Motivational Management: Inspiring Your People for Maximum Performance

Getting Out of the Way: Motivating by Giving Control

As a manager, you certainly need to control the work to the extent needed to ensure that the right work is done well. That's your responsibility—and it's a big one. You need to understand the big picture of what needs to be done and why, and you need to make sure that macro goals are broken down into appropriate micro-level goals and tasks—and that your people understand and do these tasks well. Such tools as plans, schedules, lists, and feedback systems all help you maintain this necessary level of management control.

But whereas the old-style manager might have tried also to control the details of what people did, and when and how they did it, the modern manager tries to push more of these ...