Being in Control — By Admitting You’re Not!

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As individuals, at some point we all reach the conclusion that we have no way to be in control of the forces outside and around us. Too many variables affect too many things that are out of our reach. So we learn to manage what is within our power to manage and to monitor and respond to what is not. With time and wisdom we learn that even that scheme is momentary, as the truth changes and with each minute change occurs in the variables.

The same conditions are true for the organizations, small and large, within which we work. Yet, for some reason, we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that an organization has some semblence of power and control over the forces outside and around it. It’s just not so.

An organization must do what a wise individual does manage what is within its power to manage and monitor and respond to what is not.

How do individuals or organizations monitor and respond to what is out of their power?

• First, they listen actively. That means they set aside the filters that would have them hear only those things that support their current world view.
• Next, they test what they have heard. That means they check back with the folks that were talking to confirm, and they ask other folks if they also agree.
• Then, they adjust and adapt to the new information. That means that they alter their world view to include what they now know as they move forward.
• Finally, they make sure that important others in their world know. People tell other people. Organizations tell customers, employees, shareholders, prospects, and key stakeholders.

All through the process of doing that once. Individuals and organizations that are growing work through that same process again and again in a spiraling, overlapping, scaffolded fashion.

Think of it as “testing constantly testing” . . . but being in control? Not!

Just as a driver is always adjusting the steering wheel of the car to keep the car pointed in the right direction, individuals and companies stay in control by realizing that they’re not — that they must be constantly adjusting.

To adjust that car the driver must be actively scanning.

To monitor and respond, companies must be actively listening in every sense of the word.

What does it mean when a company says that blogging is a fad not worth listening to?

Liz Strauss

 

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