As
you start to flex your ability to make choices, a powerful transformation will
occur. Just like the growing strength of a muscle, the ability to make small
choices leads to an enhanced capacity for bigger and bigger choices. So, as you
enhance your desire and ability to lead yourself, this in turn enhances your
ability to lead others. People will sense that you have a level of strength and
discipline in your life and will look to you for support and guidance.
Just
think about the people you turn to for advice and assistance. You probably
picked them because you recognized intuitively that they have the ability to
make choices when facing difficult circumstances. The more you choose to choose,
the more, in turn, you'll be asked to help with the choices others have to make.
The possibilities are endless. You'll make contact with more and more people who
have the capacity to choose their choice and you'll help people transform their
lives. The world you'll be operating in will be characterized by freedom,
challenge and alternatives.
Other
people don't give you the power of choice. The only choice they give you is one
you gave them in the first place. So don't be thankful when your company says
it's going to allow you more space to make decisions or that they are going to
run an empowerment programme. This is a capability you already have, and your
taking up their 'offer' is just an indication of how much personal choice and
control you have traded away.
Choice
is lost over time though gradual erosion. In childhood, we have the absolute
beliefs that we have the freedom to make decisions we believe are right. As a
child we want what we want, and we want it now and we'll scream the supermarket
down if we don't get it.
Erosion starts when we have to adhere to
the constraints and disciplines of other people, for example, parents and
teachers looking for the most painless ways to manage their lives. As we start
school and work we have to trade in our right to choose in order to ensure some
level of success. Then, at some point, the choices we have traded away exceed
the freedoms we are left with. The net result is that we are in the choice trap.
We have given away our freedom to make choices and the only way to recover it is
to give up the trappings of success we'd so eagerly pursued.
Corporations
are great financial providers but they don't often enable people to realize
their true (and hidden) potential. I frequently meet people who work for an
organization that has effectively switched off. David Mamet suggests that we
permit ourselves to be treated like commodities in the hope that we may one day
be regarded as valuable commodities. It's this subordination to others' wishes
that offers short-term gain but leads to long-term regret over failed personal
potential.
Do
you say I work 'for' or 'with'?
Quick
test -- if someone asks what you do for a living, do you respond with 'I work
for ... ' or 'I work with ... '? The importance of this statement can never be
underestimated. By simple use of the phrase 'I work for ... ' you're indicating
a sense of personal slavery in exchange for a living wage. Such a mindset helps
neither the individual nor the company. For the individual, it's disempowering.
For the organization, it results in disempowered, disinterested employees,
determined to end the day as soon as possible so they can go home and do the
things they really want to do. Vast amounts of money are spent on empowerment,
motivational and inspiration programmes, but it's a bit like the alcoholic who
goes out every morning to buy a bottle of scotch and then spends all afternoon
in counselling. The support in the afternoon is all well and good, but the focus
should be on not buying the drink in the first place. So when an organization
spends their money on such personal development programmes, they are fighting a
losing battle.
(c) Mick Cope