I began a series in which I plan to look at each of the letters in the word LEADER and connect to an attribute leader's possess. Today's posting will focus on E = Encourage.
One of the significant elements of leadership is encouragement. When times are tough or when there are challenges ahead encouragement can be a way of keeping forward momentum.
So how does one encourage others? Let's look at a definition of encourage from dictionary.com to get a clue - Encourage: to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. So one key element of encourage is 'inspire' and a component of inspire is 'influence'. A part of encouraging then is to influence someone in a positive way so that they can keep moving forward. Moving forward can be keeping on the same course or moving in a new direction. The key here is appropriate action for the situation at hand.
The others components of the definition of Encourage highlighted here are: courage, spirit, and confidence. Sometimes to move from 'where we are today' to 'where we need to be' requires courage and coupled with this is whether or not we can do so confidently. This is where encouragement from someone can instill in us the confidence we need. By knowing the person and knowing what challenges them we can be there to help motivate them to go beyond the barriers they encounter to achieve the success and fulfillment desired.
So may I Encourage you to Encourage others. It can make a difference!
Next posting: A … Advise
Signing off for now - LD Guy from MN
