Ceding Command and Control

While codifying the process we’ve used successfully to build teams inside and outside Parade, Forbes, True/Slant and elsewhere, the philosophy behind delegation has become a primary topic.

Image by teachingsagittarian

“Chain of command” has its place. Where creativity and individual ownership is expected, ceding command and control is a requirement. It’s as difficult as any other part of the process as it needs an ongoing change of mindset.

Coates Bateman, True/Slant’s Executive Editor, said this on that company’s first anniversary

“Edit talent, not copy:…Sure, there are typos, there are less than cogent sentences at times and there are some premises that are just flat out wrong. We’ve tried to remedy as quickly as possible. That’s not the editorial process I was used to. I’m still not entirely comfortable with it. But, I’m learning to see the value and authenticity it brings as journalism adapts to a new world.”

New tools, products, platforms, and models require new philosophies to make the most of them. Of all the planning, design, development and deployment we’ve done across several business, changing the culture to accept, avail of and excel at using those has been the most difficult process.