指挥(zhǐ huī) - to command, to direct, a conductor in Mandarin

指挥 (zhǐ huī) is directing people in real time: an officer moving troops, a traffic policeman at a junction, a conductor in front of an orchestra. The picture inside the word is physical, one hand pointing and the other sweeping, and that is a fair guide to when it fits.

It works as a verb and as the person doing it. 他是乐队指挥 means he is the orchestra's conductor, and 总指挥 is the commander in chief of an operation. Chinese does not need a separate noun the way English needs "conductor" and "commander".

The trap is treating it as ordinary management. Running a department day to day is 管理 (guǎn lǐ), and telling a colleague what to do is 安排 (ān pái). 指挥 implies you are standing over an unfolding situation and calling it moment by moment, so used at a desk it sounds either military or faintly bossy.