CHANGING FROM COMMAND & CONTROL TO ENGAGE & INSPIRE
‘Khun Charn, what do you want to discuss today?” “Coach Kriengsak, I want to change my management style from command and control to engage and inspire,” Charn tells me.
“What has prompted you to want to change?”
“This is the second year since my appointment. In my first year, we were in crisis mode. I came on board to fix a major problem in our organisation. Hence, command and control was an appropriate management style for me at the time.
“However, the situation has changed. I think that our organisation is much more settled now, so it’s time for me to change my style to engage and inspire our people more.”
“All right, Khun Charn, what concerns do you have in mind?”
“I have two questions: How do I change myself and how do I transform my subordinates?”
“Which one do you want to discuss first?” “How to change myself.” “Tell me more.” “I have to confess that command and control is my comfort zone. I’ve grown used to this way of managing my people for the past 20 years. It could be very difficult for me to change.” “Do you really want to change?” “Yes.” “Then, what’s in it for you?” “Because I have another three years in my term. I want to leave a legacy with a successful organisation. I am fully aware that I won’t be able to do it alone. I’ll need to maximise all of the brainpower from the people surrounding me.
“My people are great but they were confused during the crisis we went through. I think if they really believed in themselves, they would be able to deliver much more than they are doing now.”
“Okay. You have demonstrated an awareness of the need to change yourself. Then, what’s the problem?”
“Whenever people ask for my opinion or ask me to make a decision, it’s very hard for me to engage them so that they can come up with answers by themselves. For me, my ‘autopilot’ response is to give the answer, make the decision or deliver the instruction.” “What made you like that?” “I was in the military before. Military training imprints deeply in your mind that as a leader you must take charge when your subordinates seek help. It can be a matter of life and death.”
“But now you’re in the private sector and you’re leading knowledge workers ...” He nods. “Khun Charn, how will you train yourself to stop using command and control?”
“I have to adopt the mindset that asking people to think is also a form of helping them. Then, I have to compose and remind myself of this new thinking before I interact with my subordinates. Then, I will need to be conscious all the time — especially when they ask for my opinion. I have to pause first. Then, I will ask back, ‘What do you think?’ I think this leads to my second concern: How do I transform my subordinates.” “In what way?” “I think I need to communicate to all my direct reports that I am changing my style. I will ask them to cooperate with me. In the beginning, I will try to make a gradual transition, using command and control and engage and inspire in equal amounts.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me. What could go wrong?” “I foresee two challenges:
People won’t be able to come up with anything when I ask them to think.
It will be time-consuming since there will be more dialogue between me and my people.”
“How do you plan to manage this challenge?”
“I think I’ll need some lead time to do it. Instead of changing immediately, I will inform them first. Then, I’ll ask you to coach them on how to think better. That way, once I start asking more questions of them, they will have the courage to articulate what they think. And I will remind them to prepare some ideas prior to discussing them with me.
“As for the question of time, I’ll need to educate people that while we may spend more time discussing things, we’ll need less time to solve problems as a result. I’ll remind them that in the past, our experience seemed to be that we had no time to discuss problems but we always had time when problems occurred. In the latter case, though, it took much more time.”
“Good. Khun Charn. I have one question: If people think they have to come up with their own answers, they might wonder why they need to bother discussing things with you?”
“Because I can add value by doing the following: I will ask better questions I have more information that I can share with them.
I have better judgement that can help them to think better than if they were thinking alone.
Basically, we are trying to be a thinking organisation instead of having only one person at the top who does the thinking.”
“All right. Let’s stop here and follow up in our next session.”