Encouraging others can help you do your job better. To the extent that people lack confidence, they become a drain on the organization. At best, they slow down progress by second-guessing and waffling on decisions. At worst, they are paralyzed and can’t take any action.
Encouraging is sometimes referred to as cheerleading, but that’s not a word adults respond well to. Instead, think of it as infusing courage.
Consider these tips for encouraging others at work:
- Genuinely acknowledge the ability, intelligence, and integrity of the PBC.
- Express admiration for the PBC’s fortitude to press forward on tough topics.
- Offer encouragement about the struggle you’ve watched in a coachable moment. For example, you might say, “The ‘aha’ you just had showed incredible insight in a complex situation, and that will serve you well as you take action.”
A word of caution: You can negate encouragement with the use of the word “but.” If you say, “You did a nice job, but …,” the PBC won’t hear anything that precedes the word “but” and will instead focus only on the negative aspect of the statement.
Some of the best encouragement you can give a person is to believe she can succeed before she believes it. A way to communicate that belief is to challenge the PBC to go beyond the status quo in her thinking and actions.
Challenging others in a coaching conversation is tricky because your questions need to stretch beyond what the PBC currently thinks but not so far as to be unrealistic. It really requires using the knowledge you’ve gained in your connection with the PBC to calibrate how much of a stretch this challenge would be.
If the timing seems to be right for challenging, you might ask:
- What would it take to accomplish that in half the time or with half the resources?
- What would you need to do to significantly broaden the impact?
- What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
