The Leader's Illusion of Control

In an Organizational Behavior class that I was teaching, I started a discussion about leadership with the following statement: "Leadership is not about control but instead is about influencing workers to act for the achievement of organizational goals. In fact, leaders have no control over people in their hierarchy.” Nearly one-third of the class said that I was wrong and that leaders do have control over the behaviors and actions of their staff. I believe that many leaders share this view.

As humans, we try to control things and people. A parent attempts to control a struggling child by establishing rules and boundaries. Organizations use a similar mechanism. A teacher tries to control students by providing feedback on assignments, hoping it will be used to improve. Leaders may use this tactic with work teams but run the risk of being tagged a micromanager.

As a leader, I personally have tried to control the motivation of my staff when it seemed they were indifferent to a project's successful completion. At first I would nudge the workers, but if the response did not result in a heightened level of attention, I would escalate my reaction in stronger and stronger terms. On reflection, I often tried to exercise control when an influence process was much more appropriate. Influence is about getting another person to decide on his or her own to behave or act in a certain way.

Influence is ubiquitous to leadership. Frederick Taylor, an early management theorist, signaled the need for influence processes in organizations. Taylor developed the Principles of Scientific Management^1, which can be boiled down into three components: (1) dividing up work tasks , (2) applying sophisticated measurement techniques that can be used by management to improve the results and, finally, (3) offering incentives to encourage workers to continually improve their results.¹ His work foretold what practitioners employ today.  Managers measure inputs and outputs in hopes of finding gains from efficiencies. Leaders motivate the workforce to exceed the minimum requirements of a job.

It is true that organizations have a degree of power over the worker. While the illusion of control may appear vested in this power, the worker still maintains the discretion to choose and accept any possible consequences (e.g. termination). Thus, a leader's power is curtailed by the worker's right to decide. Therefore, if the leader decides to operate only from a position of power, he forces the worker into this decision. Often the worker will decide to obey, but this can result in a diminished level of effort. Alternatively, the leader can decide to use influence as a means to get a worker to act. Influence can lead to efforts that exceed the minimum requirements of a job. 

To develop their capacity to influence, leaders, supervisors and managers must realize that control is an illusion. I can recall a lesson about control that occurred early in my corporate career. I led a large operational unit that was experiencing a severe backlog. I was a young unskilled manager at the time and I did not reflect on the options available for fixing the problem. There were two main options. The first was to assemble my group and explain the situation and ask them their ideas on fixing the problem. At the time, I did not know the organizational behavior axiom that “people tend to support that which they help create,”³ which is aligned with an influence strategy. The alternative was to demand extra hours from the group. I had the power, so why not?

I selected that option and issued an edict, through email, stating that overtime was mandatory until we caught up. I quickly learned the negative consequences of not considering workers' family situations and other outcomes such as future motivation. The work ended up being completed by volunteers but only after I learned a hard lesson that I will never forget. The work had to happen, but the way I approached it led to penalties.

In those days, I defined leadership as being in charge. Since then I have come to realize that leaders need and want more than obedience. Unlike Milgram's outcomes (see Sept. 10, 2012, post), organizations cannot afford conformity and instead need engagement and buy-in. When a leader operates from a place of control, he or she can expect only compliance. However, when the leader operates from influence, workers are more likely to strive for much more.

Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership model² describes the need for the leader to adjust his or her behaviors as a worker's task readiness increases. Readiness is determined by abilities, confidence, willingness and the level of direction needed on a given task. At the lowest task readiness level, the leader is instructed to provide detailed instructions. As the worker develops, the leader is directed to  match that growth with increasingly larger degrees of empowerment.²

Leaders who believe in the concept of influence can use this model to improve their influence. First, the leader can use the model to gauge a worker’s growth and assist them in becoming more equipped for tasks. This is accomplished by motivating the worker to stretch for greater and greater levels of readiness. Ultimately, the goal is to develop worker independence. Second, the model offers a path with descriptions of influence behaviors that the leader can use.  It is desirable for the worker to handle increasing levels of task complexity, and the leader will need to prod the worker to reach the highest readiness level possible. Finally, the leader can use the tool to adapt to the follower as she or he is ready to take on responsibilities with less oversight.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed leaders who decide they want control and, in doing so, never change their behaviors. That is, they behave with the assumption that the follower is at the lowest readiness level and, therefore, always requires detailed directions. This leader continues to instruct even when the worker has outgrown the need. This leads to a de-motivated worker and possibly voluntary turnover. 

Leaders sometimes have the illusion of control that is created by their placement in a position of authority in the hierarchy of an organization. However, a leader never has control. Instead, he or she must rely on influence processes to achieve the goals of the business through others. Leadership is an influence process and not a control process.

Please feel free to make comments.

References

¹ Taylor, F.W. (1987). The Principles of Scientific Management. The Great Writings in Management and Organizational Behavior. L.E. Boone and D.D. Bowen. Boston, McGraw Hill. Originally published in 1916.

² Hersey, P. and K.H. Blanchard (1995). Situational Leadership. Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages. J.T. Wren. New York, Free Press: 207 - 211.

³ Author unknown

For more information on the Situational Leadership Model, visit:

http://leadership.kenblanchard.com/LP=111?gclid=CIi4urHGurICFUGo4AodZGMA0Q

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_44.htm