How do you give recognition?
I like to think of myself as being someone who can make a difference in even the smallest moments by giving people recognition, even something as small as reading a name tag and calling a barista by name.
One person I learned a lot from in this area was my late mentor Ed Percival, writing about this topic in “Making a Positive Impact“. One way Ed himself was recognised was when several hundred people came to meet after his funeral in June 2015 to celebrate his life. The room was set up with tables for at least two hundred, but many people were stood all around the room for at least two hours as the mic was passed around for people to share the impact he had made for them and others.
Now, there is always more to learn, and this week I saw a post by Melissa Case on Linked In called “The Power Of Being Seen“, which was inspired at least in part by her own recent major recognition in being awarded a CBE for the impact she made in her career in the UK civil service.
The whole post is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, yet one small passage stood out to me:
What blind spots might you have in how you recognise and who you recognise? What might you do differently?
That really has me thinking about how I could recognise people differently and more effectively and in a way that lands best for them. This reminds me of the Platinum rule, which goes beyond the Golden Rule to treat people the way they want to be treated, the subject of another earlier blog here.
Thank you Melissa, I will be musing on your prompt.