Yesterday Iain (BCYM) was running a session for line managers and said a throw away phase that caught my imagination. In line management we needed to have “relationships of equality rather than relationships of power”. A great phrase that says a lot about management style and approach, good to keep in mind as we approach others. It also reminds me a Transactional Analysis and how much better management is when you have adult to adult conversations.
The issue is how easy it is to revert to power bases particularly when you are in a hurry or have loads of expectations from others. Couple of other interesting points came up. Paul rasied the issue about how often ministers/ clergy are metaphoriacally seen as more “white” coller staff, professional expecting to manage their hours themsleves etc, but other staff can be seen as “blue coller” needing to clock in and out, request time off etc.
I entirely agree. Of course it is easy for me as I see eye to eye with the youth worker that I manage. We are changing youth worker soon and I worry that the new one might be from a different background and feel entirely differently to me about how things should be done… that will be when I really become qualified to comment on this topic! 🙂
Perhaps the difficulty is for the line manager to take responsibility for what the youth worker does when the line manager doesn’t want the youth worker to do those very things.
Perhaps a relationship of equality relies heavily on submission on both sides? After all submission is a very central Christian practice.
this is some really valuable input for me, thanks. are there any noes from the session?
that last comment was from me btw. a bit to eager to post – sorry!
sorry ben no real notes that may be usulfull to you but we are running a certifcate in line management in bristol with input from Lloyds TSB and as it is a pilot you may be able to get in on it for free. Time wise it looks like 3 half days input, reading and record keeping