Thoughts & More Thoughts

Small is BIG....Sometimes

After some years of being in various leadership positions, I found (or was taught) several things that made a significant difference in getting people to respond positively to direction.

This blog entry is about just one of those; "Small is BIG"

First, a basic: almost all of us like to be appreciated, acknowledged and complemented. That being the case, how do I show appreciation, acknowledgment and be complimentary? Although large groups of people can be recognized and appreciated, I'm convinced that long-term positive output by guided people comes from being individually acknowledged repeatedly over time.,And of course fear is another tool, but that is for another separate discussion.

The "POSITHON" (signifying positive change over a long time) has 2 broad steps. A) taking time to "know" a person. This is not exhaustive research, but just two or three positive aspects of the person as seen by yourself or others. This knowledge helps in several ways but importantly, this gives credibility. B) use small things (several of them, if possible) to comment and congratulate upon. Remember, if you only admire the mountaintop experiences, most people will be congratulated so seldom that it won't matter. So The whole idea is to build up a sequence of good, small things that add to each other. The person feels accomplishment, recognition and other positive feelings. "Sandwiches"work too....a praise...a knock...a praise.

Finally, i use this "small" strategy on myself. And it works. Quite often, small wins lead to big success. Besides, it is kind of fun to hear me, tell me, that I've done a good job.