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In times of unprecedented change, leaders are faced with urgent, complex challenges. They are tasked with choosing and implementing a viable leadership strategy to resolve immediate organizational needs while simultaneously preserving long-term sustainability. Should they employ a command or cultivation leadership approach? Effectively resolving this conundrum requires the ability to swiftly assess vital political, economic, and organizational realities; grasp the benefits and drawbacks of alternative leadership approaches; and simultaneously serve immediate demands, long-term goals, and organizational values, mission, and vision.
Command Leadership Approach
Command leadership, known as leading from the front, predominantly addresses immediate short-term economic needs. Leaders focus on establishing explicit non-negotiable priorities, concrete strategies, and clear directives for strategy implementation. Command leadership helps mitigate the intrinsic ambiguity in times of change, align limited organizational financial and human resources, sustain focus, provide stability, and temporarily regulate fear and anxiety. Overusing a command leadership approach can negatively impact long-term sustainability, innovation, strategic risk-taking, and personal accountability. Overuse can also foster an increase in quiet quitting, dependency, and a survival mindset. Leadership approaches associated with command leadership include Authoritative, Autocratic, and Transactional leadership styles.
Cultivation Leadership Approach
Cultivation leadership, known as leading from behind, emphasizes creating and supporting a psychologically safe organizational culture that inspires others to access and expand their strengths and added value. Leaders focus on cultivating initiative, innovation, strategic risk-taking, accountability, and a growth mindset culture. Cultivation leadership builds connection, collaboration, individual and collective ownership, adaptability, resilience, and, most importantly, a pipeline of skilled leaders. Cultivation leadership requires establishing an organizational culture supported by a compelling vision and a high degree of trust and psychological safety. Without a strong, bold, engaging, and realistic vision, this approach can feel ambiguous, inauthentic, and unnecessarily stressful. Leadership approaches associated with cultivation leadership include Servant, Coaching, Collaborative, and Democratic leadership styles.
Dancing Leadership Approach
Successful change leaders are skilled at strategically dancing between command and cultivation leadership approaches. Based on a timely assessment of significant current realities and targeted immediate and long-term goals, they are able to quickly identify when a situation calls for a command or cultivation leadership approach. They understand the likely impact of their leadership approach on organizational culture, financial, and human resource outcomes. Effective change leaders are skilled at strategically shifting their leadership approach without losing sight of their organization’s values, vision, mission, and differentiators.
Leadership dancing requires a high degree of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and proficiency in assessing and strategically meeting the inherent challenges and opportunities in rapidly changing economic and organizational landscapes. Command leadership is called for during times of extreme change and crisis when speed of action is critical, a team is new or lacks maturity, and when control and predictability are needed to rapidly stabilize an organization. Cultivation leadership is called for when it’s critical to develop an internal pipeline of leaders, avoid quiet quitting and a leadership talent drain, and foster long-term innovation, adaptability, accountability, and resilience.
Skilled leadership dancers are adept at seeking answers to essential change factor questions.
Situational Factor Questions
- What do we know for sure, and what’s unknown regarding the crisis we’re facing?
- How much time is available for decision-making?
- What are potential downsides and advantages of delaying action or moving too quickly?
Clarity Factor Questions
- What are our non-negotiable values, decision-making boundaries, and targeted goals?
- What is the optimal leadership approach to resolve immediate needs and preserve long-term sustainability?
- Do current situational challenges call for control and concrete guidelines or supporting a growth mindset and psychologically safe culture?
Human Factor Questions
- What is the emotional status of crucial leadership teams?
- Does the current situation call for autonomy and ownership or stability and direction?
- Does the organization possess the crucial skills to meet immediate challenges and long-term goals?
Self-Awareness Factor Questions
- Will my default leadership style align with current organizational, economic, and culture demands and have the desired impact on those around me?
- Is my default leadership style currently being driven by fear, urgency, or a realistic appraisal of relevant internal and external factors and strategic priorities?
- Am I actively seeking feedback from a variety of sources and stakeholders to avoid potential blind spots?
Agility Factor Questions
- Does this immediate challenge call for the directness and clarity of a command approach or the more people-centric needs of a cultivation approach?
- Where and how can I combine elements of both command and cultivation approaches to meet immediate challenges and support long-term sustainability?
- How can I incorporate ongoing recalibration into choosing my leadership approach?
Leadership Essential Reads
Command, Cultivate, or Dance?
Knowing when, how, and why to choose a control or cultivation leadership approach will significantly impact your organizational outcomes. Highly skilled change leaders learn to master the optimal tension between control and cultivation leadership approaches through time, effort, intention, and experience. They appear to seamlessly dance between control and cultivation leadership styles to strategically meet immediate challenges while optimizing human and financial resources. Successful change leaders employ control to set direction and cultivation to build capacity and a pipeline of future leaders. They embrace the leadership dance to promote surviving through the challenges of unprecedented change and thriving on the other side of change. How will you strengthen your leadership dancing skills?
