Control-Oriented Leadership . . . It’s a Trap!

Old School Leadership Principles

As with most Baby Boomers, I had have had bosses who ascribed to the “old school” legacy leadership practice of command and control.  The approach taken by these leaders – past and present – seems to suggest that they believe that success comes from exerting positional power, coercive power and hard tactics.  Their approach is designed to ensure that the people they are leading achieve the results by following their instructions.  They micromanage how things get done and control most or all of the decisions because they don’t’ really trust people to make good choices on their own believing that success comes from telling them what to do.   This leadership style focuses on maintaining control on how things are done and forcing people to simply obey the instructions that are given.  I call this “The Compliance Control Trap™”.

Understanding What Drives Command and Control Leadership

If we try to understand why leaders choose to lead this way, we can surmise that part of the reason may be based on ego.  This is where the leader believe that they are the most knowledgeable person for the task they need done, so everyone needs to do it their way.  No innovation, no new ideas – my way or the highway.  Part of the reason may be fear that things won’t get done “right” unless they maintain full control on how it gets done.   It’s also possible that they just don’t know any other way to do things, they don’t trust others to do it as well or better and their approach gets results.  That’s the rub. The “Compliance Control Trap™” gets results.  The problem is that the results are not nearly as good as they would be if they used a more inspiring and empowering leadership approach.   Many leaders use a controlling type approach that works without fully understanding that a much better approach is available. For them it can be very difficult to give up what works for something better. They are challenged by questions such as:  Can I do this another way?  What if I fail?  The answer for them may be:   I can’t give up control because I am accountable.

Consequences of Being Too Directive

In the previous paragraph, I stated that the “Compliance Control Trap™” gets results.  The challenge for leaders managing people who work remotely is that this approach will be far less effective than it was in a face-to-face in-person environment.   A recent article on the impact of micromanaging outlined the negative implications of being overly directive.   The key to unlocking greater productivity is to let go of the need to tell people what to do.  It goes on to say that leaders who focus on monitoring employee activity risk damaging the relationship and perceptions of trust which will further erode productivity.   Leaders who manage remote teams need to find a better way.

A Better Way

Comparing the notion of doing what works “the old school way” when there are “better tools”, can be illustrated by my experience at making mashed potatoes.  When I was growing up, I was responsible for helping out in the kitchen.   One job that I really enjoyed doing was making mashed potatoes.  I would cut up the potatoes into chunks and boil them in water.  When the potatoes had boiled long enough to become soft, I would get the potato masher, which was a hand utensil that enabled me mash the soft potato chunks.  As progress was made mashing the potatoes, I would grab a fork and add a bit of milk and butter to make the potatoes a bit fluffier.  I used a fork because it was difficult to blend the milk and butter with the potato masher.  It was sometimes tough sledding with the fork due to the density of the mashed potatoes and inevitably there were small chunks of potato that didn’t get mashed well enough.  Nonetheless, everyone enjoyed the mashed potatoes I made (which is why I was able to keep that job!).  Years go by and along comes an electric hand mixer.  Wow what an improvement.  It takes less than half the time, there are rarely any chunks, I don’t have to switch to a fork and I am now able to blend in a little bit of creamed cheese for an even more heavenly batch of mashed potatoes.  So, what’s my point?  The old potato masher worked – but – although the power mixer was a bigger up-front expense, it achieves much better results.  You may be reading this and saying to yourself “using a power mixer is obvious”.  That’s true.  The “Compliance Control Trap™” is a hand masher that needs to be put away so that better tools can be used.  Let’s make it just as obvious.

The Commitment Empowerment Model™”

The better tool for leadership is called the “Commitment Empowerment Model™” where the leader believes in sharing their authority and trusting people to achieve results without being micromanaged.  For leaders who manage remote workers and virtual teams, shifting to this style of leadership is critical in order to achieve greater employee commitment and productivity.   I’ll describe this model in more detail in my next blog.

As always, I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me and I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Dave

The Author

David Town, CHRL, ACC, is a facilitator and coach of leadership and management principles that enable individuals and organizations to build greater leadership competency, resulting in higher performance and higher employee engagement. David has a particular focus on effective leadership of virtual teams. David is a member of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is Co-Founder and Principal of Virtual Leadership Matters Inc.