We’ve all been there. We’re short of time, there are urgent things to get done, and the pressure is on. We know mentoring and coaching our team is important, but now is just not a good time. When this busy period is over, we’ll definitely allocate time and energy to this.

Except that time never comes, does it?

Because we are always busy, the business is always under pressure, and things never let up. In fact, they only seem to speed up.

And so the short-term tactics continue. We might even think they’re working. Afterall, we see quick results and things get done the way they should get done. Task achieved. And we get the satisfying feeling of staying in control. Whew.

But what exactly is the longer-term impact?

Over the past two weeks I’ve co-facilitated two teams through a 3-day “leader as coach” training. Believe me when I said there was initial resistance:

“Our industry is different.”

“We don’t have time to stop and talk.”

“People need to do as they’re told otherwise things slip.”

“Our customers need to know that things will be perfect.”

The list of objections was long.

But by the end of these three days, and with the full learning process not even near complete, this very same group of people started letting their neural pathways start taking a different route to work.

Through practicing a completely different style of interacting with each other, they started to see what really happens when we apply a command-and-control approach:

1. Blocked creativity and innovative thinking: when we stick to rigid directive and procedures, we’re assuming our way is the only way. Not only is this untrue in terms of brain science, but when team members are discouraged from bringing their views and ideas, they simply stop doing so. The result is that the people “in” the challenge and who are likely to have the most innovative and creative insights and solutions into their own situation, are the very same people who are silenced.

2. Limited individual and team growth: When we focus on telling rather than exploring, we deprive team members of valuable learning opportunities. They don’t get the chance to try because we don’t give it to them, and in the next breath we complain that they aren’t stepping up, being proactive or “owning their turf.”  This not only hampers individual progress (with retention risk down the line) but also undermines the long-term success and sustainability of the team, and business.

3. Decreased trust and morale: Telling people what to do undermines autonomy and disempowers team members, eroding the trust we know is critical for effective leadership. When managers dictate every decision and action, team members feel micromanaged and undervalued, leading to disengagement, resentment, and low morale. This is the stage of “what’s the point? He’s not going to listen anyway” thinking, which is accompanied by minimal effort and certainly none of the extra passion that makes for great performance and productivity.

4. Reduced adaptability and resilience: Yeah, yeah, we keep hearing about the importance of adaptability and resilience. For good reason. As things speed up and the rate of change continues, a “do as I say” style only serves to breed rigidity of thinking, reduced ability to problem-solve new issues, and dependency. Simply put, when we don’t have to think, we don’t. When we’re continually told what to do or we’re rescued from our own mistakes, we lose the confidence and ability to navigate and solve our own challenges.

We’ve all fallen into the trap of telling people what to do, thinking it’s the short-cut to quick and effective problem-solving. And of course there’s a place for it. But the longer-term impact on effectiveness is far worse. If we say we want to develop high-performing teams we can rely on, something has to interrupt this pattern of dependency and blocked thinking.  

And that means unlearning our habitual style of managing, adopting a completely new mindset to leadership and developing the coaching and mentoring skills we need to unlock our team’s latent potential.

Challenging? For sure. But most things worth doing usually are.

Get in touch more information on how you might empower your team to switch on their thinking and drive better results.