Oxygen to the Soul

Physician George Adams found encouragement to be so vital to a person’s existence that he called it “oxygen to the soul.” Developing the Leaders Around You, p 187 by John Maxwell


I’ve recently been promoted to a supervisory position. It’s not a job that was advertised or for which I interviewed, which IS rather surprising I know since I've interviewed for SO many in the last year, unsuccessfully I might add. And now I am, just like that. One day I wasn’t a supervisor and the next day I was. I thought I would be completely happy but it was kind of anti-climatic but that really is a post for another day.


I have a lot of management experience (as the mother of four children) and some Team Leader experience (for a multi-District team that I see only every other month for a couple of days) but little practical experience with the team that I'm now supposed to supervise. So when Jim and I were enjoying our most recent trip to Sam's Club without the children, I searched for some book on management or leadership. I came across a daily reader book comprised of excerpts from books by John Maxwell, a leadership expert who has written over 50 books. The title of this post is Thursday's daily entry.


This quote struck me as important to my new position. I have been a fairly independent worker - allowed to manage my workload with minimal input and oversight from my superiors. On those occasions when I began to feel overwhelmed, I would take my problems to my supervisor for advice. Many times the advice would be accompanied by encouragement - complete support that I could get the job done because I was talented, gifted, or had the skills.


My prayer for my team is that through similar leadership, I am able to bring about the best in each team member. The work we do for the Corps of Engineers is very important to our Soldiers and our Nation. We have very challenging days ahead. Our workload is extremely high and we have a deadline...September 30th. I believe through encouragement that they will exceed expectations, even their own.

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