Success Mindset: How An Internal Locus of Control Shapes Leadership
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~ Gaius 'Augustus' Octavius
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Executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs in dynamic business environments often encounter external unforeseeable obstacles that challenge their leadership beyond their current capacity.
These obstacles could range from sudden market shifts and economic downturns to unexpected regulatory changes and disruptive technological advancements.
When experience gained with uncontrollable external events suddenly leads to the expectation that future events will also elude their control, disruptions in motivation, emotion, learning, and leadership may ensue.
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
The longer executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs repeatedly expose themselves to adverse external stimuli and perceive them as unavoidable or inescapable, the greater the danger of developing a psychological condition called 'learned helplessness'.
It refers to problems that arise in the wake of uncontrollability, entailing inappropriate passivity, demoralisation, and a pervasive sense of powerlessness.
It is derived from traumatic experiences or a repeated failure to succeed at something.
Additionally, to the already mentioned disruptions, learned helplessness is also often associated with depression and passive coping mechanisms.
THE SCIENCE
The most well-known early experiment on learned helplessness at the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 involved dogs!
In the first stage, scientists led by Martin Elias Seligman, an American psychologist, educator on well-being and positive psychology, and author [1], would place dogs into harnesses in a little room with a metal floor that could give the dogs a slight electrical shock.
One group (the control group) received no shock, the second group received a shock that they could stop by pressing a lever, and the third group's shock was matched to the second group's.
So, the second group felt in control, but the third group was helpless to stop the shocks!
Then, the dogs were placed into a shock room with a small barrier in the middle.
They'd start on the side that delivered a shock but could escape it by hopping over the barrier.
Group 1 and 2 dogs figured this out quickly and would jump the barrier.
However, group 3 dogs, who had learned that nothing they did could affect their situation, chose to lie passively on the floor and whine but make no effort to move.
Those dogs just gave up, as they learned they were helpless, even when they weren't!
Not all group 3 dogs were susceptible to learned helplessness conditioning, and some of them, despite the exposure to unavoidable shocks, persisted and jumped to safety as soon as they had the opportunity.
These dogs had come from rescue shelters rather than being raised in labs. They had already been exposed to challenging conditions, learned to fend for themselves, and had a broader vocabulary of experiences to draw from.
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These dogs, having been exposed to challenging conditions and having learned to fend for themselves, were able to put the uncontrollable shock treatment into a broader context and retain their sense of control.
This highlights the role of experience-based learning in combating learned helplessness.
HUMANS ARE SIMILAR
Refined and more extensive research conducted during the following years concluded that humans are similar!
According to Seligman's 'Learned Helplessness Theory', three components must be evident for learned helplessness to occur.
? Contingency - the relation between actions and the environmental response.
? Cognation - the awareness of contingency.
? Behaviour - one's reactions to events.
But, those with a more internalised locus of control, who believe that they determine their path in life through their own decisions and are not inescapably influenced or doomed by external events, are less susceptible to learned helplessness.
TRANSFER TO LEADERSHIP
Transferred to the dynamics of business environments of executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs, a relatable and transferrable mantra and attitude for them could be:
"This sucks right now, but it doesn't mean that everything sucks always!"
Exemplary leadership is about taking on the lead and the implied responsibility first and foremost for oneself as a healthy expression of personal control, empowering oneself and others.
All further personal and leadership development follows from there!
Only then can executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs help break through a culture of learned helplessness in their teams, companies, organisations, or businesses.
It can be done practically by shifting everyone's external locus of control!
This action stops them from shifting the blame amongst one another and instead taking responsibility for their failures and successes, shifting to an internal one and fostering a culture of accountability and proactivity.
Undeniably, an internal locus of control is essential for exemplary leadership to prevent perceived adverse stimuli that may lead to learned helplessness!
And the resulting mindset is another step towards success.
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