3 ms·

>Maybe people put out a 1.0 units of effort when you're just a reasonable person, but put out e.g. 1.1 units when you baby them, and so babying them is a "win"

• iopq 10y ago
  That's not true. You could probably get better output out of most employees if you baby them just right. Who doesn't like a boss that lets them do whatever as long as it's beneficial to the company?
• derefr 10y ago
  Note that I'm talking about results, not effort. Someone could be giving their best effort already, resulting in 1.0 units of output. But babying them might be the emotional equivalent of blood-doping in a marathon, a psychological stimulus that actually partially restores or extends the willpower-resource that is spent internally to accomplish work. I'm also not talking about a specific kind of person who "needs" babying. I'm proposing instead that your average neurotypical human brain might have this effect built in, such that it applies to anyone and everyone. It would just be an effect that most of the time goes untapped.
  • ojosilva 10y ago
    I think a truer kind of relationship is the most significant factor still. It's the common denominator that will take people to great results for a wider "audience" (a team here). But I agree that fine-tuning your feedback and style per individual needs, even if counterintuitive, may also be productive, as long as it's not contradictory and leads to situations where one team member feels another is being babied around more.