Some good conversations yesterday, firstly with an academic researcher we've been working with recently, and then at lunch with former-BBC colleague Dan Merriott.
Some links were made in those chats that haven't quite lined up for me before now. A number of years ago I was introduced to Ken Blanchard's Situational Leadership model, the basic gist of which is that as people you have working for you gain skill and confidence in the work that they do, the amount of control and direction you need to give to them as a manager and direction drops. If it doesn't drop, you're not delegating tasks well, and they become demotivated by your control-freak tendencies.
What I hadn't made the connection to until yesterday was the way that control-freakery can lead to secrecy, and (contradictory to what the control freak expects) actually much less control than they would have if they significantly slackened the reins.
Think about your own experiences of working for a control freak (and if you are lucky enough to have never had the experience, play 'let's imagine'). How much of your time becomes acting in a clandestine manner to avoid interruption so that you can get the job done? How much of your time is spent making up stories to describe what they want to hear about what is happening? How damn stressful is the whole experience?!
Compare that to the experience of working with a powerful delegator (I fear more people might need to play 'let's imagine' this time around). Working for someone who let's you get on with the job is more likely to lead you to want to seek them out for guidance, mentorship and support. Disclosure (voluntarily) of information is much more likely to be truthful. Stress is much lessened.
There's never a situation where only one style of leadership is always appropriate, but over-reliance on directive, controlling approaches is a common issue, I fear, in most British organisations. Approaching it from the perspective of how to exert the most control (by being less “controlling”) is something to think about…
mmitII 