What Blocks Us? Four basic blocks to enlightened management are:

1. Our history of civilization mired in a "survival" mentality
2. A basic disbelief in human nature
3. A continuing rejection of oneself
4. Success anxiety.

Each of these blocks also constitutes a major core conflict, a stressor for each person, and an energy drain within each one of us.

The Survival Mentality. Managers have only to review the practices at their workplace that are based essentially on fear or motivated by survival to understand the effects of this mentality. These include the traumas that sweep the department with rumors of budget cuts, fearful views of impending doom from the top boss who is viewed as judgmental and potentially punitive.

The major motive throughout history, the major driving force until now has been "lasting," just going on living, delaying death, survival. And a quick review of our national defense budget would underline that present leadership is not yet moving us beyond the survival mentality as a motivator, but rather uses fear to manipulate public response.

Disbelief. Managers who would lead others need to know the extent to which they distrust their own nature This distrust is likely to interfere with their own functioning, especially their willingness to utilize their intuition and to make decisions with authority and without great stress. Distrust is also likely to create subtle chronic strain in our work with others. If you do not trust human nature in general, that reflects on how you view yourself and how you work with others. Checks, project reviews, micro-management, and surveillance techniques may illustrate distrust within a given organization.

Self-rejection. For employees, the performance evaluation and supervisory conferences are pivotal moments in the work year. For the employee who confuses being personnel with being a person, the evaluation can pose a major threat to self image. Since most people are not directly self-accepting, but rather depend on some external source, relationship, recognition and the like to make them feel good about themselves, feedback and evaluations are often more anxiety-provoking than growth promoting and enhancing.