Encourage

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to attend the YMCA Alliance for Education event in West Seattle.  It was an event that brought together various people from the community to talk about the current state of student success in Public Schools.  There was a great presentation by the Alliance for Eduction, with some interesting statistics about graduation rates.  One of the stats that really hit me was the fact that if a student received a failing grade in a class, they are more likely to not graduate.  Some might say that this makes sense...if a student is failing they are more likely to continue to fail.  However, in our discussions I brought up the idea that I wonder if we shouldn't be more deliberate about helping those kids, encouraging them to do better, and giving them opportunities to make it happen (aka change).  I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what the process/protocol is for students that get a failing grade.  I would hope that there is a specific effort put forth to try and correct that, but based upon the statistics and the numbers it makes me wonder.  So, for this Make It Happen post I want to focus on Encouragement.  It doesn't matter if you are a teacher, a coach, or a manager, there is nothing more valuable to the people you interact with than to Encourage them.

I'm probably not going out on much of a limb by saying that everyone has failed at one point in their lives.  For students, this might mean a test or entire class.  For professionals, this might mean not meeting your goals or milestones.  I could go on and on.  For everyone, I don't think it is a question of IF you will fail, but WHEN.  It's going to happen..face it.  The challenge comes with you handle that failure.  Although interesting for another post sometime, I'm not going to get into how individuals can handle failure, rather this post is about if you see someone fail, what can YOU do for them.  If a friend fails a test or class, what are you going to do to pick them up?  If a co-worker botched an assignment/project, how can you help them on the next one?  I believe that biggest impact you can have on someone is encouragement.  Failing isn't fun...Most people don't set out to fail, but it happens.  By being deliberate in encouraging people that are struggling or have failed, helps build them up and makes them feel like someone cares.  I think a lot of times when someone fails, without encouragement from others, they figure what's the point.  As it relates to the Alliance for Education statistics, I cant help but think this is a big factor for why a failed class is a leading indicator to not graduating.  So, my challenge to you is that when you see someone fail, reach out and encourage them.  Let them know that it happens to everyone and find a way to help them recover.  In the student world, maybe this is offering to study with them.  In the professional world, maybe this is offering to meet over coffee for a few weeks to brainstorm ways to improve.  Granted, the person has to want the help and be open to receiving the encouragement.  But, what I know for sure, is that if you see someone fail, and do nothing to encourage them and support them, those statistics are not going to get any better.