Control, Influence, Empowerment

One of my clients (Entrepreneur) recently asked me “Hervé, how can I have more control over my employees so that they become more productive?”

Most CEOs feel the pressure to control everything like outcomes, teams, other leaders, sometimes even the market when their company size is substantial.

In management and leadership, the temptation to control people is high. After all, there are objectives to achieve and high expectations placed on leaders to deliver on the strategic objectives. However, leadership is more about influence and empowerment rather than control. Nobody likes to feel controlled. It just generates negative feelings, reactions which ultimately are detrimental to the business.

The real shift happens when an organisation moves from control to influence. This is based on best behaviour practices, incentives created to drive the right behaviours aligned with the overall objectives, a clearly explained vision where everyone contributes to it to name just a few.

And then there is empowerment. The highest level of leadership. This is achieved when organisations become really good at creating leaders that will drive change with core characteristics such as empathy, vision, ethics.

When running a business and teams, of course there must be some soft controls on certain work aspects that must take place. In between those check points though, there must be freedom for people to express and use their strengths. Finding the right balance requires subtle skills. Think of rewards that drive the behaviour you want to see. How can I influence my team(s) without them feeling controlled and stifled? How can I empower the ones with high potential to become the next generation of leaders? That takes selflessness and confidence in others. It is not easy. It is something you learn and get better at it. So when thinking about leadership, establish soft controls, some guiding principles, clarity in what you are building as a business, and focus on influence and empowerment. This will serve you well and it will start creating a shift: in other words momentum.

Hervé coaches CEOs, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and offers strategy advisory services to SMEs