The tighter you squeeze, the more you lose.
I coach or train managers to think of managing their people like they would a large chunk of clay. In order to appropriately support their people they would need to hold that clay with open, supportive hands. And yes, supporting their people IS a part of a manager’s role.
In my experience many managers approach the challenge of managing (not necessarily supporting mind you) their people very differently. They clamp down with an iron grip and try to hold tight to their beliefs, ideals, rules, expectations and attitudes to name but a few.
If you were to squeeze that clay by making a fist, most of it would ooze out between your fingers.
Same for your people, if you try to enforce lot’s of rules and restrictions they’ll either find ways around them, or worse, disengage and then what have you got?
