Very often hard working, promising employees are promoted from a production or operational role into line management. They are trained to do the work but rarely are they given specific training on the human side of people management. Without this crucial training, managers may default to models of hierarchy that they have been on the receiving end of, and, if the team they manage is really unlucky, they will imitate their worst and most painful experiences as a way of healing from the pain they felt.
All of this is, of course, unconscious making it even more difficult to name, especially when others up the line are doing the same. For many people the worst, and most memorable of those experiences was at school. A place where rules and threat of punishment were liberally distributed as a way of managing behaviour. Imitating this translates to line managers being seen as police officers and this gives rise to allegations of bullying, when what works better is for them to be mediators of standards, not judges of people.
Overcoming these experiences and learning a whole new way of connecting to performance among a team is crucial to a positive working environment. It takes skill and understanding to create a workplace where everyone is treated as an equal with respect, dignity and humanity as the starting point, so that performance can be measured and discussed without bias, and interpersonal conflict can be designed out.
Learning how to use language that connects, harmonises and commands respect is a superpower. The Dialogue Road Map is a tool that transforms communication so that teams can work more harmoniously.
