In order to capture the essence of how I mentally differentiate between bosses and leaders, I decided to get a little help from Trimble SketchUp and Canva to craft a visual metaphor of how I see bosses and leaders working differently. By the end of this post you should have a decent idea of the kind of approach you want to take in your career long term, but also the kind of approach your manager/supervisor/director/president takes within the organization as well.
As a caveat before I begin talking about the two ways people create direction in an organization, I realize some people are happy either being the figures the boss sends across the bridge, or being the ones following the leader across the bridge. I have observed over time that most people seem happier and more productive when the concept presented in the second graphic matches their job, but on occasion the concept in the first graphic can work - if you have the right kind of boss pointing the way. Usually for the bossy one to work there's actually a leader who says "boss is right, follow me" and the boss would have been leading the way in the past, but preferred to delegate instead because more than one team now depends on said boss.
This graphic includes several visual elements to represent some of the challenges we face at work every day. Here's a breakdown of what I see each one meaning, and how a boss manages differently than a leader.
Team:
At the end of the day, the team is the group of people that get the work done. Whether they bring back the prize at the behest of their boss or decide together that the prize is worth seeking, the team ultimately ends up doing the work. Most bosses (the bad ones at least) decide that they own their team, not that they are part of their team. The team is there to go get the trophy for the boss, and if a member of the team doesn’t want to go get the trophy they usually have to find another team. For bad bosses, teams are just tools that can be broken and thrown away. Most leaders (even if they lead from within a management position) are part of the team. They work together with the teammates to decide which prize to go after. And they decide with the team if they prize chosen has become too difficult to attain. When they do bring a trophy home, it goes in the trophy case that the team shares, together. And if any one member of the team starts to get weak, the rest of the team shores up to help out.
Large Desk:
This is the place where the boss makes all the decisions about where his team goes. When the fire fight starts he will also tend to use it as a shield, because after all his team is expendable, but he is not. Also, the leader has no large desk. He assumes that the best course is to convince the army at the other end to stand down, but will also take a bullet if a fire fight starts.
Chasm/Canyon:
We face uncertainty at work every day. This uncertainty separates us from our goal (the trophy) and makes the obstacles in our way (the army) all the more daunting. A boss will say "go across the canyon and return my prize. If you fail i can just find a different team that is better anyway." A leader will say, "We all agreed that the prize on the other side of the canyon is worth going after. Let's go together across to get it and share it. I'll protect you the best I know how as we cross."
Bridge:
This represents the chosen path through uncertainty. When a boss chooses a path and it's the wrong one, he usually blames the incompetence of the team for failing his vision. When a leader suggests the path the team works together to forge it. If it turns out incorrect they work together to decide on which path to try next and forge it together.
Armed Guards:
The armed guards represent the obstacles, both known and unknown, that hinder our progress towards achieving a goal. The boss tends to ignore the risk for casualties, after all he can just send in more people until the job gets done. The leader has no desire for any casualties, because the leader would insist on being the first. Nobody on the team is expendable, and everyone works together to find the best way to deal with the armed guards. With a good leader-headed team, usually the goal is reached without bullets flying. With a boss's team, the boss might get impatient and detrimentally impact any chance the team had to handle non-hostile negotiating.
Trophy:
The prize! The boss wants this for a trophy case. The team wants it because they know it is a prize worth sharing together. The team can decide together if they fight for the wrong prize and seek another instead. The boss likely can't be as easily persuaded. After all, the boss made the choice to go after the prize. Why challenge the boss' ego by thinking they are wrong?
So, where’s the Manager?
Notice nowhere on the diagram do you see the text Manager/Supervisor/Director/President. Usually speaking, a manager can be both a boss and a leader. Even the best managers that have all of the right qualities of a leader sometimes need to put on their boss suit and tie when it comes time to make the really hard calls. If a manager does have several teams that each have their own leader, and one team struggles to bring in prizes as well as the other, sometimes the manager has to decide whether it's time to reorganize teams, or to reduce the number of employees on the weaker team in the name of operational efficiency. For a good manager, when teams don’t deliver, their first step is to find out why delivery isn’t happening. For a bad manager, usually the answer is to just lay blame and find ways to doc pay, or to outright terminate people. Don’t get me wrong - if a good manager sees someone that constantly draws down the entire team, it’s up to that manager to make the hard call and cut the apron strings.
My experience with management, both in large companies and small ones, tells me that the best managers have a well balanced blend of boss and leader in their repertoire. At times, they have to have the confidence to say “Go this way, and you’ll have to trust me right now because I know you don’t have all of the data that I do. It’s the right way to go, but unfortunately I’m not in the position to go with you.” Hopefully, most of the time they have used proven leadership so that when the time comes that they have to direct instead of lead, people trust that direction. More often than not the best managers act with the concept of leadership in mind. But they have the authority to be the boss on occasion, and hopefully that’s a good thing.
