Awkward Acknowledgment
A few weeks ago, I finished a coaching class on acknowledgement. The theme of the class was that we need to be aware of our client’s strengths and acknowledge when they utilize them to show up in a certain way in their personal or professional lives. The interesting development in the class, though, was how awkward it felt to receive acknowledgement or recognition and how wonderful it felt to give it. This is how it went. The facilitator requested that I discuss something I was proud of from the previous week and enlisted my classmates to acknowledge my efforts. Immediately, I got sweaty. I was uncomfortable. I put my Zoom mic on mute and just smiled and nodded as my colleagues sang my praises. What should have been an enjoyable experience, was simply awkward. So many of us do not handle praise. We feel we are not worthy of recognition, that we do not need it, or that we’re just doing what we’re supposed to do so it’s completely unnecessary. We explain away the acknowledgmen...