Alister Scott and Neil Scotton are co-founders of The One Leadership Project, enabling catalysts; the organisations and people who are leading change on the most complex challenges. As our Guest Bloggers they discuss “ERA culture”-taking time to reflect on the good stuff!
“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” – Charles Dickens
We tend to reach the positions we do because we’re good at sorting things out. But in the ‘doing’, the humanity and simple pleasures can often get lost. That might not be a problem in the short term, but in the longer term life can become grey and wearing.
One way to addresses this that we find works really well is to create an “ERA culture” – where you consciously share Encouragement, Recognition and Appreciation at every opportunity.
If you took a moment now – how much of your day is spent dealing with problems? How much of it is building exciting opportunities? And how much is ‘being thankful’?
What would giving more encouragement, recognition and appreciation do for the people around you?
And in our work with leaders it’s clear that those at the top are themselves often starved of encouragement, recognition and appreciation. What would receiving more of those three do for you?
Come to think about it, how well are you doing at inviting it in? And when it does arrive, can you fully accept it, acknowledge it and allow it in, or do you bat it away with a bit of ‘Aw, shucks, it was nothing’ denial and foot shuffling? There is a space to accept the gift graciously without being arrogant.
If you fancy, take a few seconds now to think about blessings that you can be truly thankful for. Is there anything there that inspires you to give a little encouragement, recognition and/or appreciation? Get the ball rolling.
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