What is it with ‘worthiness’?

I thought I’d write about this sensitive topic as it comes up a lot in the conversations I have with Managers and Sponsors as well as Change Managers and mid-level managers.

Whether it is a new role people are contemplating or a great feedback about a recent achievement or how well a project may be going, there is this tendency to brush it aside, downplay it or question it.

When I ask about that or make the observation, there is usually either awkward silence or a list of all the other people that made it possible or comments along the lines that ‘I was just doing my job’.

When it is ok for me to probe further, the murky area of self-doubt or self-worth is usually in the mix. For a lot of us. It comes out as ‘what if someone works out I’m not good enough?’, ‘what if someone sees I don’t know what I am doing?’ or ‘what if I don’t know what I am doing?’.

Working with ease and flow

It is definitely a blocker to reaching our potential, working with ease and flow and just actually enjoying our successes.

What if, just to start, we responded with ‘thank you’. Or ‘yes, I worked hard to achieve that and with some great people’. Or…if you are brave enough, ‘Yes, I am so proud of what we achieved’. Others think and see you as the worthy and amazing human being you are. Can you?

 

Want to think differently?

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