Today we’re going to go over a simple equation that comes from Jack Canfields’ book “The Success Principles”. Three little letters. E+R=O. And what does that mean? Event plus reaction equals outcome. Let’s take a scenario. Let’s take an event that you have no control over. Let’s just say it’s the economy’s not doing well. You as a business owner are concerned. Your energy is showing up a little tight in the organization. You’re pulling back the marketing dollars for your organization and because of that, your brand isn’t out there as much as prior. Your team’s getting tight as you laid some people off. They’re wondering if they’re next to go. Your reaction to the event is creating an outcome of nervousness, lack of productivity, and tightness in your team. It may affect your revenues. It may affect your margins.
Let’s take that same scenario. The economy’s not doing well, however, as a leader of an organization, you see an opportunity. You see how your competitors are pulling back because they’re nervous. You’re going to use this event to your advantage. You increase your marketing dollars to get your brand out there even more. You praise your people for being a great team. You let them know that none of you are going anywhere. We’re going to use this as an opportunity to increase our sales and get more of the market share. Your energy is positive. Your team picks up on that energy. They’re more productive. Revenues are maintained or increased. The bottom line is good. Same event, different reaction, different outcome.
Let’s say an event happened that you can control. One of the employees on your team didn’t show up the way they were supposed to show up and deliver the way they should deliver. You react indifferently as a leader, negatively in front of everybody on the team. You belittle that person. Your frustration comes out. That person may or may not step up in the future. They’re definitely not going to take any chances to offend you. Other people on the team might not speak up or ask for advice or give their opinion because they’re fearful of you. Your reaction was indifferent. Your outcome could be a lack of productivity or lack of trust. It could erode the alignment of your team, which could affect revenues and profits.
The same event, somebody didn’t show up as they should have. They didn’t deliver the results in a timely manner. You as a leader ask if you could get a little bit of their time. You take them into the office, you sit them down. You talk about the fact of how long they’ve been here at the organization. You tell them all the things you’ve noticed that they do and excel at. What value they bring to the team. And then you ask for their permission if you can share some recent observations. And you share that recently, it doesn’t seem like you’re showing up like you usually do. Is everything okay? And you have a conversation around that. You let them know you expect more from them. This is not like you. You coach them up. You praise them on what they do well, and then you talk about what they need to do to get a little bit better. You thank them once again for what they do with your organization. You ask for the commitment to get better, and you send them on their way.
Your reaction is different. It’s a reaction of a leader. It’s a conversation with your team. You’re pumping them up. You’re letting them know where they stand. They feel better about themselves. They commit to stepping up even more. The other team members see you as a leader of an organization they want to follow. A likely outcome could be increased productivity, and increased alignment of the organization, which most likely deliver additional revenues and profits. Same event, different reaction, entirely different outcome.
In conclusion; realize sometimes you can’t control the E, the event. You certainly can control the R, which is your reaction. And when you control your reaction in the right way, that will deliver the outcome you’re looking for.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com