Looking Like You Are In Control

Posted on May 09, 2010 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

Leadership certainly matters. 

BUT

the belief a leader has significant influence over an organization’s performance is only somewhat true.

Years ago, Dr. Gerald Salancik conducted a simple experiment: A person was asked to control a model train as it traveled around a track. An observer watched the person who controlled the train. Unbeknownst to both individuals, the experimenter kept changing the power going to the train - making it speed up and slow down unexpectedly - causing it to derail.

The person running the train soon recognized they had little control over the train. But the observer perceived something different. The observer did not know the fluctuations of the train were

outside

the control of the person running the train, but instead concluded the person was simply not competent to keep the train on the track. Because the person running the train was

visible

, the observer attributed the train’s performance to that person – not to the

invisible

factor that actually caused the train to derail.

In the same way, when we look at organizations, we see the leaders who are in charge – yet fail to see (or understand) the real constraints that affect the company’s performance.

Ask almost any self-aware leader, “Do you have as much power, control, or influence over your organization as you really need?” and the answer is almost invariably “No!” - for most honest leaders recognize the limits on their ability to really make things happen in an organization.

Jeffrey Pfeffer, PhD published research which found that although leaders do have some impact on performance, their actions rarely determine more than 10% of the differences in the performance gap between the best and the worst organizations. Studies confirm that the link between leadership and performance is quite

modest

– that organizational performance is largely determined by factors

outside

a leaders span of control, for even the most powerful Executive has little influence over macroeconomic trends, the price of international currency, oil, wars, injuries, technology advances, their organization’s history, and even the weather…

** Yet, despite the findings cited above, just about everyone still succumbs to the belief that leaders ARE in ultimate control. So they seek to hire, praise, hold on to, and promote leaders who “seem to be in control” of events.

So what does this mean for a leader

? This means you will never get or keep a leadership position if you can’t convince others that you are in control – even when you don’t have much control!  It means that pretending you are in control of your organization’s performance can actually help you gain actual control over at least some aspects of your organization’s performance.

(I know the above sentence is slightly confusing, but think about it for awhile…)