Last Sunday, in Frankfurt, Germany, I took part in a guided walking tour of the city.
Our group included a young professional from Australia in his early 20s. He has taken leave from work to travel, backpacking across Europe.
We had an opportunity to chat over lunch and a local “apfelwine” (hard cider). He lamented his frustrations at work.
He said, “My boss thinks he is giving clear direction to us. Then we do the work our best way… only to be criticized for not understanding the direction.”
He feels criticized, not coached. He was wondering if it's normal to feel frustrated about this. I told him it was.
Ideally, managers would give clear direction. If the direction isn't clear (or even if it seems clear), employees should feel a level of “psychological safety” that allows them to ask questions (or even challenge things) without fear of punishment.
Ideally, managers would coach their employees along the way — helping them — instead of just judging them after the fact (or, worse, in an annual review).
The lessons that the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught about these things many decades ago still ring true. And many of these workplace examples seem pretty universal.
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