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Three Bosses


Often priceless insights come from things you resist in doing in the first instinct. This blog briefly describes one such lesson learned over the past quarter.

Been an avid observer, initially, my gut reacted with aversion. I was more than convinced that having more than one boss is just a bad structure in any organization be it a fast-paced startup like the one I head or be it any other medium or large scale organization especially in IT.

I was empathizing as always and putting myself in the employee shoes and concluding it as a bad idea. Having two bosses was annoying but imagine having three, ouch!! simply nightmarish, it must be.



Note: Boss = Supervisor = Manager = Team Leader

Though by not shouting out my gut feelings, I let the situation rolled in for a while. To my surprise what I experienced, did shock me. I observed that most employees outgrew their growth from their previous experience in a very short amount of time.

The employees were exposed to three distinct styles of management. At first, sure, it must be frustrating but trusting each of their bosses intentions and foresight, they learned things at thrice the speed they normally would in any normal setup. Three bosses with three approaches, three ways of planning, three ways to encounter questions and discover solutions. This was an interesting setting that we stumbled upon unintentionally and which ended up teaching me something that normally will be unthinkable.

On the flip side, the three bosses scenario directly points to lack of processes & lack of communication between and within all tiers. I am deeply appreciating the importance of "clear" communication day by day. As per my belief, among all the soft skills, communicating clearly is one of the hardest to master.

Now please don't interpret me wrong. I am not promoting to have more than one boss in all cases. Rather am simply indicating that if the styles of managing and leading are different, then the outcome of having more than one boss,  may surprise you positively. Thus I will request you to evaluate using the scale of "employee growth" and give this assortment a chance.

Besides, to be fair, over time we did sorted things out and "EMPOWER" all the right persons so that generally an employee is supposed to report to just one boss and not more. Though, once in a while, it's ok to stir the pot, considering the benefits it reaps on both sides.

To end, learn to clearly communicate and learn to grow & empower your juniors & colleagues. The after effect is stunningly beautiful.

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