Key Skill: Learning to balance control and support

Understanding how to balance Control and Support is critical for managing pressure and maintaining a sense of well-being – indeed, both are acknowledged in the Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standards for Work-Related Stress. Research shows that when work demands are high the difference between the best and poorest performance is largely predicted by perceptions of control and the extent to which employees feel supported.

However, in the thick of things it is often quite difficult to strike the balance between these two modes of behaviour – you may know that you need support, but you also feel like you need to maintain a certain level of control to get the job done. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the end result of your endeavours is influenced by multiple factors – including your line manager’s behaviour, your own behaviour and the context you are operating in.

A good example of this difficult judgement call comes from the world of football. At Robertson Cooper, we recently worked with a team of professional footballers at the very highest level of the game. The players encounter a version of this issue as they try to maintain control over the direction of their careers, while surrounded by agents and other advisers who present themselves as essential sources of support. The risk here is that an over-reliance on these sources of support turns the puppeteer into the puppet, so that some agents end up exerting a controlling influence over certain players. This is understandably difficult for young footballers who want to concentrate on playing rather than managing relationships. It’s even more frustrating for football managers and coaches, who are keen to educate young players to be able to make good judgements about when to exert control and when to draw on their support network.

There are obvious parallels here with situations that commonly arise in the workplace: We all need to be given enough space and autonomy to do our best work, but at the same time we need to know that we are not alone and can call on our manager / organisation for support when we need it. In this respect, poor managers sometimes act like bad football agents in ostensibly offering support, but actually seeking to control their staff to achieve their own ends. The best managers only care about getting good results from their staff for the benefit of the organisation – they look for opportunities to challenge their team, but are always aware of when support may be required in order to achieve stretching goals.

But this is not just managerial responsibility - we all have a role to play. An over-reliance on support means that you may lose control. It’s important to actively develop your understanding of the situations in which you need to exert control and those where you need to seek advice. You are at the centre of the axis and to get the balance right you have to make good judgements both in your day-to-day working life and as you go through your career.