We Don’t Need Bosses—We Need Round Wheel Facilitators, managers who understand that things roll on Square Wheels^® and that leading change is possible

For decades, the business world has wrestled with the question: Can we do without bosses? From holacracy to agile networks, management thinkers have tried to replace hierarchy with harmony. Yet, as Nicolai Foss and Peter Klein remind us in Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company, “bossless” management often collapses under its own weight.

Their argument pairs beautifully with the Square Wheels^® approach, revealing that what organizations truly need are not BOSSes, but managers acting as facilitators of round wheel possibilities. 

There are so many positive impacts, and managers can provide the inspiration and resources to actually change how things work within their organizations. They can encourage people (dis-un-engagement!) to share ideas and consider doing things differently by involving them in the innovation and improvement process, rather than being The Boss and directing change.

A Square Wheels reality, round wheel ideas are everywhere

My simple, actionable model paints a familiar picture: a wagon full of Square Wheels thumping down the road. The people at the back push while the leader pulls — him being up front with a rope and not seeing how rough the journey really is. And, inside the wagon, sit perfectly good round wheels waiting to be used. The message is timeless: things are rolling along, but there’s a better way to roll if we can only talk about it.

The Reality of The Journey Forward

The “Boss Backwards” Trap

I have joked for decades that “boss” spelled backwards means, “double son-of-a-bitch.” It’s a funny but painful truth. Too often, people experience leaders as barriers to progress rather than partners in performance. Foss and Klein’s analysis drives home the same point in academic terms: leadership gone wrong isn’t just demoralizing, it’s organizationally inefficient. But rather than eliminate bosses, they argue we must redefine their role as both designers and encouragers of progress.

Two Kinds of Authority

Foss and Klein introduce two versions of managerial power:

• Mark I Authority: the visible control mechanisms—hiring, firing, supervising, sanctioning.

• Mark II Authority: the invisible influence of structure, alignment, and shared purpose.

(I do not know why the authors are picking on Mark, but whatever, right?)

Mark I Management tends to look like this:

Leadership can be isolated from the reality of improvement

Mark II is where the Square Wheels come to life. It’s the round‑wheel version of leadership that removes roadblocks, encourages collaboration, and gets teams to lift their own ideas into motion. This is the realm of people service facilitation – leaders helping others implement the ideas that already exist within the wagon.

A Better Way to Roll

Square Wheels^® thinking reminds us that improvement is a collective act. None of us is as smart as all of us. The best leaders spark engagement not by commanding but by inviting people to collectively offer ideas, asking questions like:

• What Square Wheels are slowing us down?

•  What kinds of mud is impacting forward motion?

• What round wheel possibilities already exist?

• How can we make the journey go more better faster for everyone?

It’s in these conversations that “well‑functioning hierarchy” takes shape—a leadership model that balances autonomy with alignment, speed with ownership, and judgment with trust. Organizations need managers and facilitators, not bosses.

Grab a FREE Square Wheels Toolkit including the main illustration and other support at:
https://performancemanagementcompany.com/square-wheelsone/

Download the FREE Square Wheels One image under Creative Commons license

The Message for Today’s Organizations

Bossless organizations rarely succeed because coordination still matters. But traditional hierarchies fail when they crush initiative and silence insight. The answer isn’t to dump the boss; it’s to transform the role. The best leaders stop pulling alone from the front. What they do is help their people consider other possibilities.

As both Simmerman and Foss and Klein make clear:
We still need leadership. We just don’t need more bosses.

For organizations everywhere, that means replacing command and control with connection and collaboration—and moving every “boss” into a facilitator of round wheels role. (roll!)

(Please do check out the offer of the FREE Square Wheels toolkit. It is amazing, and while designed for supervisors, it can easily be used by managers, trainers and consultants looking to dis-un-engage people in the workplaces of the world.)

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For the FUN of It!

Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools.
Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant who is trying to retire!! He now lives in Cuenca, Ecuador.

You can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com
Learn more about Scott at his LinkedIn site.

Square Wheels® are a registered trademark of Simmulations, LLC
and images have been copyrighted since 1993,

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