Read an interesting article by Anne Crittenden (Pink Magazine, posted at Rediff.com) regarding similarities between managing children as parents and managing employees as managers, and the management lessons one can learn from parents. As per the article, the job of parenting teaching important lessons about handling crises and maintaining life/work balance and these lessons can be put to use in managing employees at work.
According to the article, the management tips that executives learn from $2,000 expensive seminars can easily be learnt from $10 books on parenting. Reason being that the skills you need to deal with a minor child are typically the same skills that you need when dealing with other people.
Here are some of the lessons that parenting can teach executives:
- Treat people with respect
- Listen to what others say
- Recognize others' achievement if you want to have amotivated staff
- Make employees do what you want to do by making it look like it's their idea
- Be there for your employees; stand by them and let them take reasonable risks and learn from their mistakes
I agree with the recommendations listed in the article. Raising kids is an extremely tough job and you learn a lot as you rear children. The article does a good job of highlighting the skills you learn as a parent. For the original article, click the following link:
Good Mother=Good Manager |
