In a coupled control mode, an operator directly controls movement of an associated manipulator with an input device while indirectly controlling movement of one or more non-associated manipulators, in response to commanded motion of the directly controlled manipulator, to achieve a secondary objective. By automatically performing secondary tasks through coupled control modes, the system's usability is enhanced by reducing the operator's need to switch to another direct mode to manually achieve the desired secondary objective. Thus, coupled control modes allow the operator to better focus on performing tasks and to pay less attention to managing the system.