Well, what a weekend to be proud of. Eurovision always reminds me of the positive strengths of feeling proud. It fascinates me how individuals (country representatives) can install that feeling of achievement doing something so ordinary as being part of a singing competition. (Yes I know you can argue it’s not really a singing competition but go with me on this for a little will you.)
This year’s competition was busting with pride. Rather than the ‘nul points’ the United Kingdom suffered in 2021, our country came second. SECOND! (I’ll let that sink in.) Bigger than that though, the feeling of pride I was experiencing wasn’t just about an individual or even the country they represented. This year there was a great force present. With the public voting of Ukraine to the winning position I felt proud & good to be part of our society.
In this #WeeklyNRG we are exploring pride and its connection higher performance.
What is pride?
To feel pride, we must be connected to something we value.
Wikipedia says “Pride is emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value.”
To feel pride, we must be happy and satisfied to be connected to the thing.
Wiki goes onto say “With a positive connotation, pride refers to a content sense of attachment toward one's own or another's choices and actions, or toward a whole group of people,”
When we feel pride, we feel important/valued.
Aristotle described pride as the ‘crown of the virtues.’ For the Greek philosopher, pride implies greatness. He considered a proud person as someone who is and thinks to be worthy of great things.
We feel pride when we or someone close to us has achieved something great.
Wow, imagine what additional performance or productivity you would get from someone who knows they have and can achieve something great. That confidence, that feeling of value in oneself.
I believe we need to continuously cultivate that feeling in all ourselves and our teams.
How do we encourage more of that proud feeling?
To enable the feeling of pride in ourselves and our teams we need to
Have a sense of belonging
Feel praise/praise them
Feel safe
Reflect on what is happening, and
Be reminded of the achievement
How are you going to develop more pride in your workplace?
This article by Monkhouse and Company gives 9 ways to unlock pride in your organisation.
Here is a simple exercise to get the ball rolling for yourself or with a team to remind us all what pride feels like. Its great at getting others to realise whats important to them. And starting a conversation about what great things you might do/achieve next.
STEP 1 - Close your eyes and remember a time your felt proud. Ask yourself or them to write down the answers to the following questions:
When was it? Where were you? Who were you with? What had happened/ was happening?
Paint the picture in words with as much detail and color as you can.
STEP 2 - Describe the feeling. Write down What you feel? Why you feel that way?
STEP 3 – Discuss the situations/achievements together and share the feelings. Find common aspects. What prompted the feeling – hard work? overcoming obstacles? A struggle etc etc.
STEP 4 – Agree what you are going to work on next to recreate that feeling in the work place.
Why not send me a message about when you last felt proud of and what you are now going to achieve/do. I’d love to hear all about your amazing achievements.
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