Why Command and Control is Underrated

It seems to me that Command and Control as a management style has gotten a bum rap.  You’ve heard the disparaging remarks, “She’s a complete command and control style manager” – implying there is something wrong with that.

I think such comments display a startling lack of understanding of what leaders are required to do in organizations.  Command and control is a very useful managerial tool for certain situations.

People love to use fire-fighting as an analogy to describe modern management practice.  I would challenge anyone to go find himself a Fire Chief and ask him/her if command and control is a bad idea.

When a building is burning and lives are at stake, the Fire Chief very much relies on command and control as the appropriate management tool for that situation.  Can you imagine the fire department showing up at an emergency, and the Fire Chief requesting that everyone break up in study groups, to hold hands and sing camp songs?

“OK – everyone brainstorm ideas for how we should tackle this, and I’ll give a special prize to the group that comes up with the best idea.  Make sure everyone participates equally, and remember that everyone’s feedback is valuable.  This is an excellent opportunity to reinforce how much we value each other, and I’ll float between the groups to help facilitate.”

Glad it’s not my house on fire.  I want the Fire Chief standing on top of chair barking out orders as fast as she can to get the situation under control.  I also want the Firefighters to listen carefully to the orders being dispatched, and execute as they’re being instructed to do.

When they are back at the Firehall, and practicing for such emergencies, or doing community outreach, then the Fire Chief would be well advised to pull a different tool out of his box, and to engage his people in a more collaborative style.

The problem for people that disparage command and control is that they confuse this very important managerial style with a lack of respect.  Lack of respect is never appropriate, but many times it is a leaders job to tell her direct reports in no uncertain terms what they are required to do.  Setting clear expectations, holding people to account for those expectations, and administering the appropriate consequences are what we pay managers to do.

Command and control is one legitimate tool to get this done.

Tell me your experiences – both good and bad – with command and control as a management style.

Why Your HR Department Probably Sucks

So… following a title like the above, I should probably fully disclose before going any further:  I have worked in HR, and have done a fair bit of consulting work with HR Business Areas.

Unlike the title may imply, I have met a number of smart, hardworking people in HR.  Like any other category of people, there are good, bad and ugly performers in HR.

So why would I suggest that HR probably sucks in your organization?

In many cases, it is because organizations don’t really know what it is that they should be asking HR to do for them, and HR professionals are notoriously poor at “selling” their wares.  Many companies want HR to administer the payroll, and arrange the Christmas party.  They then staff the HR group with people who are capable of doing those tasks, but do not have the experience or training to make a more strategic contribution to the business.

So, what should we look for in our HR department?

  1. “People Persons” are often the last people you should have in HR.  A good HR person knows that her job is to generate returns for shareholders.  The respectful treatment of people is a prerequisite to consistently generating those returns, but many “people persons” forget that some of their people may regularly need a kick in the ass.
  2. Your HR people need to have business training. I’m not suggesting you insist every one of them go out and get an MBA, but they need to have some understanding of the business you are in, and how it works.
  3. You need high potential, high achievers in HR.  I have worked with more than one organization that has used HR as a ghetto for people who could not make it in the operating part of the business.  These organizations have taken the easy way out, and put these poor performers where they perceive they can do the least amount of damage – in HR.  This is the opposite of what should be happening – your highest potential leaders should be cycled through HR.
  4. HR people need have well developed skills in sales and influencing.  The best managed companies know that the management of the Human Resource is NOT the responsibility of HR, but rather of every leader in the organization.  HR’s job is to influence those managers to do it well.  An HR professional, without the ability to influence organizational leaders is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Of course, I could go on and on, but I better get back to work before I get caught, and someone wants to send me to work in the HR group.  So now that I’ve offended every person who has ever known anyone in HR, I’d love to hear what you think about the HR group in your organization:  Are they good?  Are they bad?  Are they the highest potential employees?

It has been said that populations get the governments they deserve.  In organizations, we end up with the HR departments we deserve.

Conducting an Interview

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Dealing with Difficult Behavior

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For most managers, ‘people issues’ consume the largest portion of time and effort.  No employee is more time consuming than one exhibiting difficult behaviour.  For this reason, building skills to cope with difficult people has an immediate and measureable return.

