Offender Reform, Re-entry and Reintegration Practices
Vol. 2, No. 8
Optimism or Pessimism?
Many traditional
managers take a pessimistic and suspicious approach to
working with their folks - employees, peers and bosses.
There are others who take an optimistic and progressive
view. I confess, earlier in my management career, I was
mostly this type. Question - which approach would you say
is better?
Now that am a little
wiser (time and experience get you that), here's what I
recommend.
I suggest you balance
the two extremes. Work to fall somewhere in-between. I
personally prefer a strong dose of optimism myself and in
my view extreme pessimism and suspicion brings people
down. I would rather keep folks pumped up more often than
not!
One very effective
way to get people invigorated is to make a financial or
time investment in them in some way. Training and
development for instance, is a great way to invest in
people. Evidence shows that when you invest in training
or spend development time with your folks the good ones
stay around longer - much longer.
Much
success, Sobem Nwoko
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
