Stop feeling like a victim and do exactly as I tell you

Up to this point, I have not been able to pinpoint where the discouragement is coming from (I think the closest I got was with the allegory). But yesterday there was a breakthrough: the concept of a freedom and responsibility setup versus a “command and control” approach. That second term really describes what we have right now. I just ordered a book about a different approach and how you get there, titled Accountability: Freedom and Responsibility without Control.

A couple of quotes from the book:

A control-based workplace is 10 percent coaching and mentoring. A freedom-based environment is 60 percent coaching and mentoring.

There are people working for you right now who want desperately to make a difference, but many of them, because of the control-based environment in which they work, have lost their interest and enthusiasm.

Does that second quote resonate with anyone else?

Top performers

Statements

1. A top performer needs the flexibility to use the “sprinklings” each day that keep him or her sharp and motivated.
2. Having to defend each sprinkling kills hope for a top performer.
3. A top performer has demonstrated that their way works, so it only makes sense that instead of demanding a justification for each decision, we should be learning from their example.
4. The trust (on a company’s part) involved in not requiring such defense is part of identifying someone as a top performer.
5. The question is, am I in that group?

Questions

1. Does this need for flexibility apply only to top performers?
2. When we deny a developer the flexibility to do day-to-day “sprinklings” on their own initiative, are we keeping them from becoming a top performer?
3. What are the challenges to an organization wishing to give flexibility to some but not others?
4. If you give flexibility to all, how do you deal with the lower performers whom you cannot trust to use the flexibility wisely? For such people, to what extent does the tighter structure help them produce acceptably (in other words, to what extent is the tighter control having its intended effect in the cases where it’s seen as needed)?

(Updated 1/14/2008)