A Different Path, A Different Result

Chapter 2: No More Bosses! “When you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.” Anonymous We live in a society in which we pretend to believe that all men are created equal. Yet, our society is fraught with demonstrations to the contrary. All aspects of society reflect who we really are and what we really believe. In business, for example, the bosses are seen as mini gods whom we must not offend. They wield their power and control the minions with a threat of their signature on dreaded forms. Productivity is sought through coercion in most instances. Creativity is discouraged. Minions are to be kept in their place. And while this is not the norm in every single business, in a twenty-first century world, it represents far too many businesses. We need a new approach to business—we need to take a different path in order to realize a different result! This model has a precondition of businesses becoming more people focused, which, to reiterate, is not mutually exclusive to having a business focus. Becoming people focused begins with the eradication of all bosses. The idea of ‘no more bosses’ may make executives indignant at first thought. Nonetheless, its import is quite acceptable. The concept of ‘no more bosses’ quite simply means removing the sense that there is a difference between executives, or managers, and employees. It suggests getting rid of the ‘I am more important than you’ thinking of managers, and the perceived or real elevated status of executives. This concept is not new to the business world and its practice is even attempted within some organizations, but to what avail? In actuality, its current practices bear lip service to the concept at best, in most cases. Organizations hold this concept of ‘each employee is important’ as “espoused theory” but it is not fully demonstrated within organizations, or, it is not a “theory-in-use.” Once again, it is new wine in old wine skins. As human beings, there are no differences among individuals in terms of importance on planet Earth. It is widely accepted that each individual human’s life is equal in value to any and every other human’s life, in theory at least. In practice, however, there are many indications that this value is once again more ‘espoused theory’ rather than ‘theory-in-use.’ By the mere choices that are made, our biases towards some individuals reveal themselves. Our societal norms often dictate these biases and enshrine them in our every behavior. For example, you don’t ever hear parents extolling the virtues of being a garbage collector, or even a filing clerk, yet these are necessary occupations for our society to survive. Demonstrations of these biases pervade our society on many levels, and it can be clearly seen within organizations. When have you ever heard of the janitor, or even the mail clerk, within an organization receiving kudos or recognition for their work efforts at the same level as the organization’s top performing salesman? Still, many executives pretend to believe that their organizations exhibit the value that all of their employees are considered important or equal. The approach outlined in this book does not pretend to offer corrections for society’s inappropriate dictates, nor can it cure the ills of the world as a whole. It attempts to reveal the inadequacies in our current consciousness thinking within organizations and offers a new method for achieving one’s organizational goals that allows such values as ‘everyone is important’ to become real values, or, values-in-use. Walk In My Shoes This new perspective involves re-thinking business relationships and business operations. It begins with a new view of each individual involved in your business operations, which is that each individual has to be viewed as you. Whenever you look at an individual, you have to see yourself. It is similar to ‘walking in another’s shoes.’ When you can see each individual as yourself, suddenly their views, their feelings, their aspirations, and their challenges become your views, your feelings, your aspirations, and your challenges. In other words, all that is important to them becomes important to you. It is not so much about feeling their pain and solving their challenges for them. Viewing each individual as yourself allows you to respect them as individuals, and value their goals for their lives as much as you value your own. When you begin with this premise that each individual involved in your business deserves just as much respect as you do, then each act within which you become engaged will be in their best interest as well as your own. The core suggestion is that executives and managers must truly come to believe that the feelings, thoughts, desires and goals of employees are just as important as their own. This then becomes the basis upon which all decisions and actions within the organization occur. I am sure you are familiar with the saying, ‘when you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.’ This is powerfully true. If you want different results within your organization, you have to be prepared to try a different approach. So, the premise of this approach is that each and every individual within an organization has thinking, feelings, and goals that are equally important, including the chief executive’s. And no individual’s goals and objectives have to be mutually exclusive to the organization’s goals and objectives. This is the foundation of the philosophy of this new consciousness business model. Anarchy Afoot? In the minds of many executives the first thought is, “how much will this cost?” For whatever reasons, they tend to believe that caring about employees beyond a superficial level will cost them dearly. Not necessarily. At least not in dollars and cents, but it could cost in terms of initial time and energy invested in the implementation of this model. However, I contend that you will discover over time that it is worth every bit of the time and effort spent. Another thought might be that within such an organization using this approach, there will be total anarchy. No. The idea of ‘no boss’ or ‘everyone being equal’ speaks more to the perspective from which to view each employee. It is more about the lack of a boss, than it is about the lack of a leader and there is a difference. A boss is viewed far differently than a leader. When you say the word ‘boss’ to an employee, and you say the word ‘leader’ to that employee, it conjures up two completely different images in their perception. So the idea of getting rid of the bosses is more about getting rid of the implications inherent in the term. It really is about changing the roles of these individuals. This philosophy advocates removing the concept of ‘the boss’ and replacing it with the concept of ‘leadership’ and ‘self-leadership.’ This philosophy is founded in the belief that each individual is a powerful, self-determining individual with life choices and decision-making authority. And it requires true acceptance of each individual as such, thus going beyond being an espoused theory and becoming a ‘theory-in-use.’ It presupposes no judgment of the individual choices made but simply proposes to encourage each individual to be the best that they can be in their chosen roles. If it is garbage collection or banking, it offers the same support and structures to allow the individual to be the best garbage collector or banker that they can be. With every decision and at every juncture, the core premise is to always create a win-win situation for all. Note: Discussions on "espoused theory" and "theory-in-use" in the organizational context can be found in Knowledge for Action: A Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change. Chris Argyris (1993) Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA