Product Showcases

Beware of the Bossy Boss

"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives."
  --- Theodore Roosevelt

Since the beginning of (business) time, business leaders have been challenged with the age-old question of how to motivate employees. Employee engagement is a continuous job and one that, when handled right, will help the business to reap extraordinary rewards. The task of engaging employees falls on the leader and that is the best place to begin a thorough self-examination of the talent and skills required to lead.

Many companies today are experimenting with the concept of having no leader. Zappos, the online shoe store for example, has tinkered with leaderless teams for creating a wonderful customer service experience from the first visit to the website or the first phone call, to completion of the purchase and delivery of the product. Unfortunately, some of the experiments have failed leaving both employees and customers a little confused.

"By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day."
  --- Robert Frost

But regardless of how well a company wants to treat employees and team members, eliminating an authoritative figure has proven to not be a good alternative. People need, and studies have shown, that employees want leaders. There has to be someone in charge to give direction and guidance and to call the final shots. Of course it is a great idea to empower employees and give them opportunities to make important decisions, but it always has to come back to one or a group figurehead.

"The speed of the boss is the speed of the team."
  --- Lee Iacocca

The leader sets the tone for how the business will run. It is the leader that decides on the course to take and it is his or her responsibility to ensure that the business follows that course. Without given a clear direction, team members may as well have their own independent enterprises or act as independent contractors.

"No man goes before his time - unless the boss leaves early."
  --- Groucho Marx

Empowering team members to make bold decisions in favor of enhancing the course of the business is simply smart business. This type of management gives employees the freedom to act as adults and not continually watch the clock or to perform only when the boss is watching. This requires that the leader not be bossy and bark orders as if communicating to robots, but to lead the team toward individual as well as corporate success.

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
  --- Sam Walton

The person or company that the employees are providing a product or service for, gives the final say. The only person that should be allowed to be bossy in the business relationship is the customer. As the ultimate boss, employees with a great leader rather than a bossy boss understand their roles and responsibilities for providing a great service for the customer.

Communicating the course direction rather than dictating step-by-step procedures is an indication of a leader that others will follow.