The illusion of control
Wow, things are pretty janky these days. I mean we see hundreds of people being laid off, but we also see epic numbers of jobs being created. It’s enough to make your head spin. But this is normal, right? It’s always something. It really always is. Somethings are good. Somethings are challenging. None of this is within our control.
And so, we get to the point of this post. No matter what is going on in our world of work, nothing is in our control. We can influence. We can try, but at the end of it all, it’s out of our control.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE control. I love to be in control of my life and livelihood, it’s why I have chosen to start my own business. Just like 9 million others in the last two years.
In your job, you want to control the things you can. You want to have some control you’re your budget, your strategies, and your talent.
The managers in your organization want to feel like they have control over those same things. They want to feel like they have control over their teams and employees.
The truth is…control is an illusion.
I am at the whim of customers, the economy, talent, adoption, roll out, you name it. The reality is, I do not have control over any of these things…it’s an illusion.
You and your managers are in the same boat. We don’t have control over our budgets, our people. The reality is the budget can change on a dime to manage the economic climate. And your people… if we don’t know now, we are never going to accept that we have absolutely ZERO control over the amazing humans who work with us. They are going to do what they are going to do to gain some semblance of control over their lives.
Which is why I sit here pecking on my laptop to remind us that control is an illusion.
We cannot control people being laid off. We cannot control people moving on to a new opportunity. We cannot control our people. They are going to do what they are going to do. The aim is to help them make choices that will benefit them. Let me repeat: We cannot control our people.
But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t offer them solutions to stay. Give them a reason to stay. Make it easy to stay. And if they are committed to leaving, We should let them go elegantly and invite them back if they wish.
When you give up thinking that you have any control over your workforce, you loosen the grip. This is a hard thing for manager, specifically, to accept. And it’s why there are so many people TALKING about talent mobility and so few people DOING talent mobility.
Look at the recent case studies from Airbnb on remote work. Look at what Dan Price has built. They have loosened their grip on their talent and they see major rewards.
They are seeing a reduction in turnover, which cost US business $2.4 Trillion in 2021 alone.
They are seeing more applications than their talent because guess what, people want to work where they will not be controlled and will be trusted to do the work.
It’s time to let go. It’s time to stop thinking there is anything in your talent strategy that can be controlled. It’s time we move forward and trust.