What is a Boss?
Everyone has one, and the title is utilized universally, but what actually is a boss? A common definition is, “A person who is in charge of a worker, group, or organization.” And when you look in the thesaurus, we see that it is also called, supervisor, manager, and leader; among other nouns. And when you look up the definition of these terms, you see:
Supervisor: A person who supervises a person or an activity
Manager: A person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or organization
Leader: the person who leads or commands a group or organization.
Are you confused yet?
That was my feeling coming up through the ranks in my fire department. One “boss” would tell me to be a good supervisor; another boss would tell me to be a good manager; and yet another would tell me to be a good leader. And no one would define these terms for me. I was left to figure it out for myself.
Once retired, and still frustrated, I set out to clarify for myself and anyone else who was confused. This was the impetus for my book, “Supervisor, Manager, Leader; The Basics of Being a Boss.”
After extensive research, recalling thirty-plus years of work experience and approximately 60 years of life experience, I rationalized this enigma as follows:
“Boss” is the generic term I choose to use. A term that meets the original definition at the top of this blog: “A person who is in charge of a worker, group, or organization.” The following are my generic definitions for:
The Supervisor: A boss who has the ability to oversee, monitor, and adjust the activities and behavior of the people.
The Manager: A boss who has the ability to control, monitor, and adjust the “things” or environment the people operate within.
The Leader: A boss who can inspire the people to not only meet the organizational mission, but chase and attain the organizational vision.
The boss, in order to be effective, must have the skills and abilities of a supervisor, manager, and leader. A boss that has the skills and abilities of only one or two of these, is not effective, but ineffective. In other words, a boss who is a great manager and leader, but not a good supervisor, is an ineffective boss. Or, a boss who is a great leader, but not a good manager or supervisor, is ineffective as a boss.
All that I do at Mike Kraus Leadership is based off of this simple concept. A concept that so many organizations, both public and private, don’t get, or don’t see as important. A concept that can and does turn departments and companies around, by simply initiating initial and on-going training and development of their respective bosses.
Mike
