Are cultures becoming more decisive and directive? Some “Command & Control 2.0” insights from the Future of Work Index

by Mike Klein:

One of the most important trends I’ve been sensing in my conversations with practitioners and others in the organizational culture and communication space has been a shift away from consensus or devolved decision-making towards a more directive or centralized approach.

Now, with some data I’ve been collecting as part of the Future of Work Index with @LumApps, I’m seeing that there’s definitely some movement in this direction.

In the survey, we’re asking two questions to see whether there’s a trend to pick up.  The first asks respondents to classify their organization’s current leadership approach as being either highly centralized, primarily directive, balanced, or mostly participative.  

The second asked whether their organization’s overall leadership approach has changed over the last six months,

While I’m not ready to call the results definitive, two findings jumped out at me.

The first was that 56% of respondents considered their companies’ cultures to be centralized or mostly directive in nature, and the second was that, of those who saw their cultures in those ways, more than fifty percent noticed a change in leadership approach over the last six months.

Does that mean that every business is heading back towards “command and control” in response to the increasing social, cultural and economic unpredictability around the world?  

No. But it does indicate tangible movement away from consensus or devolved decision-making that’s worth noticing.

As I’ve said before with my consulting partner and podcast co-host Janet Hitchen, this trend towards more decisive leadership could actually be positive for two particular reasons:

• In times of political and market unpredictability, employees often look to leaders for clarity, consistency, and sometimes, even bravery.  Rather than being oppressive or stifling for employees, these moves can be reassuring, perhaps even liberating to an extent.
• Clarity and well-defined priorities have a tendency to support organizational alignment and reduce ambiguity-induced stress that impacts things like operational performance and employee morale.

At the same time, leaders who are moving towards greater decisiveness can use modern communication tools and approaches to increase the speed and clarity with which decisions become known, understood and acted upon.  These tools, when used well, can also meet employee demands for greater responsiveness and mutuality without compromising speed – particularly in the ways they can collect feedback and support its presentation to leaders in the form of both numbers and words.

The Future of Work Index research is continuing through 26 May,  To participate, visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BJKZ7FB

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Mike Klein is the founder of #WeLeadComms, Editor-in-Chief of Strategic Magazine, and is leading the Future of Work Index research in partnership with LumApps.

Written by: Editor