I've been active in the workplace now for nearly 17 years and have only witnessed leaders and/or peers praising their employees and/or co-workers a handful of times. Again, I'm talking sincere, out-of-your-way, unprompted praise; not that of an evaluation or appraisal. On the other hand, witnessing criticism in the workplace and the outside world is as common as the Earth's rotation. Everyday of the week people are judged for their looks, clothes, job, lifestyle, etc, etc. At the workplace the boss drops work on you and then displays disappointment when it doesn't exceed expectations; no "A" for effort awarded here.
The point I'm trying to make is this-an attempt should be made to build each other up. An individual can do more good with encouragement than ridicule. I'm not just referring to work, we should highlight one another's positive physical and character traits more often. Tell your friends and family how great they are, not after they've done something for you, at any and all moments possible. Be kinder to strangers. I'm not saying you'll run into angels everyday, but don't take out frustrations caused by insensitive types on innocent people. It's time to evaluate the way we treat others and look at it objectively, have we lost sight of treating others as we wished to be?
I'll give you an example of someone building me up when, conceivably, the rest of the world kicked me down. I was a poor student most of my youth, due to social awkwardness and a lack of guidance and confidence. At one point I was very near failing for the year. It seemed that all my teachers lost faith in me. All my peers look at me as a rebellious, cocky slacker. I was perceived to be hopeless and rightfully so.
However there was one teacher, in communications, that found some glimmer of potential somewhere inside of me. She was a fantastic person with a dynamic personality and unmatched passion in her work. She was also an avid film lover. She gave me a chance to turn my failing grade around with one project at the end of the year. She explained that it wouldn't be fair to pass me if I only gave a mediocre effort, I would have to ace it. She was justified in doing this based on my withdrawal the rest of the year. What she did for me was invaluable. Not only did her encouragement motivate me to pass her class, it inspired me to put forth the same effort in the rest of my classes to go on and pass that year. On top of all that, her lessons on filmmaking also led to my discovery of inner love for the medium; which proved to be prolific later in life.
With all this in mind, I've made a conscious effort to practice what I preach. In my leadership role in the workplace and in my role as friend and family member, I've devoted a lot of time building people up. I'm not claiming to wear rose colored glasses and walking around offering up compliments like they're in endless supply, I just do my best to point out positives every chance I get which takes the sting out of criticisms when they come, which they inevitably do.
In closing, I'm suggesting we consider the good that can come from warranted encouragement. Remember, we're all designed to fail at times, how motivating it is however with a hand reached out, offering to help you back up.
