Are you smarter than a 2 year old?

I'm the lucky Grandmother of three delightful granddaughters. Yeah...I started young, and it's paying off now!

Not being the traditional Grandmother of yester-year, who rocked on the porch with hoards of grandchildren at her feet, I only occasionally get the delicious treat of spending whole days at a time with my grandchildren - and I love it! This past month I spent six magical days with Brielle, our 18-month-old little princess, who is the older daughter of my middle son. We had a blast!

She is, of course, one of the most beautiful, talented, intelligent and all-round wonderful little girls on the planet...that goes without saying. But, she's something else too; she's the embodiment of learning and growth. Each time I see her, even if there has been just weeks between her visits, she's learned a bundle of new skills. She blew right past crawling and went straight to walking. She's learned how to manipulate a spoon, dress her doll and can 'read' several books at a sitting.

It's amazing really, how she watches, mimics, and then masters an ability to do something she sees everyone around her doing. She's hungry to learn, eagerly tries anything you encourage her towards, and amazingly develops new abilities, literally every day.

Oh, and she's always scanning faces. She looks intently at the people in her world; she studies their emotional reactions, she takes cues from those around her as to what comes next, and is always reaching out to connect with people in her world. She's a consummate networker too; it doesn't matter to Brielle whether you are even dressed or not, let alone dressed 'properly', regardless of your age or stage in life, she assumes you have something to teach her and she's ready for the adventure.

It's not surprising that she wants to push ahead. Every time she conquers her fear of something new and accomplishes the task, the whole family rewards her with a round of applause. After months of this immediate reward, she's even learned to clap for herself - just adorable.

Oh, to be like Brielle again! When did we stop scanning our worlds to see what else we could learn? What happened to us to make us so sure it's ok to operate on autopilot, at work, home and in our relationships?

When did we get so grown up?

One of my favorite quotes is, 'You don't empower people, you create environments that help them realize that they have power'.

All parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) have to do for the little ones in our lives is to create a safe, stimulating and loving environment and they will learn, grow and flourish. And, I wonder...could it be the same for your employees? Could it be that - especially when they're going through a tough transition, or you want them to adopt some new skill or behaviour - that all you really need to do is provide environments where growth and learning are encouraged, and create workplaces where accomplishments are applauded and rewarded? Could it be that simple?

When you need managers who know how to create empowering environments for their employees....call us.

Remember - You can change it - we can help!

August 2011