Stuff happens. Where you look matters.
You don’t control everything that happens to you, but you have far more control over what happens next than you might imagine.
My coaching and consulting endeavors put me in front of a wide variety of managers and executives, often when they are navigating significant challenges.
In a recent management team situation around a misfired strategy, it was apparent that one part of the team was looking for ways to learn, adjust, and adapt, while a smaller, vocal group was fixated on uncovering the source(s) of the strategic misfire. If their intent had been to diagnose what went wrong, that’s understandable. However, their focus was more on assigning blame. The search for blame derails any opportunity to learn, adapt, and, frankly, strengthen the team’s ability to improve moving forward.
In another situation, a first-time CEO adopted a leadership approach that led to increased turnover, reduced quality, and dramatically reduced employee engagement. In working with him, it was clear he blamed everyone but the person staring back at him in the mirror.
These scenarios highlight the concept of locus of control, a concept introduced by psychologist Julian Rotter in his 1966 work (note 1). Locus of control describes our beliefs about whether the outcomes we experience are influenced by our own actions or by forces outside our control.
Simply stated: your locus of control determines where you look first when something goes wrong.
Think about your own tendencies.
If something goes wrong, how do you respond? Do you look primarily outward at the external factors that created that outcome…circumstances, other people, luck, management or others? Or, do you focus your attention on what you can influence moving forward?
Someone with an external locus of control asks in response to a situation, “Who caused this?”
Another individual with an internal locus of control asks, “What can I do about this?
A person with a strong internal locus of control expects their actions to influence outcomes. The individual with a strong external locus places bigger weight on forces outside their control.
Quarterly sales forecast reviews and locus of control
For years, I led sales and marketing teams in tech. Part of the job involved forecasting and the always-fun post-month or quarter review of where sales numbers deviated from the forecasts. I typically heard two types of stories from reps describing a shortfall.
One focused on things beyond their control. The customer delayed the project. Procurement changed the rules. Our competitor cut the price.
The other focused on what they might have controlled. I didn’t get to the economic buyer early enough. I didn’t recognize procurement’s power to negotiate. I saw the competitor coming and didn’t block them out.
Both salespeople may be describing exactly the same events. The difference is where they locate their opportunity to act.
Stuff happens: it’s how you respond that counts
Granted, stuff happens. You cannot control everything, no matter how much you believe you can. A healthy attitude is reflected in the statement(s): “This happened. I didn’t cause it. I may not be able to change it. I still get to decide what I do next.”
The research on locus of control and performance
Research gives us good reasons to take locus of control seriously. Studies have associated locus of control with important workplace outcomes, including job performance and job satisfaction. However, the research doesn’t support the simplistic conclusion that a strong internal locus of control automatically produces superior performance. Locus of control is one of many individual and situational factors influencing workplace outcomes. (Note 2)
The research doesn’t permit me to say conclusively, “Internal locus causes success”; however, my experience gives me plenty of reasons to say, “When stuff happens, I would rather have people looking for their next move, not their excuses.”
Five practices to strengthen your internal locus of control
1. “Manage your controllables.”
Differentiate the uncontrollable from the controllable.
I use this approach with management teams. On a whiteboard, I create two columns. The first is labeled Can’t Control, and the latter Can Influence. Note: This is particularly useful when a firm’s target market is shapeable. The dichotomy helps us determine where to focus our energies.
For individuals, I’ve long lived by the mantra an early-career mentor taught me: “Manage your controllables.” We can spend a lot of time lamenting what the world gave us, or we can try to do something about it.
2. Change your first question.
Instead of asking yourself, “Why is this happening to me?” use “This happened. What do I do next?”
3. Audit your language.
Tune in to your language for a few days. Does it sound like this?
- They don’t understand…or They won’t let me
- There’s nothing I can do…
- Management doesn’t…
- The market moved against me…
- The competitor dropped the price….
- My boss…
And then ask yourself the follow-on question: “What part of this can I control with my next actions?”
4. Replace blame with actions and experiments
Condition yourself to seek external perspectives. Who might have ideas for this? What can I try to deal with this? Resist the urge to hunt for or assign blame.
5. Keep an “I control next steps” journal
Regular readers know I’m a fan of journaling as part of your professional growth process. In this instance, when something happens, document:
- What happened that I didn’t expect?
- What did I do that influenced the outcome?
- What will I do or influence next?
The Bottom Line:
You don’t control everything that happens.
You always control what you do next.
Find the part that’s yours and get to work.
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Note 1: Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0092976
Note 2: Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits—self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability—with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 80–92.