What do managers do for a living?
Help!
Right?
How many of us could call ourselves "professional helpers," meaning that we have studied, like a professional mastering her craft, "helping"?
Not many, I'd judge.
I've got the solution!
Or, rather, Edgar Schein, emeritus Professor of Management at MIT, does.
Ed has been a pioneer in organization and personal change. At it since the 1950s. And now he's written his summa, a 157-page book titled Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help. Based on tested theory, it is very readable. And practical.
The last chapter consists of "tips" and 7 "principles." E.g.:
"PRINCIPLE 2: Effective Help Occurs When the Helping Relationship Is Perceived to Be Equitable.
"PRINCIPLE 4: Everything You Say or Do Is an Intervention that Determines the Future of the Relationship.
"PRINCIPLE 5: Effective Helping Begins with Pure Inquiry.
"PRINCIPLE 6: It Is the Client Who Owns the Problem."*
*TP: Love the idea that the employee is a Client!! (Words matter!!)
Employee as Client!
"Helping" is what we [leaders] "do" for a living.
STUDY/PRACTICE "helping" as you would neurosurgery.
("Helping" is your neurosurgery!)