A command and control approach to leadership is founded on and emphasizes a distinction between, executives and workers. Such leaders are authoritative and generally a bit more rigid and hierarchical than others. They take ownership of identifying the goal and create a scheduled plan for their subordinates.
Command and control systems may seem to be a great risk controller at one hand however in a longer run, command and control leadership can cause damage to the morale of the team and subsequently hurt the quality of product or business if not reviewed. It may also inhibit the growth of their leadership qualities by other team members.
How It Works
Let’s have a closer look into what the two powerful words mean here.
Command – The senior officials will pass an order to their subordinates. Which subordinates need to adhere to. The leader prefers to be viewed as an authority with a final say in any decision on the workplace. They are the one in the team who tells the team what to do and how to do.
Control – The senior official will control the – Schedule, Output, and Budget. This style at one end puts a lot of pressure on the leader because he needs to ensure the schedule is on time, the output is not compromised and we do not overshoot the budget. On the other hand, the subordinates might fear the rigid environment and always be in a hurry to follow the orders without raising any red flags.
This leadership is more inclined towards “management” of work and that’s why such leaders prefer to be called Managers, who have a staff to follow directions. Managers focus on setting, measuring, and achieving goals.
Aye Aye Captain!
This style of management may have worked well during the old and very old days of the Empires and maybe even during the Industrial Revolution. But today it is a different world, where innovation and agility have made its important space. In this competitive world, organizations can’t just follow a perfectly drafted plan, but they need to be ready to think out of the box and constantly bring new changes.
Command and control can hurt your team’s problem solving skills, simply because there is a limited or no chance for the team to participate in decision making. A decision which will chart their future and the way they work is certainly not in their proximity.
The team need instructions for each step and leader need to keep check on each step team takes to assure things fall exactly in place.
As a result, a strictly scrutinized employee by their leader or “manager” feel comfortable finding a new job where they have more autonomy, respect, and a sense of purpose and ownership.
Leaders who suppress unconventional voices also prevent the presence of useful ideas. Command-and-control management relies on rules like these, the same ones we have heard and seen in action since long – “I am the Boss, so I make the rules”, or “It’s my way or the highway”.
This leadership style or let’s call it the management style, is so firmly embedded in our culture that we have almost forgotten the existence of the rest of the leadership styles. Yes!! you read it right, there have been many alternatives which unfortunately weren’t so popular because the organizations preferred to control the risk of projects by keeping everything in authoritative control.
Fortunately, there are many other leadership styles which we should encourage at our workplace.
Suggested Read: The 4 Best Leadership Styles of the Era
At this point, many of you would have identified which era you are in. Write back with your views on various leadership styles. We would love to hear from you.
