On Personal Agency

(Or “Things That Could Have Been Brought to My Attention Yesterday!)

I think about this scene from The Wedding Singer often. In The Edge, David and I referenced this scene in our chapter on conflict. This is how we felt when we were taught a few conflict resolution skills in our 20s.

Had we known these skills sooner, high school would have been less dramatic. If someone had taught us how to resolve our conflicts in high school, we’d both have less gray hair today.

I’ve been feeling the same way lately. As discussed in my last piece, the concept of Personal Agency has been the object of my intellectual curiosity this year. The more I learn, the more I ask myself, “Why didn’t anyone teach me this sooner?”

Personal Agency is the belief that my actions will produce desired results. It's the decision to control what I can control in any situation. I have found it incredibly powerful.

This concept has brought an amazing amount of motivation to my life. Albert Bandura says, "Unless people believe that they can produce desired results by their actions, they have little incentive to act or persevere in the face of difficulties."

Let me say it another way. When I remember my Personal Agency, I do not feel like a victim, and I do not blame others.

This is also why Personal Agency has been such a challenge. I find great joy in blaming others, and boy, oh boy, do I love playing that victim card. I carry stacks of them with me. Stacks!

Photo by Mediamodifier on Unsplash

Today, I want to go a tad deeper. I want to explore how this concept is practically impacting my life (and how it can practically impact your life too). A deep sense of Personal Agency isn’t something to merely talk about; it’s something to live out.

Let’s go back to Albert Bandura’s research. According to Bandura, there are four ways in which Personal Agency is exercised.

1. Intention

2. Forethought

3. Self-regulation

4. Reflection & Correction

Below, I will attempt to simplify these four items. I'll use a table to prove that I'm a recovering CPA because it reminds me of Excel. I mean, who doesn't love a good Excel spreadsheet? Ok, never mind, don't answer that question.

If interested, I'll share an example of how I put this together below. It'll be an example from my professional life.

However, no worries if you are ready to move on to your next email or task. This is the takeaway: working on these questions has been helpful to me, and I bet they will be helpful to you.

So yes, lately, I’ve felt like Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer. I wish I had known about the power and practicality of Personal Agency when I was younger, but there's not much I can do about that. As the ancient Chinese proverb says, "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today." I can't change the past, but I can keep planting trees today, and the four functions of Personal Agency are helping me.

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Below is an example of how I use Bandura’s framework professionally. This feels vulnerable. I’m afraid you’ll laugh or scoff at my intentions. However, if you are still reading this blog, I trust you. 😊

So, here goes nothing:

One: intention (what do I want?) I want to provide the most helpful content a middle manager has ever encountered. When they face a leadership or professional development issue, I want them to think, "What's Adam have to say about this?"

Two: forethought (how will this make my future better?) Three things come to mind as I answer this question.

1. This is a reasonable use of my skills and interests. I love to learn, I love to teach, and I'm very interested in the world of leadership, especially as it relates to life in the middle of an organization.

2. I have a deep desire to serve and help middle managers. My heart goes out to this group because their jobs are the toughest and most important in most organizations. In fact, I'll go one step further. A warning, here comes a huge statement. I believe middle managers are the backbone of the entire global economy. They make sure stuff gets done. This group is often overlooked; they deserve the best development opportunities and desperately need some encouragement.

3. I believe there is a market. Meaning: I can earn a living using my skills while serving an important demographic.

Three: self-regulation (what actions will I take?) Well, this is what I think about all day, every day. It started almost three years ago when I left a comfortable job to start this new professional adventure.

Thankfully, every week I have an opportunity to stand in front of groups of leaders to teach, develop, and encourage them. Very practically, this involves reading books, listening to podcasts, and listening to leaders, and in light of all that information, I attempt to design the most helpful training sessions I can. This also involves testing new ideas and marketing my services to expand my influence.

Four: reflection and correction (how's it going? Do I need to make any adjustments?) This is what keeps all this grounded. As the folks at Abbot Industries used to say, "Planning is priceless, but plans are useless." Just because I want something, believe it will improve my life, and have a plan doesn't mean it will come to fruition.

Personal Agency is not a hack to control life. Re-read that last sentence. This is crucial. Personal Agency is about constant adjustments based on life's constraints and obstacles. I will be delusional and deeply disappointed if I don't reflect and correct.

I am constantly reflecting on these items:

• How are my current clients impacted by my efforts?

• How are potential clients reacting to my sales and marketing efforts?

• How is the public reacting to my free content (podcast, LinkedIn Posts, my blog)?

• What concerns are real front-line leaders experiencing day in and day out?

Of the four ways Personal Agency is exercised, I spend about 95% of my effort on reflection and correction.

Abbot Industries had it so right. Planning is priceless. Exercising my intention, forethought, and self-regulation is a priceless exercise. But I live in a world filled with billions of people I have zero control over. This means my plans are also useless and therefore need constant tweaks.

Summary: This is just one example of how I'm partying with Personal Agency and staying focused on what I can control. I could do the same exercise for so many aspects of my life: my relationships, my health, my finances, my golf game, etc. But there’s no need to bore you with those details.