Learned Helplessness

I often ask people if they have heard the term learned helplessness and yes, I am overwhelmingly surprised by the answer “No”. The video below explains one way of looking at this but it is also applicable to management/leadership. Managers’ egos like being asked questions about how to do things. You feel good when you have an instant competent reply. But what you are doing is creating for many employees a fail safe workplace. Why risk failure when I can ask you, get an answer and blame you if your advice goes wrong. Don’t answer the question unless you really need to. Coach, ask questions. Only answer when your really need to. In management training that simple concept is so often overlooked.