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I was working with a senior group of executives in a large, well-known company.
John, as I will call him, had been described as a command and
control leader nearly all of his life.
John set impossibly high standards, called people out,
gave harsh public criticism, and praise from John was few and far between.
When I met John,
he was in a simulation in which he was randomly assigned to be a subordinate.
For the first time,
John experienced what it was like to be bossed around and not consulted.
The experience of being out of the loop was a wake up call for John, and
as a result he decided to become a more participative leader.
So how can we help John?
According to McGregor there are two
fundamentally different kinds of leadership styles, Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X leadership is largely transactional.
Meaning that leaders believe people are fundamentally not motivated and
they need to be offered incentives or punishments to perform.
Theory X leaders believe that people need to be monitored, and
that good work should be rewarded, and bad work or lack of work needs to be punished.
All of this amounts to a tit-for-tat culture.
John was a Theory X leader.
A very different view, is Theory Y leadership,
which is based on the outlandish idea that people want to contribute and
are self motivated to perform good work.
Theory Y leaders are transformational, meaning that they inspire people
to excel and contribute, not by administering rewards and
punishments, but by empowering others and giving them authority.
This creates a gift culture, where people are not adding up cost and
benefits, but they are actively contributing to the enterprise.