The Boss: What is that job?

"I’d like to see some columns about managing your boss: what to do if the boss grabs your credit, is nasty, unreasonable, etc. I’m especially interested to see what people think about dealing with bad women bosses versus bad men bosses." DC Web Woman

I have always been very curious about how people got to be the "boss." The frailties, inadequacies and naked incompetence of many of the bosses I have worked for were so obvious as to make it illogical for them to be the boss. Yet they were "the person in authority over employees." It made no sense at all.

Of course, in my ancient days gender was still the dominant influence in power. Power was in the hands of men. Early in my career every boss I knew, either overtly or covertly, thought that women were second-tier in the workplace. In my climb up the ladder I actually had one male head of a company tell me how absolutely wonderful my work was, and that I would make a great number two. And he said it to me as if it were a compliment.

I used to imagine what it would be like when women were the boss. I would think about women being in charge and how different it would be for everyone. Once we women took hold of the business world "things" would be very different.

Now I am not so sure.

With women as the boss things may not be that different -- but more because of the job than the gender of the people in it. I have seen bad women bosses, and good men bosses, and bad men bosses, and good women bosses. Gender does not seem to be the indicator of good or bad, although there are differences that gender does influence. However, the job itself often prevails over the people in it.

I have been the boss, with significant power and influence and control, and I can tell you that it is nothing like I imagined it to be. It is unrelenting pressure and impossible expectations. It is an extraordinary challenge of thinking, anticipating and risk taking. It is a mix of crushing responsibility and difficult choices. It is chilling isolation, and constant scrutiny. The weight of it can pulverize your soul.

Of course, there are enormous benefits from the job: power, influence, prestige, and money. When you are the boss there are opportunities to bring fairness and compassion to the workplace, and to foster merit-based, gender-neutral success. There is a forum to teach, to effect change, and to make a difference. There is also a chance to prove that you are as smart, as tough, and as good as, maybe even better than, the other guy.

And, despite what most workers think, when you are the boss you are not free of control. You still have a boss yourself. Every boss answers to some other boss. Perhaps it is stockholders, or a board of directors, or a bank, or customers. The harshest boss of a boss is ultimate accountability.

Most workers strive to be a boss. Typically, the way to get to be a boss is to do very good work and then you will likely be rewarded by being put in charge of other people. Soon afterward you are expected to make those other people do very good work. The theory is that if you do a good job at one level, worker for instance, that the next level, supervisor or manager, is a logical progression.

But it is not logical. This new job of boss needs a very different core competency than the one for good work. This new job has a different set of responsibilities, and a different set of loyalties. A boss is now responsible for much more than her own work. A boss is responsible for other people; for their work, for their productivity, and for their professional and personal development. A boss has a new, far more compelling allegiance to the company’s well being that will drive her decisions.

However, there is rarely any training, mentoring, or effective support to transition from worker to boss. New supervisors and managers are almost always thrown against the great corporate wall, and expected to stick to it on their own. Many of them do stick, and then earn the privilege of being thrown up higher, to learn to stick on their own again and again. In the process of adapting to the new responsibilities and pressures, former good workers will typically adopt quick fix solutions to solve their new problems.

Look at your own experience with bosses. I suspect that most bosses are very competent with the work. That is because most bosses are skilled in managing process but are not skilled in managing people. The problems with bosses, at every level, are almost always leadership, consistency, and compassion. These are not process skills, they are people skills, and it is their deficiency that makes a bad boss.

When you are not trained for leadership, it is very, very hard to lead. When you do not know how to lead people, you must find other ways to motivate them. Bosses fall back on intimidation and attitude because they produce quick results. Consistency of action requires confidence of purpose. In turn, confidence brings forth compassion. The lack of one is the lack of all.

If your boss is one of those people who has been thrown up against the corporate wall it will help you if you recognize that fact. Understanding the job of boss, and the differences between being a boss and being a worker, brings perspective to confusing and illogical actions. This is the first step in dealing effectively with why a boss acts as she does.

The Women in Business series "The Boss" will continue next week.

Copyright © 1998, 1999 by D.E. Summerville. All rights reserved.

The advice and suggestions in the Women in Business column are solely those of the author. DC Web Women assumes no responsibility for its content.

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