A team needs self-reliant team members not a Super Manager to succeed.
Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash
We all want to be pampered by our parents, spouses, and at work by our managers and leaders. In this article, I would like to explore the difference between pampering and caring about someone.
Caring is when we are worried about someone especially their well-being. Pampering is an exaggeration of caring. This is a very important distinction since too much of anything is bad for us.
Pampering is removing all obstacles from the child's/team member's path, taking all their decisions so that they do not get hurt and always being their to rescue them, whereas when we care for them we let them fall sometimes, let them choose and learn from their decisions.
It is ironical to see leaders and parents saving their children from the hardships that they have gone through themselves and have built courage, resilience and determination to succeed. What bothers me more is when we compare ourselves with our children or team members and accuse them of not being as hardworking, resilient and determined as we were.
We are all products of our experiences and choices so if you really care for your team member's or child's success and wellbeing then let them take decisions, let them fail and fall a few times, keep the communication open, do not rescue them but make them find a solution to their problem.
Let them build confidence which is nothing but self-reliance. A team needs self-reliant team members not a Super Manager to succeed.
So stop pampering and start caring!