Learning to let go as a boss

By ESTELLE SARNEY

Kylie Minogue's ex-boyfriend says she is one. So are Madonna and Jennifer Lopez. Nelly Furtado says she used to be one. Being one is perhaps the sole trait Helen Clark shares with Don Brash. Former All Black coach John Mitchell denied he was one.

Each has been either accused of, or confessed to being, a control freak. They're unfashionable, in these days of staff-empowering management, but if they pop up at celebrity level, you can bet they're still permeating workplaces. Their old-school command and control style erodes their staff's self-esteem and job satisfaction, and bright workers will take their competence to an employer who appreciates it.

Mandy is a control freak. The 30-something executive sounds like an alcoholic trying to break her habit.

"At least I know I am one, which is half the battle to overcoming it. And I will keep trying. Since I started chilling out a few months ago I've noticed the difference."

Until then, she had been dictatorial, involved in every detail of what her staff were doing, and constantly checked up on them.

Mandy puts this down to two things: feeling she was never doing well enough at school and having a couple of bosses who were bullies.

"They would pull you to pieces over the smallest thing, shaft you at the drop of a hat. I felt like I had to cover everything so nothing went wrong and I could never be seen to have slipped up."

There are other reasons why people end up as control freaks. Associate professor Stuart Carr is the co-ordinator of the industrial and organisational psychology programme at Massey University. He says an obsessive need to keep control can arise from job insecurity or a volatile market. It is also tied up with how the person perceives power.

"Instead of seeing it as something you can grow by sharing it, control freaks see it as a finite thing. If they pass on power, they'll have less of it, and why would they disempower themselves if hanging on to it has got them to where they are?"

Command and control got Mandy results, so she kept doing it, until diplomatic words from HR and business contacts made her think about the effect on her staff.

"I've grown up a bit, too, and realised that I can't do absolutely everything - that my staff need to take responsibility and from time to time it's okay if they stuff up. My MD isn't as hard on me as I am on myself."

Changing to a more empowering management style has taken a mental shift, but she can see the advantages.

"Results in some areas are a bit sloppier, but the atmosphere is a hell of a lot better. For the first time people are coming to see me about things, rather than me hassling them."

Steven, a lawyer, can speak from the receiving end. Every morning he arrived at his workplace to find his files stacked on his chair, filled with ticks, crosses and comments. Whenever he left the office, he returned to find his desk tidied.

"The lawyer I worked for was absolutely pedantic. He would nit-pick every sentence I wrote. I ended up feeling what I was doing was pointless.

"There was an increasing sense of desperation that I had to break away from it."

Within a year, Steven left.

Lisa Cruickshank progressed from graduate to audit partner at Deloitte at the same time it underwent a change in management style. She's seen what's necessary to make an empowering style work.

"In the old days you were given just a section of work, because that's all a first year or a second year was allowed to do.

"Now teams are briefed at the beginning of a project so everyone knows the big picture, and they have the information they need to achieve the desired result. That early stage is key - empower and trust only work if you know the path you should be walking, and are equipped to do so. It's not complete freedom, it's good planning."

Cruickshank says workers are keener to progress with the firm because they can see the roles more senior people play, and are allowed to move at their own pace.

"It's about allowing people to show what they're capable of, reach their full potential. It also frees up senior people to focus on long-term strategy, instead of being bogged down in day-to-day decisions and detail."

Those senior people still need to be available, though, to help their empowered workers to overcome problems. "If you change your management style you have to change your whole culture," says Cruickshank, "not just pay it lip service."

Deloitte's human resources director Laurie Finlayson says managers who have been "less speedy" in adopting a more flexible style have been helped through peer feedback and leadership development programmes.

"Some just need to learn that it's okay to allow their staff to take a risk or make a mistake, and how to pull together to rectify that mistake rather than going back into micro-management mode," says Finlayson.

Stuart Carr agrees that it's up to organisations to show managers how to walk the talk, and also make them feel safe doing so.

"An organisation can't have it both ways - expect a manager to empower others, but then take all the blame if one of their team stuffs up."

Command and control should not be done away with entirely. Carr argues that the best managers can switch between the two styles depending on circumstances.

Braden Dickson, of management consultants BearingPoint, says that in times of merger, acquisition or to turn around a company in trouble, a directive style is often what's required to get things done.

Are you a control freak?

YOU ARE IF:

* You are incapable of, or feel uncomfortable, delegating tasks

* Once an objective is defined, you need to control how it is met

* You frequently take over critical aspects of a project

* You need to make every decision, read every letter, approve the make-up of every team

* You need constant updates on the progress of assigned tasks

* Your way is always the best way

* In meetings, you do most of the talking

* You are uncomfortable about, even fearful of, your staff making mistakes

HOW YOU CAN CHANGE:

* Acknowledge that you are too controlling

* Ask your manager and staff for feedback and help. Suggest some role-play sessions that will show you what it's like to be on the receiving end of a control freak's dictums

* Instead of issuing instructions, ask questions

* See mistakes as a chance to come together with your team * Communicate clearly. Agree outcomes, timelines and pathways, then step back and enjoy your newfound freedom

* Accept some initial cynicism and loyalty problems - your old style helped create them