In the original Star Wars movie, Princess Leia says "The more you tighten your grip... the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
I've always liked that imagery. Or, well, I suppose it requires one addition to paint the picture I imagined...
It's like trying to cup water in your hands. The more tightly you squeeze, the more the water slips through the cracks and runs down your hands.
You need to cup your hands both tight and loose... tight enough that it will hold, not so tight that you squeeze all the water out. (Much easier to do, than to explain, and I have a hard time imagining anyone doesn't already know what I'm talking about.)
Something similar occurs with using chopsticks. When you try to pick up a clump of rice, if you squeeze too hard you'll break the clump and the rice will fall apart... and off your chopsticks. You have to get the right balance between tightness and looseness.
On a less physical level, the same can be argued for people. And power. Too tight a grip (i.e. micromanagement, as just one example) is bad. Too loose is also bad. (Picture the frustration when a group of people are trying to decide what to eat for dinner, and nobody can agree on anything.)
In management, well. Let's say that you want someone to bring a birthday cake to an event...
You have to give them clear guidelines. For example: It has to be a chocolate cake, large enough to feed ten people, and have 'Happy Birthday' written on it.
They go out and get the cake, and they bring back this:
But what you pictured in your head was more like this:
(I apologize for how dark it is).
Both are chocolate. Both say 'Happy Birthday'. But what they brought you just isn't quite what you'd been picturing.
At this point, well... I generally would say "it met my requirements, and it looks good. This is fine."
Especially because nothing squelches motivation (and initiative) like having the boss come down on you for not being able to read their mind and give them exactly what they'd been picturing.
If there'd been a clear reason why it had to be, I don't know.. square instead of round. Or with brown icing instead of flowers... well. Then I failed to give clear guidance on what was needed, didn't I?
Now, you could always come up with a detailed list of requirements. One that would give you exactly what you pictured. Let's say "it has to be square, 13 x 9 in. Chocolate. With a white icing base and a chocolate rectangle in the center, on which is written 'Happy Birthday' in blue."
And, well... you then suck all the creativity out of the project. You'll get exactly what you've imagined, but you also leave no room for someone to bring you a cake like this:
And note, it doesn't have 'Happy Birthday' on it. But do you honestly think someone would be upset about that, if they got a cake like this?
And maybe it's not quite what you had pictured... it's even better.
So, yeah. Control can be a good thing. Planning, coordinating, making sure that thing happen (on time, and to standard). But you also have to know where/when to NOT take control.
Because sometimes, just sometimes, that's when the magic happens.
I've always liked that imagery. Or, well, I suppose it requires one addition to paint the picture I imagined...
It's like trying to cup water in your hands. The more tightly you squeeze, the more the water slips through the cracks and runs down your hands.
You need to cup your hands both tight and loose... tight enough that it will hold, not so tight that you squeeze all the water out. (Much easier to do, than to explain, and I have a hard time imagining anyone doesn't already know what I'm talking about.)
Something similar occurs with using chopsticks. When you try to pick up a clump of rice, if you squeeze too hard you'll break the clump and the rice will fall apart... and off your chopsticks. You have to get the right balance between tightness and looseness.
On a less physical level, the same can be argued for people. And power. Too tight a grip (i.e. micromanagement, as just one example) is bad. Too loose is also bad. (Picture the frustration when a group of people are trying to decide what to eat for dinner, and nobody can agree on anything.)
In management, well. Let's say that you want someone to bring a birthday cake to an event...
You have to give them clear guidelines. For example: It has to be a chocolate cake, large enough to feed ten people, and have 'Happy Birthday' written on it.
They go out and get the cake, and they bring back this:
But what you pictured in your head was more like this:
(I apologize for how dark it is).
Both are chocolate. Both say 'Happy Birthday'. But what they brought you just isn't quite what you'd been picturing.
At this point, well... I generally would say "it met my requirements, and it looks good. This is fine."
Especially because nothing squelches motivation (and initiative) like having the boss come down on you for not being able to read their mind and give them exactly what they'd been picturing.
If there'd been a clear reason why it had to be, I don't know.. square instead of round. Or with brown icing instead of flowers... well. Then I failed to give clear guidance on what was needed, didn't I?
Now, you could always come up with a detailed list of requirements. One that would give you exactly what you pictured. Let's say "it has to be square, 13 x 9 in. Chocolate. With a white icing base and a chocolate rectangle in the center, on which is written 'Happy Birthday' in blue."
And, well... you then suck all the creativity out of the project. You'll get exactly what you've imagined, but you also leave no room for someone to bring you a cake like this:
And note, it doesn't have 'Happy Birthday' on it. But do you honestly think someone would be upset about that, if they got a cake like this?
And maybe it's not quite what you had pictured... it's even better.
So, yeah. Control can be a good thing. Planning, coordinating, making sure that thing happen (on time, and to standard). But you also have to know where/when to NOT take control.
Because sometimes, just sometimes, that's when the magic happens.
