Why we love to use “command and control”

In businesses and organisations up and down the country, managers are still relying on “command and control” approaches to managing staff. You must have met the type. Those managers who tell you what to do, when to do it.

You can see why they do it. It is simple. Management made easy. I say what needs doing and when, you do it. End of story.

However, it isn’t that easy. “Command and control” managers spend all their lives checking whether things have been done right, spend their time giving new orders, spend their time trying to motivate people to meet deadlines.

Management through coaching takes time. It takes time to develop the necessary trust and rapport. It takes time to understand how each member of your team operates, their strengths and weaknesses. It takes time to create the structures so that your people feel able to make decisions themselves, come up with ideas and know when to ask for help.

The thing is … once you have done the spadework, the rest is really easy. It is like gardening, the harder you work in Springtime, the less you have to do in Summer and the greater the reward. I have managed major projects, working with new teams each time, and, by the end, I have developed the rapport and trust to the point where I have an easy ride (easy-ish ride):

• I don’t have to tell people what to do all the time because we have developed the plan together, they understand the “why’s” behind the decisions and can go away and find the best way of achieving the required results.
• I don’t have to chase to find out whether something has been done or not, because we have both agreed it needs doing and that they are best placed to do it.
• I don’t have to motivate my team to do the work, they are bought into a shared vision and know that success will be their success.

A “command and control” approach to management negates creativity, inventiveness and risk-taking. It stifles personal development. It is purely results-orientated, without getting the results. While it can seem scary to manage through trust, putting that initial effort creates much stronger teams who work better and deliver much better results.

If you want more hints and tips on being a great manager, download my book from Amazon.co.uk.