As stakes increase, it feels riskier to empower leaders and tempting to lean on the benefits of a controlling mindset. With control we gain clear standards, risk containment, predictability and coordination across a complex enterprise. And control is appealing because senior leaders feel more confident that the work will stay on track.
But when leaders over-index on control, they underutilize the organization’s most valuable asset in a volatile environment – the judgement and resourcefulness of their leaders. When experiencing too much control, leaders shift to defensive mode and try to keep their head down to “survive” the next meeting. They focus on impression management and are reluctant to ask important clarifying questions, which they fear will be seen as a challenge upwards. In an effort to increase their confidence level, bosses ask for so much detail that their reports spend more time preparing for meetings than doing the other (arguably more important) aspects of their job.
A shift towards more empowerment means delegating important decisions rather than tasks. By moving authority and decisions closer to the action, organizations increase agility, speed, and gain important motivational benefits. When leaders know that it’s “on me”, they feel more committed and tend to grow their leadership skills faster. And their bosses are no longer bottlenecks in the system.
And yet there’s such a thing as too much empowerment. Delegating decisions without alignment on the why, clear success criteria, acceptable risks and tradeoffs, sets the stage for abdication of authority. The result is unpredictable results, being blindsided, and unnecessary chaos.
Balancing the tension between control and empowerment is the key to getting the most out of your organization’s leaders, and driving breakthrough performance.