The Curious Case of Control

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just push a button and have fully motivated, energized, and engaged employees? Pressures in the business world grow as companies increasingly operate on a global scale, making motivation hard to come by. Customers need solutions quicker; investors need results sooner. Change is the new constant, and it comes with a healthy dose of fear. The ability to overcome that fear and adapt to change is crucial for survival, and leaders are faced with the challenge of inspiring their teams to keep moving forward in the face of challenges that may at times feel insurmountable. This means tapping into both the leader and the team’s commitment to the mission, overcoming the fear that comes with the challenges they are facing, and working together to overcome them.

Perception is reality

Research has shown that the way we view the negative events that happen to us can have an impact on whether or not we feel helpless. When we come to believe that we have no control over what happens to us, we can begin to think, feel, and act helpless. No one is born this way; it is not an innate trait. It is a learned behavior, conditioned through experiences in which we either truly have no control over our circumstances, or we believe that this is the case. Even when presented an option to avoid pain, we do not attempt to take it.

Steven Covey said, “We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.”

Research published in The How of Happiness by University of California psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky has shown that only 10 percent of our happiness is based on our actual circumstances. In other words, 90 percent of our happiness is based on how we perceive our circumstances. Perception truly is our reality. We can improve our happiness (and our resilience) by shifting our perception and our locus of control.

The case for control

Locus of control is a concept that psychologist Julian Rotter introduced in the 1950s to describe differing approaches to daily stressors. It refers to the notion that we each view life either as something we can control or something that controls us. People who believe that they have control over both their successes and failures have an internal locus of control. These individuals believe they can influence events and their outcomes. They tend to be happier and experience less stress, and they are healthier and more satisfied with life in general.

In contrast, those with an external locus of control are more likely to believe that their lives are driven by forces outside of their control. For example, when receiving exam results, people with an internal locus of control tend to praise or blame themselves and their abilities. People with a strong external locus of control tend to praise or blame external factors such as the teacher or the difficulty of the exam itself. The latter individuals are more susceptible to depression and learned helplessness.

In his book Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, Martin Seligman describes learned helplessness as a principal characteristic of depression. Depressed people often report a loss of self-esteem that is associated with learned helplessness. They may stop striving for goals and won’t make the effort, ironically, even when they’re likely to succeed. The bad news is that locus of control is largely learned and as a result, leaders with an external locus of control can influence their teams to attribute their successes and failures to unknown causes (removing their control over situations and outcomes). This pessimistic habit of thinking can transform mere setbacks into disasters, exacerbating the cycle of helplessness throughout the organization.

Leaders with an internal locus of control have learned to take responsibility for who they are, and for their actions and performance. They believe that the buck stops with them when it comes to the performance of their departments or organizations. They see others as having the ability to grow, and will take an active role in the development of their people. Their mindset enables their teams to cope with uncertainty and adapt to change more easily as they know that they can control the outcomes of their efforts. This acts both as a buffer against burnout and a source of motivation to do the work to succeed. 

Motivating and demotivating forces

The motivating effects of empowering leadership are well documented. The demotivating effects of relationship conflict are often underestimated. Studies show that empowering leadership and relationship conflict influences team members’ motivation in opposite ways. Additionally, when relationship conflict is low, the positive influence of empowering leadership is amplified. Leaders who develop a cohesive and supportive team environment can mitigate the effects of conflict in the organization.

A culture of internal competition removes focus from competing in the marketplace to competing in the hallways, distracting employees as they protect fiefdoms and engage in turf wars at the expense of the business and their colleagues. Imagine two Marines running to take a hill and shooting each other so there would be no chance that the other would get more credit for doing so! Creative efforts are destroyed by competing executive agendas.

Leaders who recognize major constituencies, develop ties to their leadership, and manage conflict are often highly successful as they move up the corporate ladder. By negotiating compromises and building alliances in the best interests of succeeding together, effective leaders can break down the silos and fiefdoms that are created by internal competition. These leaders also enable employees to make suggestions around team structure, project focus, and resource allocation in an egalitarian manner. By engaging employees actively in decision-making, leaders benefit from a talented, free-spirited, motivated, and loyal workforce.

You’re not trapped in learned helplessness

A crucial step toward overcoming learned helplessness is to recognize that it is not an inherent personality trait and that with perseverance it can be overcome. The good news is that we can overcome this unhealthy way of thinking, replacing old beliefs with new and healthy beliefs and learning to have compassion for ourselves and others. Realizing that not everything is within our control—and rather than using negative events as a reflection of inability, assessing those events to see if we could have performed better, prepared better or challenged ourselves more—helps to counteract the self-defeating mind-set that accompanies learned helplessness. Leaders can help their teams practice this skill by asking these questions at every milestone throughout a project. In this way, setbacks can be viewed as challenges to be conquered, and opportunities to be embraced, rather than insurmountable and unchangeable forces.

You have more influence than you realize

The road to high performance is paved with choices. Leaders have the choice to be motivators or demotivators. Those who can see challenges as an opportunities to learn, rather than insurmountable obstacles, empower their teams to do the same.

Ultimately, each of us is responsible for our own results. It’s only human to have doubts and fears. Leaders who perceive failure as a setback or challenge—rather than as a personal reflection of their ability to succeed—encourage those who work for them to look at obstacles in the same way. It’s a mind game, and those who can focus on the long-term goal in spite of challenges or obstacles are uniquely positioned to win.

Excerpted from Taming the Sabertooth: Resilient Leadership in a Stressful World.

Are you navigating the challenges of engaging and inspiring your team? Reach out to us to learn how we can help.