A few years ago,
I met the head of a successful software company at a conference in Los
Angeles. His business card had his name
and his title, “Chief Encouragement Officer”.
This was a man who understood a lot about leadership and what it meant
to become an encourager.
Studies have
shown that people are naturally attracted to positive people. When we have the opportunity to encourage
and speak words of affirmation and praise, we draw people into our circle of
influence. Leadership is all about
influence and we earn it when people are drawn to us.
Leaders also know
that in order to be able to coach and provide correction, it’s important to
earn trust and support. By accentuating
the positive and encouraging people we earn the right as well to identify
course corrections and improvements in task and process. Leading through encouraging means that we
always find the positive, we always affirm, we always bless.
Ephesians 4:29
gives us some great advice, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your
mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their
needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
