And, yet – in the midst of hard and honest truths, we all need to be encouraged

Honored and not diminished. That’s how we all want to feel.
James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Pozner, Encouraging the Heart:  A Leaders Guide to Rewarding and Encouraging Others

discourage: verb. To deprive of confidence, hope, or spirit.
encourage:  verb. To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten.

discourage: dishearten.
encourage: hearten.

I don’t remember the source, but years ago, I heard an interview with a laid off auto worker.  His plant was being shut down. He said something like this:  “I did everything right.  I worked hard.  I never missed a day of work.  I was promoted.  I did what they told me to do.  And now…,” and then he trailed off.

He sounded…  disheartened.

There really are forces beyond the control of many individual workers.  And of all the things I sense about today’s work environment, fear is seemingly omnipresent, and growing greater.  People are worried about their jobs, their careers, their futures, their mortgages, their children’s future…  It is a tough time.

So, I thought about the terrific book I read and first presented years ago, Encouraging the Heart.  But I did not just think of the content, though it is excellent.  I thought of the title itself.  I thought of the need of the hour – and I think that need is the need for encouragement.  People are discouraged, disheartened.  And they need to be heartened.

Whatever else a leader brings to his or her workers, encouragement needs to be at the top of the list.

Do you lead people?  Are you encouraging them – or discouraging them?

Here’s how I worded it in my introduction for my presentation for Encouraging the Heart:

we all need to be encouraged to do our best. Literally — we need to be encouraged; we need to receive encouragement, in order to do our best.

And this much is clear — no leader should ever do any discouraging.  There will be more than enough discouragement coming from other sources…