# Ladder of Control > The *Ladder of Control* is a communications tool for supervisors and their direct reports to help calibrate reporting relationship across different kinds of work. The ladder offers seven levels of authority, from the least agency ("Tell me what to do…") to the most agency ("I've been doing…"). RELATED FUNCTIONS: [[People Operations]], [[Governance]] When you're working in a tiered decision structure, like a conventional organization, it is an endless and shifting challenge to balance autonomy and coordination. The most relevant and responsive decisions can often be made by those in direct contact with the work – those who engage the community face-to-face, for example, or who have hands on the current project or operation. But often the more coherent and coordinated decisions require a collective view across people and teams. The trick is knowing which situation is which. Former submarine captain David Marquet [developed an approach to this challenge](https://www.behance.net/blog/why-motivating-others-starts-with-using-the-right-language), which he called the "ladder of control." His goal was to push authority and decision-making out as far as he could, to those directly engaged with each particular task. But he also needed to ensure that those individual decisions aligned and connected with each other and the bigger picture. The ladder offers seven levels of control, from the least agency ("Tell me what to do…") to the most agency ("I've been doing…"). The first requires constant direction and approval. The last requires only occassional communication after much of the work has been done. Marquet used the ladder of control to encourage line-level individuals to rise to higher levels of control, and to encourage supervisors to release control where appropriate. Writes Marquet: > You may notice a lot of “tell me what to do” when you listen to the conversations around you. Oftentimes, it does not sound exactly like “tell me what to do” but that’s in essence what it is. For example, reporting a problem to the boss without a proposed solution (or a path toward getting a solution) is a veiled “tell me what to do.”  > > With a little bit of awareness you can peg where people are on this continuum and coax them up. As you move up, shifting control and psychological ownership to the subordinate, their minds will engage, and typically involvement and passion will follow. This framework can be enlightening and clarifying when you're designing a job, welcoming a team member, or even analyzing a long-standing practice. It can also increase autonomy and release control for the people best positioned to act. ![[ladder_of_control.png|300]] --- ## Tags (click to view related pages) #frameworks #sapling