Giving orders v. Giving permission?

“Lousy managers give orders, they do not give permission.”

I snagged this quote from an article I wrote over six years ago and it jumped out at me again today as I was prepping for this post.

Before I go any further with my thoughts, I was wondering, six years later..

• How much this statement still resonates as true in today’s worker experience?
• How prevalent is this in our business environment?

Hazarding a guess from my own employee interactions, many businesses are filled with task driven managers, operating in fear of their own professional mortality, consistently increasing the demands and expectations they place upon their teams. Instead of facilitating collaboration and engagement to effectively get work done, many create an environment which simply demand the work be done.

Regardless of where in the organizational chain this originates, this behavior has an impact, begging the question - Does this improve and enhance productivity or, impede and interrupt it?

The “permission” referenced in this quote, is permission to offer improvement, to consider doing work differently, to collaborate and engage in exploring how work could be done more effectively. Sadly, there is something about change which terrifies an autocratic culture, causing it to resist or avoid it. The mantra is more of the same, instead of doing more with something better.

What’s missing in these environments? Engagement. Curiosity. Collaboration.

If you are a leader in an organization which demands performance and struggling to get more out of your team, you may want to rethink the leader model for improving performance.

What you need is a better process of work which can only come from an engaged, collaborative process of learning. Give your team permission to share what they know, see, experience, and understand about your business, listening carefully and receptively to what they are saying.

You will be significantly enlightened by their insights. Who knows, it may even result in improvements in productivity, performance, and leadership. After all, change begins when we start listening, selfless listening.