To organize is to control

Wanting to control is part of what we are. Is it possible to turn it into something beneficial for the greater good of ourselves and the planet?

I do a lot reading and thinking about what makes us human, about what causes our behaviors, about how we could do things better both by transcending apparent limitations and by recognizing the forces that drive us. I am fascinated by research and writings about the emergence of homo sapiens and how our evolution still affects us today.

And this thinking just startled me with the realization that I have been blind to something very obvious. I have been doing a lot of “preaching” of the necessity to stop trying to control people within organizations so that we can all become more human at work, enfold our potential and create more value for ourselves, society and the world —and I have been overlooking the “fact” that the original purpose of organizing is to control.

Some time in the distant past — so I imagine — our biological ancestors began to cooperate. Probably, this was long before they even had opposable thumbs. This banding together, working together and belonging together provided a very obvious advantage for these creatures that were physically inferior in a world of dangers and threats to their existence and to the continuation (and evolution) of their species. By organizing themselves, they were able to control their environment much more effectively. This control brought them more safety.

In those last two short sentences, we have the elements that make up our basic human longings up to this day: the needs for security, belonging, and influence. And we see that they are not equal or at least, they did not all develop at once. The need for more security led to wanting to be able to control and influence the world and the “discovery” that this is more possible when we work together led to belonging becoming a survival-trait that is ingrained into our basic needs. This is so much the case, that the sense of belonging and being accepted in itself can fulfill our desire for security.

Today, we live in a world which we humans have pretty much conquered. We cause most of the threats to our lives ourselves. And still, our needs for security, belonging and influence remain, long after the natural threats that led to their evolution have been mostly tamed. They continue to drive our behaviors.

Of course, we have gotten so good at controlling the world around us that we are about to bring it to a point that it will become uninhabitable for most of us. I haven’t written much about the environment in the past. I write about organizations and the people in them. They are, however (and rather obviously), not disconnected from each other. Indeed, our desire for control, the reason we get together and the very origin of organizations, is what got us here. And we can’t stop it. We can’t not want to control.

The organization is there for control. It is an attempt to make the world safe — at least for its members. Governments protect their citizens. Employers provide security for their employees. Some organizations exist only to provide basic needs for those who don’t have them, needs even more basic than the psychological needs mentioned above. Still other organizations exist in order to provide their members with a sense of belonging.

When organizations are there for control, when control is in the DNA of every organization, it makes sense, that this desire to control also permeates all other aspects of an organization: the desire to control the market, to control the product … and to control the people!

Personally, I don’t like that idea. I want people in organizations to stop trying to control other people in organizations. I want them to be able to work with autonomy. I believe that, not only does that make people happier, it also leads to growth and better products. Controlling people in our organizations is not good for the people, nor is it good for the business.

Self reflection

Am I being honest about my own desire to control the world and others? In my TEDx-Talk in 2015, I explain how to change the world by having a purpose, a plan and people. Isn’t wanting to change the world also a way of trying to control it? And if wanting to change the world is wanting to control it, wanting to change organizations must be about control as well.

And then I also know, that I have been guilty of wanting to get people to think differently. When am I trying to control people without being conscious of it? When I advise people? When I explain things to them? When I am trying to help them? Yes. I don’t tell people what to do, but I try to get them to understand things the way I do. To believe the things I do.

Resolution

It is not about going from one unrealistic extreme (wanting to control everything) to the opposite (wanting to control nothing). It is about finding a way that is better, more productive, healthier, more creative.

My proposal is that finding that way is more likely, if we are conscious about our desire to control, if we are aware of what kind of results we want to create, if we start sharing influence and realize that we might not know the best way to get to our goals.

We can decide what we want to control and how we control it, and what would be better not to control. And we can be clear about what we can’t control.

The first step is to recognize it:

Our Purpose is about control. Always.

Our Vision is about a desired result of the control we exercise. (We get to choose it.)

Our need for influence doesn’t have to lead to absolute control. When we feel that we are accepted and belong, we can feel more secure. If we feel secure, we can let go of some control. When the basic needs are covered, we can begin to do other things differently.

How can we figure out together how things can be done differently? How can we deal with all of these things that we can’t really control? There are things we can’t control. How do we deal with that in a complex world?

By following some principles and by practicing:

Seeing and reflecting:

Understand systems better. And humans, ourselves included.

Teaching and learning:

Inspire. Connect. Allow experience.

Increasing security:

Remove punishments for being wrong and reward risk-taking. Lower defenses of ego and the need to protect.

Becoming diverse:

Seek out different perspectives. Listen. Involve.

Being agile:

Envision. Experiment. Adjust.

For each of these aspects, a whole lot more could be written. I have tried to extract the most useful principles that we can use as guides and goals. The next step would be to develop practices, experiment and gather experience. Some of them might seem simple. We might just intrinsically know what to do. For others we will need help — personal or team coaches, a mentor, a book, a trainer, what ever can help us at the stage we are at. There is always something new to learn. That’s what makes it so interesting.

Right now I am fighting an impulse to start listing books, articles, videos, and names of models and methods that would fill out the points listed above. They would give you all kinds of places to deepen your understanding of the rather abstract aspects I see as important for improving ourselves and our organizations.

But I am resisting because it would overwhelm anyone, and my whole purpose behind making the list above was to provide impulses to be explored — and for that I had to overcome my desire to make it really, really complete and not leave anything out (which would mean never finishing this article).

And there is a further reason. If I list everything I know (of) that could help and every book and article I have read, it would be a long list, but it would still be one-sided. It would be a small percentage of all possibilities … and not even necessarily the best resources, or at least not necessarily the best for you.

So, instead, I am going to make an offer. If you go through the list above and think, “oh, yes, here is something important, but where can I learn more?” contact me and let’s start a conversation.