Managing People Makes Them Stupid

Some Things We All Know Instinctively

1. MWe – (Me and We) are intelligent. Mostly, in any given circumstance we either know what to do, or we can figure out what to do. That is what's got us this far
2. The more autonomous we are the quicker we figure out what's next, regardless of the novelty of the circumstances
3. The more context we have the easier it is for us to figure out the most useful actions to take to get the outcomes we want. Even when the context changes our actions will change too
4. We are naturally responsible – response-able, pretty much a natural reflex
5. Our bias is to look good and avoid looking bad, so the approval of others figures in our decision-making, just as much as producing desired outcomes. Good to be aware of this one
6. We are survival mechanisms. Survival is programmed into our DNA. The fight, flight and freeze mechanism is what has kept our species evolving. We need it to keep us safe. We don't need it to keep us scared and stuck which is also part of the survival design
7. We are extraordinary when we connect our actions to our values, when we are passionate about what we are doing, when we are working with people we admire and respect
8. We are purpose-driven even when we not able to say what our purpose is in a neat sentence or two, we are purposeful nonetheless.

We Don't Need To Be Managed

When we are "managed" we naturally surrender our own intelligence and defer to the intelligence of our "manager"

Occasionally deferring to someone else is smart, after all, we all have blind spots. However, it is when we surrender our autonomy when deferring to someone else that we risk becoming stupid. 

Paradoxically in those moments of surrendering our autonomy, we are seen to become stupid, so we are "managed" as if we are stupid, and thus the vicious cycle begins.

What We Need Is To Be Called Into Action

We are at our best following a pied piper of our choosing. That's what the best leaders are

We need a cause, a purpose, bigger than ourselves – a possibility that excites us

We need the freedom to "not know", to run experiments, to try out new ideas, do new things

We need it to be safe to fail, to mess up, fess up, clean up, learn and move on

We need our work to mean something. We need feedback, to know we are making a difference.