It’s not about the action, it’s the attitude. It’s not what we do, it’s why.
It’s about the relationship between us. If managers, coaches, or any colleagues think they are superior to me in anything but mastery of a skill; if they regard me as a resource of the machine to be optimised for profit; if they feel they can coerce me to do things for my own good; if I’m not invited to do it but made to do it; if the relationship goes to zero the moment I end employment; if my lived experience outside work has no relevance; if I’m expected to standardise myself to a rigid pattern…
All these things tell me I’m not regarded as a person in a productive work community, but as human capital stock, meatware. Welcome to the machine.