A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to conduct two Grateful Leadership two-day sessions for a large global company on behalf of International Institute for Learning. As always, I was deeply moved, inspired and motivated by the results and the breakthroughs, and this one is a real prize winner!

We did an exercise called “The Grateful Leadership Knock Your Socks Off Acknowledgment Exercise™ in which I asked each participant to write out a heartfelt and sincere acknowledgment of someone in their career who made a real difference to them. Then some people shared what they wrote with the class and it was totally inspirational. As almost always happens with this exercise, a few people spoke or wrote about someone from their past who was either a family member, a friend, or a teacher. Shortly after the session was completed, the class coordinator wrote this to all (thank you, Michelle!):

LET’S START A GRATEFUL LEADERSHIP MOVEMENT!!!

I want to hear your stories of putting this to use!

In response, Katie, one of the participants, wrote this email to all of the attendees in both sessions, which I have received her generous permission to share with you:

Subject: RE: Follow up from Grateful Leadership Course

Hello all!

I know not all of you were in the same session of Grateful Leadership that I was in, but I had to share my follow-up story.

During the class, I mentioned that I had always wanted to thank a former teacher for the guidance she gave me, but attempts to get in contact with her in the past had failed. As soon as we took our next break, someone in the class called me over and immediately initiated the search. By the end of the next day, she had found and contacted my former teacher. I absolutely could not believe that I would be able to talk to my teacher again after more than 20 years.

At this point, my nerves started to get to me a little bit. Some of the people in the class shared their own stories with me and the class overall gave me the confidence to get past the embarrassment and pass on the acknowledgement that I had waited so long to give. There were a few attempts to call her before I finally got through and talked to her. After being so unsure of what I would say to her, we ended up talking for more than a half hour. She remembered not only my class, but my family as well after all these years and all the students she had. Apparently, a high number of students from my class have been in touch with her, and there is one of my former classmates that is in contact with her on a regular basis.

She stressed how wonderful it feels to know that you’ve made a difference in someone’s life in some way, no matter how big or small the impact.

I absolutely have to say that the Grateful Leadership class and all of the people there have had an impact on me that is going to last. My teacher still lives in the same area, so I hope to visit her the next time I head down to Georgia!

After all of this, I really want to acknowledge Avery, Meg, and Saim for sharing experiences and helping to build my confidence and give me the push to move forward. I absolutely have to acknowledge Jessica for finding my teacher. She volunteered to do this right away and ran with it. I was completely blown away! Thank you so much!

And finally, I have to thank Judy for this class. There are a lot of classes offered here at here, but this is one that I would recommend to absolutely EVERYONE whether they are a leader or not. This class will change not only your work life, but your personal life as well!

Best regards,

Katie Horrocks

 

 

I invite everyone everywhere to see how the fact that this acknowledgment was sitting with Katie for 20 years made no difference in its power and impact –both for her and her fortunate and gifted teacher! We can all do this, and experience the joy of the difference we can make to another human being. And please note the way Katie used her developing acknowledgment skills to validate and value the great contributions of her fellow participants in our course who helped her get through her concerns and resistance to taking this important action. I personally acknowledge all of them, and especially Katie for becoming a true “Acknowledgment Ambassador.” And of course I acknowledge her wonderful, make-a-difference-to-countless-young-people teacher!

So remember, there is no expiration date on the acknowledgments we all have with us in our hearts, minds and spirits. So each of us can greatly benefit from Katie’s awesome example! So let’s all follow her wonderful example go do it! Who are you carrying in your heart that you have not (yet) let know the difference he or she made to you?

Until the next time….

Judy