Have you ever been ‘called out’ for a mistake you made? Have YOU ever called anyone out?
As a parent, I admit I call out my children’s mistakes often. It happens when I get frustrated that they didn’t do something as I asked or wanted. I told them how to do it. Why can’t they do it as I explained?!
If this sounds familiar, whether at home or work, I’ll let you in on something I recently recognized. When you're called out, it can lead to disempowerment, stifled growth, domination, conflict, and drama.
What?! No, that’s not at all what I want to do to my children or anyone in my life! I hope that is not your intent either for your family or coworkers.
The reality is that all of us have motives. All of us have intent. Our natural tendencies arise when we deal with people and our emotions or feelings get the better of us. If we aren’t aware of what it’s like to be on the other side of our voice, we can accidentally call out the people around us.
I challenge you to have a liberator’s intent. Where you fight for the highest possible good of those you lead - at home and work. Your intent starts to be for people; not for yourself or against people.
The idea here is to learn how to intentionally call people UP – not out. To call someone UP looks vastly different than calling them out. Let me give a real-life example that literally happened while I was writing this post.
My son was working on his virtual schoolwork and he didn’t fully read the directions for an assignment, so some problems were incorrect. After informing him that he needed to redo a few of them, he became frustrated.
If I were to say to him, “Why didn’t you just read the instructions?” and further convey my frustrations, that’s calling him out. I'm making him feel bad versus if I call him UP to the level, I know he can be at. I remind him of who he is instead of calling out my annoyance with his current behavior. I'm giving him an aspiration for something far bigger.
A liberator’s intent becomes the mindset of asking yourself, “What's my intent for people?” If I'm fighting for the highest possible good that means I'm always calling them UP to who they truly are. I'm believing in who they are and by doing that, it produces a belief inside of them. That belief then creates true liberation.
Next time you would like to call out someone, try having the intent of a liberator and witness the difference it can have on the people you lead.