Originally Published in my Tumblr 2011
I will never forget the day I took my very young son on Space Mountain. We sat in the very first car, in the very first seat. My son in front and me directly behind him. It was basically his first roller coaster ride…better yet for me was that it was “sort of” in the dark. If you’ve been on the ride you know, once your eyes are adjusted, you can see the dips and turns. That’s a good thing because riding on a roller coaster its always a good idea to look ahead and be prepared. He had a blast!
While amusement park rides are lots of fun emotional roller coasters are not healthy for anyone. They cause stress, increased heart rate, anger and all sorts of other things. Some companies build those emotional roller coasters right in the middle of their management structure. Others build it in relationships and others build it directly into their culture.
A sample event might be in an environment where an employee works diligently on a project as directed by a dynamic company leader, then, someone in middle management indirectly communicates to squash that dream project. Only to say, “my bad” moments later when they realize they communicated in error. If it’s done every day…or even once in a great while…people lose trust cause they can’t see the dips and turns with any sense of predictability.