HOW DO WE BECOME ‘HELPLESS’?
Learned helplessness doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It is cultivated, usually by a combination of systemic patterns that wear us down over time.
One of the biggest culprits: micromanagement.
When our leaders consistently override our decisions or scrutinise our every move, we stop taking initiative.
I’ve been in workplaces where, after having my suggestions dismissed enough times, I stopped offering them altogether. I started waiting on my bosses for directions on everything.
They got tired of it after a while and scolded me: “I hired you for this. You should be the one giving me the answers.” Yet, despite their words, their actions continued to signal to me that my initiative was not wanted.
Next: absence of ownership.
When we have no real say in our work or how it is executed, emotional investment fades. Tasks become chores instead of contributions.
I’ve seen managers hired to make executive decisions wind up silenced and sidelined by direct superiors with no background in the area they were overseeing.
And when those superiors’ strategies failed – as the managers predicted – it was the managers who were put on the chopping block.
This leads to another problem: punitive leadership.
I once spent a few nights staying late after work – uncompensated – to organise an event for the company, even though it was technically outside my job scope. Later, I was told the event didn’t succeed because I “didn’t want to work hard”.
If every mistake leads to blame instead of learning, we quickly grow risk-averse.
Why bother going out on a limb when no one is willing to provide us with a safety net below?
