I often use the phrase, "Progress not Perfect." It's my way of saying we don't need for everything to be perfect in order to step forward and do the right things.
I've been thinking about these words a lot lately. Especially when there is an effort to move forward, yet we live in a world online and in person where everyone is waiting to tell us what we've done wrong. It's a scary place.
I often tell my teens that, for me, the end result means less than knowing that they did their best. It's the effort that I want to encourage in order to build the confidence and courage needed to stay the course. Otherwise we get discouraged and give up. There are a lot of global issues where we can't risk people giving up.
Whether it's my work with Inner Strength Communication Inc. helping organizations improve internal communication and employee engagement or A Leader Like Me where we're involved in #DEI and empowering women of colour, I try to encourage progress.
Every effort has to start with these questions:
- Where am I/are we right now?
- What does success or the ideal look like?
- What are the steps I/we can take to get there?
- How do I/we recognize effort and progress along the way?
This doesn't mean that we don't call out when something is clearly wrong in order to draw attention and create awareness. When it's clear effort is not being made, individuals and organizations need to point out discrepancies and then provide advice to improve.
I just feel that with all those powers trying to divide us, our greatest opportunities involve us working collectively and together towards change that benefits everyone.
Just my musings.
Priya