Building Strategies Through Encouragement

Have you ever heard the old saying "failure to plan is a plan to fail?"  I have heard it over and over.  I believe it and have repeated it to those that work on my team.  So, why is it so hard at times to build strategies when you know that success hinges on those strategies?  Simple, people get discouraged.

Every leader has the responsibility to recognize what I would call "negative impact" people or situations.  Negative impact people or situations are what military people call critical terrain.  Before our armed forces try to conquer, they build strategies based on overtaking critical terrain.  It is the terrain that is necessary to take in order to gain a foothold in battle and win the war.  This is done when the leader encourages his or her team to push pass barricades and move to a new place.

Encouragement is necessary when it comes to building strategies because it brings necessary elements of empowerment to the table.  There really needs to be an encourager at the helm so that when critical terrain is encountered, fear and discouragement can be overcome.  Now there are certain things to understand about encouragement and building strategies that will ensure success.  Here is a list of 10 ideas that will help when encouraging to build strategies:

1. The leader must be an encourager by showing up.
2. The leader must believe in his or her own heart that their words of encouragement can make a difference.
3. The leader must encourage his team to be proactive.
4. The leader must encourage his team to face fears.
5. The leader must learn who the critical terrain people are on his team.
6. The leader must learn what the critical terrain situations are that hinder his team.
7. The leader must put right people in right places to focus on which strategies can be built to lead and  
    overcome.
8. The leader must use words of affirmation and inspiration.
9. The leader must discourage negativity while looking at hard facts.
10. The leader must constantly encourage every member of the team to step up and use the gifts they
      have to build a viable strategy to overcome.

Constant encouragement is necessary to build strategies to overcome.  So find your key people. Encourage them by recognizing their gifts.  Empower your key people to make a difference.  Empower your key players to be "out-of-the-box" thinkers.  Start small with simple tasks to build confidence.  Before you know it, your team will be building strategies that will bring victory.  So find someone to encourage.  When you do, you will change your world one person at a time.

Be Encouraged,
Rick