Experts say one of the top skills of EXCELLENT LEADERS is catching people doing things
RIGHT. That means 3 things:
- Acknowledging
- Supporting
- Validating
Our culture is obsessed with focusing on negative behavior. We do that with our families at home.
We do it in the workplace. Strangely, it seems that criticizing and negative thinking are considered “realistic” in our culture. Support, praise, and encouragement are often considered insincere or manipulative.
Maybe we revel in the mistakes of others to save us from aspiring any higher ourselves or from taking responsibility for our own shortcomings.
When we catch people doing things RIGHT, we are not only learning to focus on the positive….
we are empowering and motivating others. Good leaders use that skill to make the world a better place.
Examples in the workplace are:
“Thanks very much for sharing that, Sue. It took a lot of courage for you to do that.”
“Karen, I appreciate you for gracefully bringing the group back on task.”
“Thank you, Bill, for taking responsibility and not blaming others.”
“I just want to acknowledge all of you for your willingness to do this work.”
“Pete, I appreciate your taking notes today.”
“Jill, thanks for taking the initiative in our upcoming project.”