I ran Day 8 of a development programme this week for a team of finance folk. There were some great presentations, they worked on their feedback skills, we explored confidence and competence, they inspired each other and their thinking inspired my thinking.
At the end, as is customary, I asked, “What made you glad you came to the session?”
Everyone took a turn to say what they appreciated most about the day. Here’s what I heard: “It’s been nice to take time away from the day job,” and “it’s been nice to spend time getting to know other people on the team, to get under the layers,” and “it’s been nice to have some time to think.”
I don’t mind the word ‘nice’ at all, it’s a type of biscuit, and I like biscuits 😋
BUT what I would love to hear people say instead, is ‘essential‘ or ‘necessary‘ or ‘important‘ or ‘enriching‘ or ‘replenishing.’
That’s because……
- 😋taking time away from the task
- 😋slowing down
- 😋connecting with other humans
- 😋having time to think
- 😋being free from hurry
- 😋feeling appreciated for who we are
- 😋being listened to without interruption
…… it’s all required for the human soul to thrive. The human soul comes to work with us every day, along with the body and the brain that does the actual work. It needs to be cherished and nurtured.
We built this ‘place’ so that brilliant humans have somewhere to go to be inspired, replenished and re-energised in the midst of a work day that can requires us often to give so much of ourselves in the course of our work.
What do you think about that?
Or anything else that crosses your mind right now?
What would you like to add to the responses below?
Go on, type the first thing that comes into your mind. I dare you…
Responses
Love this Bev! I’m going to make an effort to swap out my ‘nices’ today!
❣️The words we choose really do seem to matter Lauren. Good luck with ‘not nice’ today 😁
This has really got me thinking about when the word ‘nice’ is about to emerge from my mouth! It also got me [randomly] thinking about the national anthem and it’s description of the Queen as happy and glorious [not ‘nice’] and I am now going to adopt glorious as my personal replacement for ‘nice’. 🙂
Hope you’re having a ‘glorious’ weekend 🥰
Reminds me of a company I worked for, where a core value was “caring”. I heard a lot of employees complain that sometimes doing the caring/nice thing got in the way of tough conversations or healthy disagreements! Nice isn’t as good as Healthy. Nice isn’t as good as Clear.
Hey Ariel….is it possible to be both? Can a tough conversation be fuelled by genuine care for the other person? Can a healthy disagreements be ‘nice’ if ‘nice’ means being respectful and appreciative of the other person’s unique point of view? Language and the meaning we make from it is so important. Love you’re comment, thank you so much for dropping by
Absolutely! I think you identified the problem: what does “nice” mean? In this company, “nice” had come to mean “non-disruptive” and “inoffensive” and “non-confrontational”. Not the most helpful interpretations, if you’re hoping to foster healthy communication and growth.
When a person is described as “nice”, to me that isn’t a complement. It’s vague and says nothing about their personality. Vivacious, funny, witty, fantastic orator, super-friendly – the list is endless but one or two words can really capture a person or an experience.
And me – I much prefer a chocolate hob nob!!!
I’ll keep in mind your biscuit of choice @bridie-philpotts 😁😁
Being specific always trumps being bland! Totally with you on this one.