In the numerous projects I've been involved in, I've discovered that many managers still hold on to there 'Command And Control'-principle in some way of form. When you hold on to 'Command and Control', the people you delegate the work to, will not feel any responsibility for the work. Why should they? They are just 'following orders'. They only perform the work when you say them to, and only the way you tell them to. As long as you treat people like this, you will not be able to create any engagement or commitment. Without engagement or commitment, people will not share their creativity with you or your company. And without that, you will have very little innovation.

I've discovered 2 main reasons why managers are so reluctant for letting go of 'Command And Control'.

First of all, managers do not understand the full meaning or distinction between Accountability and Responsibility. I've seen this happen especially when the manager was responsible for the work before, but has been promoted. Since they have been doing the work, they think they know best how to do the work (and in many cases they actually do). But once you delegate the work to a team or a person, you also delegate some of the decisions related to the work. From that moment on, the delegatee also receives the authority to make decisions related to the work, like when to perform the work, what tools to use, what workflow to implement, etc. Anyway, the delegator is not responsible for the work anymore, but he will stay accountable for it. Honestly, I think Simon Sinek phrases this the best. "There is not a leader on the planet who is responsible for the results. Leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results."

The second reason is trust, or a lack of it. Many managers believe the people they delegate the work to, are not able to do the work. They believe they are the only ones who know best how to do or manage the work. Trust within an organization can be build by valuing the principle of Transparency. The moment a delegatee receives  the responsibility to complete the work, he also receives the responsibility to be transparent about the work. This can include regular updates on the progress and/or completion of the work, but also any impediments that arise. In a framework like Scrum, this is build-in. At the end of every sprint the team will have a Sprint Review. During this meeting the delegators will receive an update on the work committed to in the last sprint. I've experienced that being honest about the results, good or bad, creates trust with the delegators. For me, this is also a good place to raise impediments I cannot resolve myself as a Scrum Master.  By using the Accountability and Transparency principle within an organization more prominently, managers will be less likely to micromanage people and teams. It will raise more trust within the company. It will eventually lead to more engagement and commitment. And if you combine this with the authority for making decisions, people will become creative and innovative. And do I still need to tell you this will lead to less depressions, burn-outs and bore-outs?