seattle's Global Market Institute Inc., 43 percent of workers said the main thing they wanted more of from their boss was to "use my skills and abilities better."

Pitek said that involving workers in the discussion, organization and execution of a plan, rather than just assigning tasks, makes work an engaging experience instead of an eight-hour chore.

Separate facts from interpretation

Those who report to a boss often end up putting their own spin on even the most objective facts. Bosses who rely on that input as the only truth often find themselves in trouble, according to Krist.

"The fact is that, say, John produced 15 units ... the interpretation is that John 'only' produced 15 units," Krist said. "Effective managers act on the real facts in one way and deal with interpretations separately."

Give credit where it's due

It doesn't exactly sound like hard-won insight, but too few managers take the simple step of honoring those employees who pulled off a tough effort or have just kept plugging away at an excellent pace.

Krist said that an influential survey done in the 1970s, and then again in the 1980s and 1990s, found that the top motivation for workers to achieve wasn't salary or working conditions - it was appreciation.

"Look at people in the eye and say, 'Good job,' or even just 'Good morning,' " he said. "It costs nothing, but it means everything."

Kevin Purdy writes for the Niagara Gazette in Niagara Falls, N.Y.