Encourage the Heart

I make a regular practice of encouraging the heart. In the Enneagram I am a #2 - Helper which is from the heart center which aligns me with regular feedback on work well done. My workplace has a formal recognition program that provides each of us with the opportunity to recognize a co-worker formally.

I had the chance to send a thank you to someone who spoke at a Peer Learning Group I was facilitating. He was a co-facilitator for a session on leading through ambiguity and he did an outstanding job of leading a meaningful discussion with the group. My thank you to him very specifically called out the things I thought he had done very well with the group and the reaction the group had to him. It was very energizing to send it to him because it was heartfelt and specific. This individual is an executive VP and I have not sent many thank you notes like this to someone at his level but I really felt he did a great job so I sent it. He appreciated the recognition. I did this another time with a different VP guest speaker at another Peer Learning Group with very specific feedback and the VP was so excited to receive the thank you that she asked me to forward it on to her leader as well. That showed me that no matter what level you are in a company people appreciate a sincere thank you.

I also took the time to say thank you to my leader for her support last week before and after the election. I work with a group of like-minded individuals (on my small team) so there is a common set of values across our group. The day of the election she made it very easy for us to leave to vote. I was very upset and concerned by the results of the election and so was she. We spent an hour together talking about the election, our reactions and how we could support each other and some of our colleagues who were really having a difficult time. She even gave someone who was distraught he day off on Wednesday. On Friday I talked with my leader again and told her face to face how much I appreciated her support and her willingness to create some room for those of us who needed some time to adjust to the news. I felt good letting her know how much I appreciated her support in that moment and I know she was grateful for the recognition. It actually smoothed over some rough patches on our team - a common threat can do that for a group. And I think she is more likely to repeat the kind of one on one support again knowing it meant alot to the team.

I also took the time last week to think a line leader who volunteered some of his time to be interviewed for an article promoting use of our team development tools. We have struggled with how to promote the tools and get the word out about the tools. This leader volunteered to give us some quotes about how the team site has helped him and his group and he was very candid in his interview. I thanked him for his time and told him how much hearing his ideas had helped me think about some improvements for the site. He was complimented that his experience would be valuable enough to share it with others.

In all three of these examples I have seen the positive impact proving some heart encouragement to others can have. I felt better all week having engaged genuinely and positively with my colleagues and I think they felt appreciated as well. We don't do enough of that for each other.