Lead More, Control Less: 8 Advanced Leadership Skills That Overturn Convention

In their decades of leading groups all over the world, Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff discovered they could get better results by helping people coordinate and control their own work rather than by issuing orders from above. This led people to higher motivation, greater creativity, and longer-lasting results than more traditional practices. The most effective way to lead, they found, is to focus everyone on the same goal, set up structures that encourage self-regulation, and get out of the way. But this means learning a set of unconventional skills.

Lead More, Control Less describes eight essential skills for establishing a culture that encourages people to take charge of themselves. Using examples and case studies, Weisbord and Janoff show leaders how they can share responsibility, defuse group conflicts, enable everyone to get the big picture, and more. And they also help leaders deal with personal pressures, such as managing anxiety and understanding why the negative reactions they get may have absolutely nothing to do with them.

By wearing authority more lightly, leaders can unleash commitment, initiative, and innovation beyond what they ever experienced before. Mastering these eight skills frees leaders to concentrate on larger issues, confident their people can handle the day-to-day work. With this approach, leaders truly gain more control by giving it up, using their position to empower others.

About the Authors

Marvin Weisbord consulted with business firms, medical schools, and hospitals from 1969 to 1992. He was a partner in the consulting firm Block Petrella Weisbord for 20 years and is a fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science. Productive Workplaces (2012), now in its third edition, is considered a classic. He also authored Organizational Diagnosis (1978) and Discovering Common Ground (1992).

He is co-director, along with Sandra Janoff, of Future Search Network (formerly SearchNet), an international non-profit dedicated to community service, colleagueship, and learning.

Sandra Janoff, PhD, consults worldwide with corporations, government agencies, and communities and leads training workshops in strategic planning and leadership. Her research on the relationship between moral reasoning and legal education was featured in the Minnesota Law Review. She also is co-author (with Yvonne Agazarian) of a definitive treatise on small-group systems theory.

She is co-director, along with Marvin Weisbord, of Future Search Network (formerly SearchNet) an international non-profit dedicated to community service, colleagueship and learning.