As a caveat before I begin talking about the two ways people create direction in an organization, I realize some people are happy either being the figures the boss sends across the bridge, or being the ones following the leader across the bridge. I have observed over time that most people seem happier and more productive when the concept presented in the second graphic matches their job, but on occasion the concept in the first graphic can work - if you have the right kind of boss pointing the way. Usually for the bossy one to work there's actually a leader who says "boss is right, follow me" and the boss would have been leading the way in the past, but preferred to delegate instead because more than one team now depends on said boss.
This graphic includes several visual elements to represent some of the challenges we face at work every day. Here's a breakdown of what I see each one meaning, and how a boss manages differently than a leader.
Team:
At the end of the day, the team is the group of people that get the work done. Whether they bring back the prize at the behest of their boss or decide together that the prize is worth seeking, the team ultimately ends up doing the work. Most bosses (the bad ones at least) decide that they own their team, not that they are part of their team. The team is there to go get the trophy for the boss, and if a member of the team doesn’t want to go get the trophy they usually have to find another team. For bad bosses, teams are just tools that can be broken and thrown away. Most leaders (even if they lead from within a management position) are part of the team. They work together with the teammates to decide which prize to go after. And they decide with the team if they prize chosen has become too difficult to attain. When they do bring a trophy home, it goes in the trophy case that the team shares, together. And if any one member of the team starts to get weak, the rest of the team shores up to help out.
Large Desk:
This is the place where the boss makes all the decisions about where his team goes. When the fire fight starts he will also tend to use it as a shield, because after all his team is expendable, but he is not. Also, the leader has no large desk. He assumes that the best course is to convince the army at the other end to stand down, but will also take a bullet if a fire fight starts.
Chasm/Canyon:
We face uncertainty at work every day. This uncertainty separates us from our goal (the trophy) and makes the obstacles in our way (the army) all the more daunting. A boss will say "go across the canyon and return my prize. If you fail i can just find a different team that is better anyway." A leader will say, "We all agreed that the prize on the other side of the canyon is worth going after. Let's go together across to get it and share it. I'll protect you the best I know how as we cross."
Bridge:
This represents the chosen path through uncertainty. When a boss chooses a path and it's the wrong one, he usually blames the incompetence of the team for failing his vision. When a leader suggests the path the team works together to forge it. If it turns out incorrect they work together to decide on which path to try next and forge it together.
Armed Guards:
The armed guards represent the obstacles, both known and unknown, that hinder our progress towards achieving a goal. The boss tends to ignore the risk for casualties, after all he can just send in more people until the job gets done. The leader has no desire for any casualties, because the leader would insist on being the first. Nobody on the team is expendable, and everyone works together to find the best way to deal with the armed guards. With a good leader-headed team, usually the goal is reached without bullets flying. With a boss's team, the boss might get impatient and detrimentally impact any chance the team had to handle non-hostile negotiating.
Trophy:
The prize! The boss wants this for a trophy case. The team wants it because they know it is a prize worth sharing together. The team can decide together if they fight for the wrong prize and seek another instead. The boss likely can't be as easily persuaded. After all, the boss made the choice to go after the prize. Why challenge the boss' ego by thinking they are wrong?
So, where’s the Manager?
Notice nowhere on the diagram do you see the text Manager/Supervisor/Director/President. Usually speaking, a manager can be both a boss and a leader. Even the best managers that have all of the right qualities of a leader sometimes need to put on their boss suit and tie when it comes time to make the really hard calls. If a manager does have several teams that each have their own leader, and one team struggles to bring in prizes as well as the other, sometimes the manager has to decide whether it's time to reorganize teams, or to reduce the number of employees on the weaker team in the name of operational efficiency. For a good manager, when teams don’t deliver, their first step is to find out why delivery isn’t happening. For a bad manager, usually the answer is to just lay blame and find ways to doc pay, or to outright terminate people. Don’t get me wrong - if a good manager sees someone that constantly draws down the entire team, it’s up to that manager to make the hard call and cut the apron strings.
My experience with management, both in large companies and small ones, tells me that the best managers have a well balanced blend of boss and leader in their repertoire. At times, they have to have the confidence to say “Go this way, and you’ll have to trust me right now because I know you don’t have all of the data that I do. It’s the right way to go, but unfortunately I’m not in the position to go with you.” Hopefully, most of the time they have used proven leadership so that when the time comes that they have to direct instead of lead, people trust that direction. More often than not the best managers act with the concept of leadership in mind. But they have the authority to be the boss on occasion, and hopefully that’s a good thing.
