Ducks in a Row: Good Bosses are Part Shrink
by Miki Saxon
Sometimes motivation requires more than the opportunity to grow, making a difference, challenges and feedback.
Along with knowing what makes your people go, you need to understand what blocks them.
At first glance, one seems more prevalent in women programmers, but I’ve seen versions of it in both men and women and not just in programmers—nor is it particularly new.
One is something known as the “imposter syndrome.” That’s when you’re pretty sure that all the other coders you work with are smarter, more talented and more skilled than you are.
The second is pure myth; again not only in the programming world.
The Real Programmer lives only to code. That programmers are expected to work insanely long hours isn’t new. But this idea that they are doing it of their own accord, for the sheer joy of it, is new.
Either attitude will kill productivity and cripple not just those who suffer from them, but those with whom they work, too.
Good bosses, no matter their level, are aware of these and other mental blocks and become adept at providing whatever support and/or guidance is needed to move beyond them.
However, bosses who harbor the attitude that ‘it’s not my problem’ or believe their people should ‘just get over it’ usually become proficient at hiring—primarily because they get so much practice.
Flickr image credit: Joe
November 21st, 2014 at 9:01 am
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