Saturday, October 17, 2009

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.

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