Encouraging the Heart

As organizational leaders, Senior Team and Directors have made a commitment to our own professional development. We are actively working on improving skills and knowledge base in an effort to be better stewards of this wonderful organization and community we serve. One such effort is a book club that guides us through various leadership skills with the most current topic being: Encouraging the Heart.

This phase of our learning is focused on helping us acknowledge and thank those around us who make a difference in the work we do each day. It isn’t simple to find ways to help those around us understand how we appreciate their hard work and caring, because each of us needs to hear and see this message in our own unique way. For some, it is simply a Thank You for a job well done or a celebration of an accomplishment.  Maybe it’s receiving a regular paycheck.   But for others among us, it is something more personal and private such as look from a colleague that says “good job” or a feeling of satisfaction when a patient leaves us healed. Please know that I appreciate your work and this collective organization is better because of your service.  We strive each day to find a way to express our appreciation in a manner that feels right.

Sometimes our motivation and encouragement comes from a much more personal place. As you reflect on the reasons you chose service in health care as your calling, can you remember a special person who encouraged you and believed in you more than you even believed in yourself? Our book club conversations have pulled many of us to reflect on that person who showed us encouragement in a way that moved our hearts.  I would like to acknowledge one such person in my life and challenge each of you to acknowledge someone who encouraged you in your own way.

That person for me was a former boss, mentor, and friend. This person served our greater community through his time in the Peace Corps, followed by leading the local community health center from its very early venerable days to a place of stability and service. He expanded his talents by bringing together nonprofits to focus on how they could serve a greater good by working collectively together. He mentored many organizations through his consulting, service and forward thinking. His leadership and career inspired me.

But at a much more personal level, he encouraged me. He spent hours listening to my dreams and my frustrations. He found the right words to pat me on the back and kick me in the butt – both of which were needed.  He lives his life in a manner that I admire – being a lifelong partner to his wife and raising three incredible children. His kindness, caring, and love encouraged my life.

And as he faces a terminal illness today – he again shows his character by including all of us that care for him so deeply in his journey. My heart is overflowing from all he has given me, and it breaks knowing that our time together is coming to an end.

Thank you, Mike Bloom, for Encouraging My Heart.