In some ‘effective communication’ training today, we were encouraged to examine people’s status on two different scales of 1 to 10.

• black: external, positional, formal
• red: internal, emotional, personal

For example, black status might be afforded by a person’s job title and red status by their confidence in that role. The combination of these scores determines their effectiveness.

No matter their position, someone scoring low on red status is unlikely to be comfortably contributing their best. There are lots of ways to improve the red score, without changing the factors that comprise their formal position.

So, by building folks up and and developing their self-assurance, sense of worth, and confidence, we create more effective teams. In attending to difficult emotions, we’re encouraging contribution.

Kindly, keep people growing.

It’s sound business practice.