Everyone needs a Cheerleader. Who’s yours?
My partner Ed was pacing me at Park Run on Saturday to help get me closer to my 5k goal - 24 minutes. We did it in 25 minutes 14 seconds. (Those seconds are VERY important people!)
I was doing well in Summer, but my running times had slipped. I wasn’t getting out as much, a bit of an injury, and I started to feel the excuses piling on. It was a mental game.
The difference running with someone who had my best interests at heart, pushing me on and pacing me right, kept those legs moving, and made me utterly determined! Those % time improvements were achieved through feeling like we were a Team! Even though I didn’t quite hit my goal on Saturday, I felt such joy and encouragement to keep going. I didn’t want to let myself or Ed down.
Parallel this with Business, and you can see why supporting colleagues to be successful, by reducing the need to win yourself each time, truly helps the collective. (Ed could have easily run 5 minutes faster, but he wanted to help me improve my performance).
We know that if we can park a little of our “winner” to help our colleagues strive, to be able to coach them to be the best they can be, not only will we feel a great sense of achievement and purpose, but we’ll be improving overall productivity in the workplace.
We shouldn’t underestimate the power of Teamwork
We know in a work setting, this isn’t about always needing to agree with one another. But if we can foster an environment of trust and respect, where we can debate honestly, we will help increment performance.
We all know what it’s like in a work environment that doesn’t feel collaborative. And we also know how that can hamper our creativity and sense of worth.
Having supportive colleagues and those championing your success should never be overlooked, or classified purely as ‘soft skills’ and ‘nice to haves’. Not only does this great sense of well-being help us to feel and be more productive and happy at work, but it will inevitably positively impact the bottom line as well.
Teamwork holds us accountable. We don’t want to let each other down.
True success, inside and out, comes from supporting our fellow human beings. Being a champion for each other's success. And this success is driven from the top.
It’s worth taking a moment to acknowledge and thank our cheerleaders, inside and out of work!
#cheerleader #coaching #mentoring #wellbeingmatters