Balance, fostering an environment that promotes collective intelligence, maintaining a course, a common approach, and a frame of reference. Living and working together requires this common framework, this foundation of shared values and a shared ambition. As a manager, you are the one for sharing this ambition, the guarantor of the resources implemented. You must engage your team to benefit from its collective intelligence. So, how do you find this balance, guiding or imposing?
Here are a few examples to illustrate this concept in different situations.
In a project approach, we define a framework, an objective with success criteria. Constant monitoring of progress with the implementation of predictive indicators is the key to success.
But to put this in place: Guide or impose?
Project management is a known, recognized, and standardized practice by the PMI, with variations by project type. And yet, I have observed this kind of drift:
- The project manager who asks that each element, or checkbox, be reviewed, where the meaning is not the key, but compliance is essential. And with this practice being repeated, the meaning moves further and further away. An approximate interpretation leads to a structured practice resulting in a copied execution, no longer generating value, and therefore simply misunderstood. An example: I have seen projects where the technical risk analysis was completed only at the end, and why ? Because it was part of the list of documents to be delivered at the end of the project. An engineering act that has to be done at the beginning is transformed into administrative compliance at the end of the project. A complete waste of time and money.
- Another situation is the complete lack of understanding of the steps, their importance, and the sequence to follow to progress. And so we find ourselves with a project manager who is overwhelmed and unable to synchronize the teams. Therefore the project is neither executed on time, nor within the target cost and the expected quality. Having a project manager who does not understand the sequence of steps is like choosing an orchestra conductor who has no musical ear.
All these situations have the same root cause: the lack of understanding of meaning.
And so, manager, this is how you must guide. Guide by giving meaning.
As long as the meaning is not understood, we cannot move forward. The importance of the steps and actions, and the logic of the sequence, must be understood and shared.
And this is also part of the manager’s role:
Bring meaning. Guide without imposing.
In another sphere, we lead our employees to take charge of their destiny. We make them aware, and help them to become the architects of their success and their careers. How do you achieve this goal ? Guiding or Imposing ? You can write the training plans for your employees, you can even force them to take training. However, without their adherence, through an understanding of the meaning and value that this brings to them and the company, it will be a loss.
And even if the training is for the purpose of complying with legislation, it is necessary to make this training by giving back the meaning. The meaning of why the legislator imposed this, and why we as a company adhere to this need and wish everyone’s adherence.
Guiding without imposing?
Obviously, there are counterexamples and limitations to the approach, with everything that relates to common well-being, the rules of community life, and the application of the resulting policy. In the Article The Balance of Leadership: Navigating Between Values and Norms, I presented this counter-example from another angle. I highlighted that you are a guarantor of the application of the company’s rules. And in this case, you have to impose, explaining why, but imposing it.
You will find other counter-examples in this series of Articles:
- No stress during Annual Performance Review, Truth or myth?
- Managerial Courage: Managing Underperformance
- Managerial Courage: Handling Inappropriate Attitudes
- Managerial Courage: Handling harassment
Guiding is an approach that emphasizes meaning and understanding. It is about helping individuals or teams to understand the importance of steps, actions, and objectives, so that they can take ownership of the process and become the « architects of their success. » Guiding involves bringing meaning, sharing a common understanding, and allowing others to take control of their destiny.
To go further, innovate more, and have more success with your team.
Guiding without imposing must become your motto.
Question: And you, how do you tackle this problem?
r discover others?
🛠️ Three simple actions to engage your team in a project
Start each project with a 15‑minute “sense‑making” moment
Before talking deliverables, timelines, or tools, take a moment to explain:
why this project exists,
what it changes for the team,
what success truly means.
You set a shared frame and avoid the drift toward a “checklist with no meaning.”
Co‑build the sequence of steps with the team
Instead of imposing a plan, ask:
“What do you see as the critical steps?”
“What absolutely needs to happen before what?”
By letting the logic emerge with them, you create understanding + buy‑in + ownership.
Explain the “why” behind every mandatory request
Whether it’s a training, a process, a policy, or a deliverable:
explain the intention, the benefit for them, and the benefit for the organization.
You turn a constraint into understanding — and understanding into engagement.
👉 These three simple actions strengthen your leadership posture and unlock your potential.