Choice Theory = Personal Freedom

I'm reading a book called Choice Theory - A New Psychology of Personal Freedom by Dr. William Glasser at the moment. Essentially he talks about having personal freedom in work and in relationships. Dr. Glasser states that most of the misery in the world at the moment is connected to us trying to control others to do what we want or others trying to control us to do what they want. If we can all agree to respect each other's point of view and talk to each other in what he call solving circles, he promises the world would be a much happier place.

Looking at his chapter on work, he pooh poohs the idea of annual performance reviews, which he maintains both manager and employee hate unless the manager is on a real power kick. Instead he advocates solving circles where manager and employee talk to each other about how improvements could be made in the business. Dr. Glasser affirms that everyone wants to do their best and feel they're contributing in work and that performance management crushes the good out of that. If solving circles can be introduced to a business, a feeling of individual responsibility accompanies that which leads to work freedom.

Running A Colour Me Beautiful Workshop

I recently ran a workshop for the Colour Me Beautiful Image Consultants in Ireland helping them identify their key business challenges and how to address them. The day was extremely productive with a lot of good ideas and solutions generated, which will hopefully help the consultants move on to even greater things with their businesses. The thing that struck me most forcibly from the day was the importance of networking and bouncing ideas off your peers.

Knowing that others are facing the same challenges as you and looking at ways to resolve them together is very powerful and gave each consultant a feeling of being supported, which is particularly important in today's business climate.

Remember to keep talking to colleagues, friends and family about your business challenges. Don't isolate yourself. A problem shared is a problem halved they say and someone else's experience can provide a workable solution to your problem that you hadn't considered before.

Be All You Can Be - Eva Lee