In the forethought section of the December 2009 edition of Harvard Business Review, author A. D. Amer and colleagues in their article “To be a better leader, give up authority” make some interesting points about the relative benefits to organisations of tightening or relaxing control and authority during stressful times, such as the current global financial crisis.
I know from many discussions I have had with colleagues in a number of businesses, that it has recently been very common for senior executives to reclaim much of the authority they had distributed to their reports during the previous good times, and I can’t help wondering what this will mean for these companies when better times arrive and these lower level personnel have opportunities to move on to companies they think will give them responsibilities in good and bad times alike?
Personally, I have worked in teams where both tight management control was exercised and where the level of control was quite relaxed within guidelines, and my experiences would align with those of the authors, that the more devolved control and responsibility gives better results both in the delivery of the tasks and also on the sense of commitment, satisfaction, ownership and retention of the knowledge workers to whom the responsibility is given.
Delegating responibility to your reports and subordinates is a way of demonstrating trust in that person’s abilities, to then recind that authority, not because the delegate has proven to be unprepared for it, but because of your own personal insecurity and need to feel in control of everything, sends a very poor message to your entire workforce, a message which will, I am sure have implications for the business in the future.
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