Of course, it’s good to make up our own mind about whether something we’re doing is right or not. Nevertheless, a bit of external validation is still very welcome.
We can seek it out ourselves, for our own needs.
But what about other people—those we have reason to assist in their learning?
If we’re supporting someone develop new leadership behaviours, for example, and they seem to be making some progress in that some of their people are stepping up and taking on appropriate leadership responsibilities as well, it can be extraordinarily reinforcing to prompt other people seeing these positive developments to say so.
In a workshop setting, one answer is simply to invite other participants to comment. Out in the field, a little more deliberate action is needed—perhaps asking them to take the trouble to have a word.
From our perspective then, as the orchestrator of all this, perhaps as a facilitator, or maybe just a friend…
Worth thinking about how to prompt people who could say something helpful.
Don’t leave it to chance.