Be a Supportive Co-Worker and Help Others get Their Ideas Heard at Work:  It’ll Help Your Career As Well!

Be a Supportive Co-Worker and Help Others get Their Ideas Heard at Work: It’ll Help Your Career As Well!

Hi all. It’s me, Brad Montgomery, funny motivational speaker and expert on the value of social and emotional support in the workplace. I have been talking about this issue for ages, and it’s finally catching on, both in terms of the proven, scientific benefits of offering social and emotional support to people in your life and how that benefits you in so many ways, and in terms of how it just makes you feel good. And we all need to feel good more often, right? Especially at work.

I recently read the following article: 22 tips for 2022: Get your ideas heard at work, by Stacey Vanek Smith from the NPR Life Kit podcast

So interesting. It talks about how it’s often difficult for junior employees, employees of color, or gender minorities to get their ideas out there at meetings because more senior employees or old, white guys (sorry old, white guys—I can say this because I am one) will interrupt and take control of the conversation, effectively neutralizing the original speaker. The article offered a strategy for combatting this problem.

“Here’s how it works:
One person makes a point in a meeting.
Immediately, another person repeats the idea and commends it.
A third person chimes in and moves the idea forward.
And voilà: The original idea is said, repeated, supported and amplified.” (Life Kit Podcast, 22 tips for 2022: Get your ideas heard at work, Stacey Vanek Smith, Jan 6, 2022).

When I read about this, I thought, “Wow, Brad, that’s a really cool example of how to provide emotional and social support at work, and it sounds like it’s very effective.” Having two or three co-workers actively working together to get another co-worker’s ideas out there and understood, and moreover, making sure that co-worker gets the credit for them is the essence of social and emotional support in the workplace. Working as a team and coming up with good ideas and positive ways to push the ideas forward really cements relationships and marks you as a team player. Supportive co-workers often can fly under the radar, but should be recognized as especially valued members of any organization. Employees trained in social and emotional support contribute to the success of all team members and the organization as a whole.

The article is really short, but valuable, because most people don’t understand the importance of emotional and social support in the workplace. They don’t understand how helping others in their jobs or even just listening and supporting a co-worker can ricochet back and boost their own sense of self-esteem and positive energy. Not to mention their perceived value in the workplace. Science backs the value of these small interactions that work far beyond their weight class and can result in more employee engagement, greater job satisfaction and ultimately a better work product and a better bottom line.

If you and your company are serious about employee engagement and teaching your people its value, hire me, a funny motivational speaker, to teach them about social and emotional support, plus give them techniques like the one suggested in the article to lift up your entire organization. While making them laugh and smile as they’re learning.

If you’re interested in how emotional and social support can build up your employees and improve your company’s bottom line, call me, Brad Montgomery, and get started in creating a positive job experience for your employees which will result in happier customers and a happier you. I’m a funny motivational speaker with hundreds (maybe thousands) of happy clients. Become one of them.