How to be a Bosshole: Don’t Model Your Business After These Companies

When you are a small business, you have to think tough. After all, in the jungle only the strong survive. You need to show no mercy to your competitors and your employees. You have to be a bosshole.

There are some large and successful businesses that are on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. They treat their employees with respect and give them opportunities for growth. But a small business can’t afford to be so goody-goody, can they?

Reducing Employee Turnover to Reduce Overhead

Small business owners need to be able to keep costs down, and employee turnover can hurt a company’s bottom line. Large companies, such as Four Seasons and TD Industries, have found business models that lower employee turnover, increase customer satisfaction, and help increase profits. But, can a small business follow these models and see the same results?

Empowered Employees

Four Seasons is a Canadian-based luxury resort company that was sold to Bill Gates and a Saudi Arabian prince in 2007 for $4 billion. It has been around since 1961 and had over $36,000 employees in resorts all over the world. How did it become so successful? By treating its employees, clients and nature with respect.

Many organizations say that they demand employees treat one another with respect. The Four Seasons, however, enforces that rule. After a major overhaul of management, the company was able to create an atmosphere where employees understand that they need to treat others the way they want to be treated, and this includes the guests.

Another change that Four Seasons implemented after careful market research was the way the organization handles customer service issues. The company discovered that their clients believed time was a valuable commodity they didn’t want to waste. Therefore, Four Seasons empowered employees to satisfy customer needs to resolve an issue. They aren’t given carte blanche, but they are able to do almost anything they feel will make the customer happy.

The result of this reorganization of their business model is that the company has been listed on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” since the list was originated in 1998. They have also discovered that the employees have responded positively to their ethical model. When employees see a situation, they take care of it and they always strive to give 100%, instead of minimum effort.

Servant Leadership

The traditional method of leadership has been a hierarchy of management with employees at the bottom. These employees do what they are told by their boss, who in turn does what he or she is told by their boss, and so on. The employees have no say in what goes on in the organization, and are considered tools by management to do what needs to be done to make a business successful.

At TD Industries, the traditional method of leadership didn’t work for them. This Texas commercial contracting firm utilizes a newer form of leadership called servant leadership. Servant leadership embraces the idea that management is there to motivate and inspire, but not dominate. The company allows employees to help make decisions in the company, and the management team does what it can to help make employees successful as well as the organization.

TD Industries is not about letting employees go their way without direction. Employees police themselves and are held accountable for their actions. Instead, those who have the drive can take the lead, no matter what position they hold in the company.

The result is an employee-owned organization that recorded $308 million in revenue in 2010 and appeared in the Fortune’s top 100 companies list. The company attributes its success to its business model and the way that its employees respond to the opportunities the company offers.

Being a Bosshole

Small companies don’t have to follow the traditional, bosshole, business models to be successful. By retaining qualified, motivated employees, an organization can reduce the company overhead, tap into a valuable resource, and improve profitability. The first step is to create an ethics code for the company that is weaved into the organization’s mission statement. It can be as simple as the Golden Rule, such as the policy Four Seasons adopted for its organization. Or it can be more complex.

Then management needs to decide how it will enforce this policy, and screen applicants for these traits. People can learn how to perform many tasks, but the way they treat others and their outlook on life are ingrained. Seek like-minded individuals and you will find that the culture of the organization will become what you envision.

Another decision you need to make is how you want to lead your organization. Do you want to be a traditional company or adopt Greenleaf’s Servant Leader philosophy? Robert Greenleaf has developed a non-profit organization that helps businesses utilize this new management tool so that other businesses can model the success of TD Industries, Four Seasons and other organizations.

So the choice is yours. You can be a bosshole, or you can decide to take a look at a new way of running a company that is built on respect, empowerment, and accountability. Which do you think you would want to work for if you were an employee? And which business model would make you proud of your accomplishments?