59 | Nobody thrives forever
You may have worked for a “peace and pay” manager at some point. They are the ones who never rock the boat, never take risks or chances; the ones that don’t want trouble and reject by default anything that isn’t tried and true.
I can’t complain much about the supervisors and managers I’ve had in the past, especially early in my career. I don’t remember much about them, other than they were mostly transactional rather than transformational. They were about getting the job done and not reinventing the wheel. Perhaps peace and pay is the management standard, the way it is supposed to be.
One day, people started talking about thriving organizations and wishing employees to thrive. A thriving employee was someone with a strong sense of belonging who felt valued and supported to do their best work. Thrive! was the imperative hurled at them as a small token of kindness and good will, even if that noble wish didn’t change much the fact that their bosses were still subscribed to peace and pay.
A thriving organization became an example of people-centeredness, a context in which the work of all employees was conducive to learning, professional development and respect.
In performance reviews and year-end evaluations, managers expected employees would continue to thrive, an expression that gave me pause because if you tell your…
