The terms misuse and abuse are often used interchangeably but they are distinctly different.
It is worth knowing the difference so we can address them when or if they occur.
Misuse is when you use something for a reason other than its intended purpose.
Abuse is when you inappropriately or excessively use something for a purpose it was not designed for.
In essence, the difference between the two lies in the motivation and intent behind it. Let us illustrate by an example.
When you misuse medication, it means you take medication meant for headache pain, to try to deal with your anxiety.
However, when you abuse medication, is when you take the correct pain medication for your headache, but you take more medication than prescribed for reasons not related to the headache.
Misuse can sometimes be accidental due to lack of knowledge or lack of consequence.
However, abuse is often an intentional, conscious violation of something. It is perfectly normal to make use of people to successfully achieve your strategic goals.
However, people should not be misused, and people should not be abused.
To misuse people is to have them buy into a plan, vision or strategy that is designed to benefit your interests at their expense or loss.
To abuse people is to take advantage of their trust to support you when you know it is not aligned to their best interests at all.
The tricky part is that these intentions go initially unnoticed because their motives are hidden in the mind of the leader.
However with time, dishonorable motives ultimately show. As we said earlier, abuse is worse than misuse, but neither is acceptable.
Misuse must be initially met with education and monitored empowerment, while abuse must be met with enforcement and consequence.
