Coaches Eat Bosses for Lunch
In our office, "boss" is a four letter word. I hate to judge such a time-honored title given to managers and supervisors--but I must. We only need to look at its official definition to know that it needed to be retired with other ancient workplace terms like "gatekeeper" or "The Man."
The verb form of boss is defined as "to be master of or over; manage; direct; control." I've worked in big and small companies--and have never had someone master over me. Therefore I guess I've never had a boss.
I've had leaders, managers, supervisors, mentors, and coaches. The model for the next generation of organizational leadership is that of "coach". Coaches teach; they help teammates visualize an outcome; they encourage; and coaches manufacture confidence. Bosses only boss.
The boss mindset of talent is a low-leverage strategy. Great leaders define and engage the work of colleagues. But to maximize the contribution of each colleague, the leader needs the full talent of each. And "bossing" merely extends the talent of the boss. It fails to unleash the talent of the bossed.
Unless you hire people that act like Roscoe P. Coltrane, don't be a
boss.