Get in Control or Be Out of Control

When your phone rings and you jump to answer, are you in control? When that little red notification on the FB app pops up and you impulsively put your thumb on it, are you in control? When an employee unexpectedly quits on you, are you in control?

I was highly influenced by Janet Jackson’s "Control" way back in 1986. She talks about making her own decisions, career moves, and owning her life. I was 9. Every time I hear the word control for the last 30 something years, this song gets stuck in my head. Now I control my business decisions, my goals, what I eat, what I watch, who I interact with, where I spend my time, and every other detail of my life.

In 2013, I took care of my 2 and 3-year-old nieces. They hadn't been very disciplined and I had zero kid experience. It was the ultimate out of control situation. Once I learned to put systems in place to help me, it helped them. Through consistency and my dedication to repeating and setting examples of the values of my house, their behavior improved dramatically. By six months I was getting compliments on their ability to behave in public.

Janet and seeing my nieces this weekend have me thinking about control, but today there is another reason. I just listened to chapter 11 of Grant Cardone’s book "Be Obsessed or Be Average" where he's talking about being obsessed with control. I love about 90% of what he’s got to say and squirm over the other 10% (I'd be surprised if this isn't how he wants people to feel). So I want to express where I agree and add my perspective to the other 10%.

I agree with Mr. Cardone and Janet, it's your life or your business and you have the right to be in control of both. Control puts you in charge, it evokes confidence and it feels good to make things happen. It felt so good to see my nieces start taking taking crayons out of the box one at a time and putting them away instead of ripping them to shreds. Those who give up control and let the universe guide them are the ones who never have enough time and are always in a battle with "I can't believe this just happened to me."

Putting yourself in the driver's seat can be the difference between getting what you want in the time frame that you want it versus just waiting for something that may never come. When leaders establish systems and set expectations around improved culture they are 99% more likely to get it than leaders who let the culture "create itself".

You have to be in control of yourself if you want others to follow you. Who wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where they are going or if they’ll ever get there?

Control in business means implementing systems, continuously updating relevant policy, setting and delivering upon expectations, and updating and documenting processes. It doesn’t mean micromanaging or dictatorship. It does mean insisting that certain standards are met, lived, repeated, and consistently reinforced.

I feel more anxiety when I am working away from home. As much as I love to travel and am building clientele all over the globe, I need better systems in place so that I can feel more in control over my time and what I can accomplish. If you allow employees to work remotely, you and they need to be in control or they will never be more productive in an environment that isn't set up for success.

The more you’re in control, the less likely you are to give control over to someone else. Giving control the right way means delegation. Giving it the wrong way means putting someone else in power over you. Sometimes to stay in control you have to delegate (it's frowned upon for one team mate to hog the ball). Delegation lets you pass the ball without dropping it. For example, I hired a crazy smart CPA so that I could be in control of my tax situation. My lack of tax knowledge takes me out of control of that situation. That way the IRS is less likely to come in and take control.

Every time you tell someone you’re too busy, or when you keep feeling too busy - it means you are not in control and you’re in need of systems in place to help you to be in control.

Control means being proactive not reactive, calm not frantic, getting results not waiting for results.

To do this you have to:

1. Recognize that systems are key and should be woven into your overall strategy.
2. Recognize what you can control and what you can’t control and what you can control but don’t have any business with.
3. Be consistent and persistent. You can’t have control one day and let it go another. That creates really bad culture and is akin to crying wolf. Picture the kids that are out of control because they know you aren’t really going to turn this car around.
4. Give control don't let people take it. Either you are in control or someone or something will be in control of you. It's up to you to choose you.

To summarize:

Control - Purposefully setting up systems and expectations that create outcomes that you want. When done right and with good intention, it helps you as the business owner to exceed your goals and your people to feel supported as they help to achieve those goals.

Influence - The ability to affect change without direct control. Google, Starbucks, Uber. Their consistency, superior service, knowledge, etc. build trust with their customers then when the customer engages the customer experience is wholly controlled which enables that same consistency no matter what location I end up at.

Micromanaging - Taking away the control of the people you've hired to get a job done. They may not get to control the end goal, however, they should be able to control how they get that job done within the framework of the systems that have been put in place to support them.

"I've got my own mind (vision)

Wanna make my own decisions

When it has to do with my life (business)

I wanna be the one in control" - Janet (me)

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This has been Day 25 of the March Madness Content Challenge hosted by Bevo at Beach and Main and I. I am compelled to share information to help business owners and individuals to be more effective and make a bigger positive impact. Let me know if you think I am accomplishing that and if there is a subject you've got a question about.

Stay gold!

-Laura

Laura Thorne is a performance improvement consultant. She helps business owners and individuals to be more effective: working on the RIGHT things to get the DESIRED RESULTS. Her trademark process, called the Role Model Way!?, is a systematic and strategic approach to organizational learning and professional development. Learn more at www.laurathorneconsulting.com & www.therolemodelway.com