I was reading the in the Science of Mind magazine the other day and the author, Leta Williams, made the following statement.
“A key to successful relationships is applying this concept” Nobody wants anyone else messing with his or her choices.”
This struck me. Recently I have been following several conversations about employee engagement on line. BNET recently reported that 75% of employees leaving your firm are disgruntled.
I believe one of the key elements to this dissatisfaction is autonomy or lack thereof. Daniel Pink articulates this concept in great clarity in his book Drive.
But suffice it to say, we all want to do it our way. And as long as we are not endangering others or coercing others we should have that freedom. In some cases by doing it our way we discover a new way. Yipee! In other cases we discover that there is already a better model that has proven successful and that might be more successful for us.
Freedom to choose is also the freedom to fail. Often times it is in our failure that we learn our strongest lessons. Sometimes as leaders we try to limit choices to avoid pain. That also avoids accountability and responsibility for our actions and what we can learn.
Are you giving your team the freedom to succeed or to fail? Do they have permission to learn from mistakes?
Take Good Care
Great food for thought.