Chad Silverstein says most leaders are control-oriented, but the best results come from making team members feel in control. A collection agency gave employees flexible schedules and a revenue-share model, and they became motivated and entrepreneurial instead of quietly quitting.
Chapters
All built to lead. Clients are all control freaks. No question. Most leaders are control freaks. You know, they either founders, started their business, been doing it for so long, don't like to have other people doing it, they know they can do it better. There's a lot of reasons why a leader is going to feel like they need to be in control. Makes sense. But the way to get the best out of your team is to make them feel like they're in control. Let them feel like the decision is theirs. By actually letting them make the decision. You can steer people a certain way, you can ask them certain questions to guide them without leading them and letting people feel like they're empowered, that they have a say. You know, one of the things I did, I think really well is that in our collection agency, we made everyone feel like an entrepreneur. And the way we did that is, um, we didn't make them work a certain schedule. We gave them open schedules. You know, we put them in control of their schedule so that they didn't feel like they were a slave clocking in and clocking out. We gave them a portfolio of business and told them that you're going to make a percentage of whatever it is that you generate. So that was very attractive to them because their income didn't depend on what the team did. As long as the company was doing well and they were in more control, they knew that at the end of the month, if they were at a certain number, they can push it and they can make more because they were getting a percentage of the cut. You know, sharing the wealth with your team and again, engaging people, making them feel like they're part of whatever it is that you're after, that's the way to get the best out of your team. And when you can compound that with high performers, watch out. You gotta let people be in control of themselves. And if you are going to try to control the people around you by making them feel bad about clocking in one minute late or being on their cell phone and taking a break, you know, you're just being silly because that's just not the way it works. And that will cause more friction than you ask for, and it'll create sabotage, quiet quitting, and the exact opposite of what you're after, which is trying to get people aligned with your aim, to come on board your highway so that they can help you achieve your goals, so that you could in return, help them with theirs. And, and that's what built lead leaders are going to do. They're going to align with the people, and they're going to make them feel aligned with you. And trying to control them does the exact opposite. So know what you're in control of, know what you're not in control of, and let go of that need and feeling of controlling other people. Doesn't help, doesn't work.
