The not so good old days  - Blair McPherson

It used to be that managers talked and employees listened. It used to be that managers had the answers and employees simply enacted ready made solutions. It used to be that the managers voice was the most important and the employees remained quiet, subservient and passive.

And that was so simple. No debates, no explanations, no challenges to your authority, no difficult personalities . "I'm the manager ...I have the knowledge...I'll tell you what to do and you go do it!" Simple!

But now employees want to be participants, not just recipients. They want more, they demand more and quite rightly. They want more control over their work, to have more of a say in the best way to do the job , be give more responsibility ( in some cases). It's simply not good enough to say: "I'm in charge you do as I say." Because that isn't management.That isn't empowering your people. Control isn't (necessarily) a pre-requisite for behaviour change.

If you want employees to be fully committed then you need to involve them. If you want them to learn effectively, to process information, then you need to involve them (often but not always). If you want employees who are highly motivated then you (probably) need to involve them.

You need to involve them because they tend to be so much more capable when you do so.

Blair McPherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk