Managing Change: Should Leaders Command, Cultivate, or Dance?

"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, 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."

Leaders must choose leadership strategies that resolve immediate organizational needs while preserving long-term sustainability. Rapid assessment of political, economic, and organizational realities is essential to weigh benefits and drawbacks of command, cultivation, or hybrid approaches. Command leadership sets non-negotiable priorities, concrete strategies, and clear directives to reduce ambiguity, align limited resources, and stabilize organizations during urgent change. Overreliance on command erodes innovation, strategic risk-taking, personal accountability, and can increase quiet quitting and dependency. Cultivation emphasizes psychological safety and support to sustain long-term growth and engagement. A leadership dancing approach blends methods to navigate complex urgent challenges effectively.

Read at Psychology Today