Why Balancing Tasking, Trusting, and Tending Is Less a Framework and More a Full-Contact Sport

Somewhere in the long and winding hallways of management theory, after we’ve exhausted our “7 Secrets to CEO Enlightenment” and “How to Be an Agile Ninja Without Breaking a Sweat,” we stumble across something deceptively humble. Something... tripod-like.

Yes, tripods. Not the camera kind (though leadership could use a bit more focus), and not the alien invasion variety (although one could argue certain org charts resemble alien hieroglyphics). We're talking about the Tripod of Work—a framework so balanced, so sensible, so grounded, it almost feels like common sense.

Which, naturally, makes it highly suspicious in today’s clickbait-driven leadership circus.

Three Legs, One Job: Don’t Fall Over

The Tripod of Work rests on three simple, human pillars: Tasking, Trusting, and Tending. Easy, right? Like juggling while on a unicycle in a crosswind. Here’s the setup:

• Tasking: Give people a clear goal, some boundaries, and a deadline that doesn’t make them weep.
• Trusting: Let them get on with it, resist the urge to hover, and assume they aren’t plotting your downfall.
• Tending: Pay attention to whether it’s all still working—before things combust or someone politely sets fire to a Gantt chart.

When these three are in balance, we get clarity, flow, and meaningful work. When they’re not? Well...

The Continuity Tripod: Good Old-Fashioned Control

Ah yes, the Tripod for Continuity. It’s the “We’ve always done it this way” of leadership. It leans on deduction, supervision, and paperwork that could stun a small mammal. It’s not evil—it’s just vintage. The kind of place where trust is a checkbox on a training form and “judgement” is reserved for senior managers and people with leather briefcases.

In a stable world, this worked fine. Unfortunately, we no longer live in one.

The Diffuse Tripod: Everyone’s Doing Everything, Badly

 

This is the post-Continuity hangover. Leaders say, “Go be creative!” and vanish. Tasking becomes handing over vague ideas like “be more innovative.” Trusting mutates into either blind faith or mild abandonment. Tending? Let’s just say if you squint, it might look like someone caring, but it’s mostly inbox management.

The Diffuse Tripod creates organizations full of well-intentioned wanderers clutching half-baked job descriptions and haunted by the phrase, “You’ve got this!” Do they, though?

The Rigid Tripod: Command, Control, and Crushing Souls

 

And then comes the inevitable swing to the Rigid Tripod—the bureaucratic bouncer of the leadership world. Everything is enforced. Trust is replaced with spreadsheets. Tending turns into surveillance. Everyone is monitored, measured, and micro-miserable.

Decisions slow to a glacial crawl. Innovation is filed under “Phase 3” of a plan that never reaches Phase 1. There’s enough review happening to start a religion, but no one knows what anything means anymore.

Why This Matters: Because Balance Isn’t Optional

The genius of the Tripod model isn’t in its novelty. It’s in its stubborn refusal to pick sides. Real leadership isn’t about being the coolest visionary on stage or the spreadsheet warlord in the corner office. It’s about holding tension. Balancing clarity with freedom. Structuring enough to move, but not enough to strangle.

Tasking, Trusting, and Tending are less a checklist and more a rhythm—an active, living dance that shifts as people and conditions change.

But Wait—There’s a Twist: Tripods Are Everywhere

This isn’t just an internal leadership thing. The model stretches elegantly into external relationships too—think partnerships, alliances, shared ventures, or anytime you’ve tried to coordinate with someone who uses the phrase “circle back.”

In these “Key Relationship Tripods,” trust isn’t a vibe—it’s vigilant. Tasking isn’t micromanagement—it’s clarity with respect. And tending? It’s not about managing the relationship; it’s about stewarding it.

In a world where cooperation often starts in wariness and suspicion (see: every procurement meeting ever), this approach offers a way out. Or at least, a way forward.

The Tripod Isn’t Sexy. But It Feels Right?

No one’s selling it with a neon cover or a TED Talk titled “Three Legs to Rule Them All.” And yet, here it is: a mature, grounded framework that doesn’t promise shortcuts, but does promise coherence, sustainability, and—dare we say—dignity in leadership.

So maybe it’s time we stopped chasing silver bullets and started appreciating the quietly revolutionary power of balance.

HEALTH WARNING – Grip reality not the words

Maula maula lakh pukare, maula haath na aye

Labzon se hum khel rahe hain, mala haath n aaye

Maula maula lakh pukare, maula haath na aye

Labzon se hum behel rahe hain, mala haath n aaye

 (O Lord, O Lord—we cry a hundred thousand times, yet You remain out of reach.                 We play with words and utterances, but the rosary (prayer/spiritual essence) slips through our hands                                                                                                                                            O Lord, O Lord—we cry out endlessly, yet You elude our grasp                                            We amuse ourselves with mere words, but dont grasp the essence of the prayer beads)

Jo paani ke naam ko paani jaaney, ye nadaani hai.

Paani Paani ! Paani Paani ! Paani Paani Rat tey rat tey ,

Pyasa hi mar jaye

 (To mistake the name of water for water itself—that is naive even foolishness.                          Chanting “Water! Water!” again and again, all along,                                                                 Yet the thirsty die parched.)

Shola shola rat tey rat tey

Lab par aanch na aiye

Ek Changari lab par rakh do

Lab forun jal jaye

(Crying “Flame! Flame!” through the night 

But not a single cinder reaches the lips                                                                                        Place just one spark on the lips.                                                                                                  And instantly, the lips will burn)

                                                                                         

Because leading isn’t about being dazzling. It’s about not toppling over in the race to win?

(I owe this to my friend Gillian Stamp whose profound and powerful work has influenced me deeply and still does in moments of reflective regeneration of insights and learning)