Comparing a Leader with a Boss, who would you rather work for?

I was 19, I was about 2 years into my plumbing apprenticeship and a new supervisor had just started working for the business as my new boss (replacing the previous supervisor that had left the business)…. he was an older man in his mid 50’s, he seemed ok to begin and we began working together.

For the next 3 months I tried hard to piece together what I could understand were his values and how they mirrored the way I was brought and my values. For whatever reason, this was difficult and I felt our approach towards people will one day be tested.

Most people have either worked for someone, with someone or employed someone who immediately challenges your personality. This person challenged me. But they were also my boss. I needed to handle every situation respectfully.

Breaking Point

It’s not uncommon for an apprentice to be ‘tested’, to see if they ‘have what it takes’ to finish a job that others would walk away from or give up because the situation was insulting or approached disrespectfully.

For example; over a period of 6 months, mine came whenever I had to work with my new boss. This is because this person was not a ‘lead by example’ type of person, he was a ‘do what I say, and do it now!’. He didn’t like questions being asked. He only cared about himself and getting things done his way. No speed bumps (me asking questions).

Unfortunately for the situation, I wasn’t that type of apprentice. I wanted to know why we did something, how come it has to be done this way, what other methods are there and what experiences had my boss had that made him feel so passionate about making these project decisions. After all, I was an apprentice, it should be my duty to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can right?…. well that’s what I thought anyway.

The only difference between my boss and others with a similar personality to mine is this…..

The day came when we received an emergency call-out to repair a leaking water main. This involved hand digging using only a crowbar and a shovel.

To find the leak, it meant breaking through a bitumen road surface, followed by digging through a compacted rocky shale road base before finding the source of the leak at a depth of ~1metre. Then repair the leak (no problem, I had already done this many times by myself before. I knew what I was doing).

It was a mid Summer afternoon and the temperature had reached 45deg Celsius only a day earlier. There was no shade and no time to build any. The job was an emergency…..

With the area barricaded off, my boss parked the work vehicle (small 3t ‘cab over’ body truck) about a meter away from the hole; close enough for me to rest my crowbar and shovel against the front while he sat in the front of the truck looking down at me digging.

The entire time while I completed the work (approx 2 hours) my boss sat in the air-conditioned cab watching.

But what made me feel infuriated was when I needed a quick water break while digging, the boss would beep the horn yelling through the glass while pointing at the ground, as if to tell me where he wanted me to dig next….. this happened time and time again and until the job was completed. I was furious.

I knew at this point that there is ‘no way’ I will ever want to be like him.

To finish that story, I worked with this boss for further 18 months and until I finished my apprenticeship. I dug every hole that ever needed digging.

Compare a Boss to a Leader

The differences between my new Boss as an apprentice and my first boss was incredible. Their differences helped me compare a Leader to a Boss.

Through those years, I had realised that people work best when they feel valued:

• When people don’t understand things, that a better explanation is needed,
• When somebody asks a question, they are searching for answers,
• When people have a job to do, they are best working together,
• If somebody makes a mistake, they probably haven’t been given what they need to be successful,
• People don’t want to fail, their are reasons for failure that lead to the final consequence,
• If a job has to be done, a ‘Leader’ gives people determination to achieve for themselves.

I had witnesses such a massive swing between my first boss (a Leader) and my second (a Boss) that I clearly understood how I wanted to be approached. If I felt this way, I had to make sure others did too. So I did.

I questioned people; I questioned team leaders, other apprentices, supervisors and employers. I wanted to find out what other people were doing, how their work colleagues were treated and what their opinions were regarding the way they were treated. It was conclusive:

“Great results are produced while having great leaders”

While my first boss and I had our difference from time to time, I still respected what his decision was. I knew that I would learn from his ultimate choice to do something was going to be a good one. I knew that he would support me and work with me to get the job done (I didn’t get this from my second boss).

1. Being a Leader is much more than a personality that others can bind with, and,
2. Being a Leader is not something that can be simply granted to a persons by their job title.

“Being a leader is treating people respectfully, taking initiative, guiding others to see benefits from actions and building peoples confidence so everyone feels fully engaged in what they are doing. A Leader leads…”

But there is so much more that is needed to become a leader….

If I wanted to become a leader; I needed to learn to talk like a leader, I had to work with a leaders passion and drive, I needed to work harder then those around me, I needed to lead from the front so others would see what I wanted to achieve so they could be part of the journey.

I wanted people to work ‘with me’ to get the job done, rather than only working ‘for me’ and only getting paid for doing what hey were told.

For me as an employer, even though people were paid to do their job, I wanted them to feel like there was more to the job than that. I wanted people to see what our vision was, to follow my lead and feel appreciated for doing it.

Fortunately, we were able to achieve some amazing business goals, and it is this lesson that helped me get there as a team.

 

Written by Geoff Pike, Entrepreneur, Speaker & Business Mentor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-pike-australia

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ABOUT GEOFF

Geoff founded a sole trader plumbing business in a remotely located and vastly underpopulated location in outback Australia. Starting business with only enough money to pay 4 weeks wages, Geoff persisted by growing the business into a multi-disciplined trade services company. Over a period of 12 years, the company Geoff established grew to employ a workforce of over 300 personnel covering an area almost half the size of Europe, receiving international award recognition with an annual revenue of over $30mil. Geoff knows what it takes to overcome adversity.