Having an autocratic, command and control management style is justified in certain circumstances and totally inappropriate in others. One way that managers justify their poor leadership behavior is by allowing situations to develop into full blown crisis so they can take charge and kick butt.

The Autocratic Manager versus the Coach

In one of our recent management training workshops, eight teams consisting of five managers and supervisors completed a tower building competition. The leader of each team was asked to act out a distinct leadership style. At the end of the exercise, the team members completed an employee satisfaction survey and the towers were judged based on a number of factors.

During the exercise the autocratic leader was told to direct her team, not tell them how much time they had, discourage them from being creative and micromanage them to finish the tower as quickly as possible.

The coach was encouraged to share with the team what the criteria were, how much time was available and discuss alternative approaches.

Interestingly, the autocratic leader and the coach leader both scored similarly in terms of the actual towers themselves. The employee satisfaction surveys told a different story. The coach received much higher satisfaction scores than the autocratic leader.

During the debriefing of the exercise, the teams were asked, "In what situations is it most appropriate to be autocratic and when is it best to be a coach?"

The participants responded that the coaching leadership style is most appropriate when there is time to do things right, time to solicit input from the team, time to plan out the work in advance and time to communicate expectations, feedback and ideas.

The autocratic style was seen as being appropriate when there was an emergency or crisis. With little time available, the autocratic leader could step in, take charge and save the day.

Five strategies used to justify an autocratic leadership style

• Let time go by, put things off - The autocratic leader knows that if they let things go long enough, they can step in and take charge. If they were more proactive, they could prevent the crisis in the first place.

• Withhold information - By not sharing information, the autocratic leader makes themselves indispensible. If they shared more, other people might be able to act on their own. Communication helps people take action before a situation becomes critical.

• Don't provide training and development - If other employees became more competent and capable, the autocratic leader would not have to save the day. If employees received training, development and coaching, they could be more independent and prevent crises.

• Keep people isolated - Keeping employees in their own silos keeps them from interacting and preventing problems from occuring. The autocratic leaders likes to play go between so they can control communication. They sell this as being more effective because the employees waste less time talking to peers and focus on their work. Opening up communication and teamwork gets more work done with more creative ideas.

• Criticize others, compliment self - Using a combination of direct attacks, subtle put downs, and sarcastic comments, the autocratic leader makes sure people know that only he is perfect. Being more positive and noticing the good characteristics in others helps them grow and achieve their full potential.

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