How addicted are you to the illusion of control?

by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners

While coaching top executives, I often paraphrase contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber to the effect: I have found that most of my trouble comes from trying to control things that, if left alone, would take care of themselves.

We have all heard the advice to empower self-directed teams, push responsibility down close to the action, give authority over service decisions to the person in contact with the customer. Implicit in all these dicta, however, is the assumption that it is properly the executive who has the power, responsibility, and authority being meted out. What is it about showing up for work that strips people of agency? Maybe management should stop ignoring the fact that people are doing a fairly good job of managing their lives and consider that these skills can be used at work?

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