Are you a Demanding Parent?  You Should Be.

As parents, we strive to cultivate our children's self-esteem so that they grow into healthy, independent children and eventually, adults.    One component of fostering a child's self-esteem is recognizing your child's needs – his personal strengths and weaknesses -- and offering patience and guidance geared toward those specifications. 

These points are valuable, yet hardly innovative. 

Here's a new parenting tip according to 1-2-3 Magic Parent Magazine: 

Be Demanding.

Being demanding in an effective manner means setting high attainable goals and providing firm, encouraging feedback to ensure those goals are met.  Generally, children thrive when they understand boundaries and are well-structured.  Furthermore, children feel better about themselves when they stretch their creativity, accomplish new feats, and gain self-confidence in their daily activities.  These positive strides can be best accomplished with a firm guiding hand that drives for excellence, but offers support and guidance when needed. 

Wait a minute.  These tips sound pretty useful – not just for children, but for employees.  Ever likened your boss to your parent?  Scary thought – but if you think about it, it makes sense.

An effective boss will balance the kind with the firm.   The most effective way to cultivate growth in the workplace is to challenge employees, even demand excellence.  However, these demands can only be made when backed with support and encouragement.  Just as children gain confidence when they accomplish new feats, employees feel fulfilled when they challenge their creativity and produce measurable results.

Bottom line:  As a parent -- rule with a firm, yet guiding hand.  Demand excellence, praise the effort, reward the outcome. 

… and don't be too surprised when your boss uses the same philosophy on YOU. ;)