Everyone displays difficult behaviour at one time or another.  People often engage in difficult behavior because such action has worked for them in the past.  There are very specific techniques that managers can use to address difficult behaviour.  Some specific behaviours require certain responses, but for all difficult behaviours:

  • Focus on the specific behaviour, not the person or personalities
  • Identify the type of behaviour, and strategize a response before reacting
  • Attempt to understand the root cause of the behavior
  • Avoid public showdowns
  • Determine if the conversation can continue at that time, and postpone it if emotions are running high
  • Be aware of the impact of the behavior is having on you
  • Don’t make excuses for the person
  • Choose to do something about the behavior

Not all the Turtles make it to the Sea

In some cases a difficult person will not respond to reasonable attempts to assist them in correcting their behavior, and organizational health can be at stake.  In such a case, high integrity leaders must make the unpleasant choice to part company with that person.

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    • How to Deal with People Who Love to ARGUE
    • How to Deal with People Who Feel Unreasonably ENTITLED
    • How to Deal with People Who Think They KNOW IT ALL
    • How to Deal with Chronic PESSIMISTS or BLAMERS
    • How to Deal with People Who DON’T WANT TO WORK
    • How to Deal with the UNMOTIVATED
    • How to Deal with a BULLY
    • How to Deal with People Who ALWAYS ARGUE and people Who Can NEVER MAKE A DECISION
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Handling Emotional Behavior

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Nothing changes your day so quickly as unexpected emotional behaviour.  It is primal in its delivery, and a manager’s response is also often primal.  By identifying it for what it is, and developing coping strategies in advance, a leader is less likely to blindsided by emotional behavior, and can salvage the situation at hand.

When you are confronted by emotional behavior there are 3 things to manage simultaneously:

  • The behavior itself
  • The content or root cause of the behavior which may be a serious issue requiring attention
  • The impact the negative behavior is having on you

Different types of emotional behavior require different responses, but here are some universal rules to help cope with highly emotive situations:

Determine if the conversation can proceed in a constructive way. In cases where emotions are running extremely high, the very best course of action, may be to adjourn the conversation until cooler heads prevail.

Be aware of the impact the behavior is having on you. It is important to quickly analyze your own state of mind before reacting.  If you find yourself extremely agitated or otherwise emotionally compromised, you need to quickly determine how that will impact the quality and outcome of the conversation.

Articulate to the other person how you are being affected by the behavior. Often people become angry or otherwise emotional, and do not realize the impact they are having upon others.  Many times the situation can be partially diffused by describing the impact of the behavior.  For example, “I have to be honest and let you know that this conversation is making me feel quite defensive, and I don’t like feeling that way.”  Note that you should not say, “YOU are making me defensive”, but rather focus on the situation.

Ensure the other person knows s/he has been heard. It is not necessary to agree with the other person, but it is important to let them know that you have heard and understand their message.  Again, just by acknowledging their viewpoint, the situation may be largely defused.

Propose a path to resolution. It is important to redirect the energy of the emotional behavior into some form of resolution.  If the other person is just venting, then you need to decide to what degree you will indulge this before terminating the conversation.  Otherwise, you should engage the other person in determining a path forward and moving towards resolution of their issue.

Dealing with emotional behavior is something every manager will face at one point or other.  It is never easy, but by keeping in mind the things above, a tense situation can be made easier.

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Difficult Conversations – You Smell and People Don’t Like You

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Unless you’ve been living alone in a cave most of your life, you will have had to conduct a difficult conversation with someone. If you’re a leader of people, tough talks are a job requirement. You can avoid them, but it will be at your own peril. Sooner or later you’ll need to address that difficult situation.

How to conduct a Difficult Conversation:

Step 1 – Prepare and Anticipate

  • Prepare in advance – anticipate responses. Make sure you are dealing with complete information
  • Explain but don’t defend
  • Make sure any issue you are dealing with does not have legal ramifications (termination, harassment, violence in the workplace etc.)
  • Don’t think it’s not going to be uncomfortable. Mentally prepare for the discomfort the situation may cause you.

Step 2 – Focus on Facts and Observable Behaviors

  • Focus on observable behaviors and facts, not the person. “People don’t like you”, is much different than “People don’t like it when talk loud on the phone.”
  • Focus on the issue at hand – don’t get dragged into irrelevant parallel issues.

Step 3 – Showtime: Manage the Confrontation

  • Get to the point – eliminate the small talk, and move to your point quickly. Often the best course of action is to make it clear in your first sentence what the other person should expect.
  • Do not engage in any tough talk if you are emotionally compromised at the moment. Adjourning the conversation is a legitimate course of action if either party is excessively emotional, but keep in mind that by deferring the conversation you are prolonging an unpleasant event.
  • Stick to your guns unless emergent facts cause you to want to reconsider. If the recipient is feeling badly, that does not count as an emergent fact.
  • If there are specific behaviors required of the other person, ensure those are well understood.

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