Oscar Wilde said: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
It’s great to be up on the latest management theory and to have role models or mentors to show us the way, but at the end of the day we won’t come across as genuine or authentic if we try to be someone we’re not.
Who are we, though? We’re all developing and changing (for the better, hopefully!) as the years go by, but each of us has a unique personality and if we try and act contrary to that it just doesn’t work. Trying to fit in with other people’s expectations or our own unrealistic standards simply leads to frustration and disappointment with ourselves.
A little self-discovery is a great thing and there are many ways we can find out more about ourseves – taking some psychometric tests (there are loads online) and being open to feedback from other people are two of the easiest to access. We all have blind spots that are obvious to those around us and we can develop hugely as a person if we are willing to let people we trust show them to us in a constructive way.
We all tend to compare ourselves with other people – big mistake! It just makes us feel inadequate or superior – neither are productive emotions that will help us to accept who we are or to value ourselves and others in a realistic way.
Managing people isn’t easy – each person we manage is an individual who will do things according to their own personality. Understanding this can help us defuse potential conflict by not expecting everyone to be like us and do things the way we do them.
As we learn new ideas about managing people, let’s adapt them to our own personality and if the latest trend is something we know is just not us, there will be another one coming along soon!
