Posts

Showing posts from June, 2019

Encouragement Is More Powerful Than Management

Image
Management doesn't just happen at work. It happens everywhere: we manage our kids, our partners, our parents and friends. We manage situations and feelings. We manage. There's a funny thing about managing: it has two meanings . On the one hand it means that we like to run things, to control things, to give direction. And on the other it means that we are surviving or coping. You can see where those two intersect: managing means hanging on in a world where none of us are able to thrive. People and relationships need managing because we don't trust collaboration or cooperation. We don't trust other people to follow through or to be capable or to want good things. And we don't trust them because when we are managing, we are just hanging on. And that's not a position of strength or confidence. What would be different if we encouraged people instead of managing them? We'd start with the belief that they were clever and brave and capable. What we don't alw