Most of us have developed our leadership style by observing the leaders, executives and managers we worked with or for throughout our career. Of course, we inject our leadership style with our own take on the world including our values. However, these are usually modifications of the model we’ve observed and been a part of over the years.
The classic leadership model is one of command and control – a system taken from the original large organization: the military. In a military environment, a clear system of command-control is essential to respond quickly and efficiently – critical criteria in achieving objectives with the fewest casualties. Companies soon adopted this efficient style of leadership in an effort to impose efficiency on their commercial organization. This command-control model of leadership generates top-down management. Decisions are all made at the top and dictated through the ranks of management and staff. And, this would work fine except for some important differences between the military and commercial organizations…
In the military, personnel pretty much are required to do what they’re told. When someone is insubordinate or abandons their post, there are serious consequences. In the corporate world, management and staff work under different rules. There is no real “requirement” that someone perform their duties. There is no rule of unquestioned discharge of duty. Substandard performance is regularly accepted and quitting is always an option. In addition, if the organization doesn’t achieve their objectives, no one’s life is put at risk!
The result of these differences between military and corporate is that the command-control model begins to fall apart in the corporate world. It no longer represents an efficient form of leadership. Which brings us to the point of this month’s newsletter. People are usually put in positions of responsibility because of their good judgment and their ability to make insightful decisions. And the tendency is to fall into the command-control model: Here’s the decision. I know it’s right. I don’t want to discuss it. Just do the work to achieve it.
But here’s the catch… Executives – by their very definition – don’t actually do the work! They oversee, guide, manage, etc. – but need to rely on others to get the job done. In a true command-control model, a decision and command yield results. Orders are followed without question and duties are discharged appropriately. In a corporate model these “orders” are always accepted. But accepting commands and following through with them can be very different things. We live in a world where people have increasing diversity and increasing choices. Attempting to “force” or coerce an employee never works very well. Those terms sound fairly harsh, however we see them in all their variations on a daily basis: An implied threat of job loss, a poor review, loss of bonus, etc. These are the typical means of attempting to make a command-control style of leadership work in a voluntary environment.
This is the challenge that decisive executives have in leading within a voluntary world. They make good, quick decisions and want to see their vision achieved as quickly as possible. Handing a decision down is extremely efficient. But while this leadership model is clearly efficient, it is not always effective. And after all, the goal is to be an effective leader. Becoming an effective leader is a challenge, however the difference in results between effective leadership and efficient leadership can be dramatic. But that’s a subject for another article…
