Management Stories # 14 - Understand your Manager's problems too!

A mother repeatedly called upstairs for her son to get up, get dressed and get ready for school. It was a familiar routine, especially at exam time.

"I feel sick," said the voice from the bedroom.

"You are not sick. Get up and get ready," called the mother, walking up the stairs and hovering outside the bedroom door.

"I hate school and I'm not going," said the voice from the bedroom, "I'm always getting things wrong, making mistakes and getting told off. Nobody likes me, and I've got no friends. And we have too many tests and they are too confusing. It's all just pointless, and I'm not going to school ever again."

"I'm sorry, but you are going to school," said the mother through the door, continuing encouragingly, "Really, mistakes are how we learn and develop. And please try not to take criticism so personally. And I can't believe that nobody likes you - you have lots of friends at school. And yes, all those tests can be confusing, but we are all tested in many ways throughout our lives, so all of this experience at school is useful for life in general."

"Besides, you have to go, you are the headteacher."

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How simple is this story - and how deep is the message..? It makes the point very obvious - that everyone sails through difficulties in life, and every soul deserves a patient hearing, and some amount of sympathy. Please create that habit to look at everyone with some amount of sympathy in the mind, including your own Manager, and you will understand why he behaved in a particular good or bad fashion at that given point of time.

Everyone goes through a bad patch, and there are no exclusions to this rule - remember that your Manager also is subject to this rule. Once you develop this understanding, the bonding between you and your Manager will improve tremendously, and it can create wonders.

Remember: "To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved"