Today, I’m going to talk about a concept I learnt about a few years ago that really changed the way I think about managing. If you’re a manager, then it can help you think about how you’re working with your direct reports. And if you’re not a manager, I still think it’s a great framework as it can help you figure out what you need. It’s very simple: Support x Challenge.
🤗 Support
Everyone needs support at work to feel safe, take risks, and ultimately, grow! Support can look as formal as training programs or increased resourcing, or it could be investing time in someone, giving them praise or recognition, or giving them new opportunities.
Without support, growth is a lot harder because you’re on your own. A supportive manager can give you access to opportunities you might not have realised were possible!
🏔 Challenge
We also all need challenge in order to grow. If work is too easy, you won’t develop your skills and you might ultimately just find it boring. Challenges can look like stretch goals, deadlines, pressure of accountability, promotions based in excellence (not tenure), or even just getting really good, direct feedback.
⚖ The balance
Everyone needs a balance of support and challenge, and everyone’s balance looks different. There is no “correct” amount of support and challenge for everyone, just what’s right for the individual, so you can’t benchmark your needs against others.
That said, everyone does need both support and challenge in order to thrive at work.
The support x challenge framework
High support + high challenge = liberation! A culture of empowerment and opportunity ( ← you want to be here)
High support + low challenge = protection. This can create a culture of entitlement and mistrust.
Low support + high challenge = domination. This can create a culture of fear and manipulation.
Low support + low challenge = abdication. This can create a culture of apathy and low expectation.
If you can figure out where on this framework you currently feel, you can then use that to determine what you need instead. If you’re not in the top right box, you might be able to use it to start a conversation with your manager about what you need.
Not every manager will be able to adjust based on what you need, in which case you need to make a decision about if the culture is going to be okay for you to grow in. You can definitely grow in non-liberation cultures – it’s just harder.
Your manager also isn’t the only one who can support or challenge you. You can probably find support or challenge from other people around the business, or even talk to your team members about how you can calibrate for each other.
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