What are your dreams? The best gifts are connected to dreams. Do ideas of dreams quickly come to mind or do you struggle to name them? In some of my coaching work, I have clients create a “dream list.” This list has no rules or boundaries. It can include materialistic dreams, such as a new car, or character dreams, such as to be a patient parent. It can include what seems unrealistic, such as flying to Jupiter. It is an exercise that should seem fun with much freedom, yet people often struggle just to list 25 dreams.
Yet dreams can be like the sand in the cement of a foundation. Dreams give clues to our greatest desires and can be a road sign to our purpose. When you ask children for their Christmas or birthday gift wish list, they have no problem creating a list. Today, I watched as my daughter poured through a department store advertisement. You could see the dreams popping out of her head as she commented on things she liked.
As a leader, one of the greatest gifts that you can give to people is the freedom to dream. Whether you are a CEO of an organization, a team leader or a parent, you can support people in their dreams. Here are three gifts you can give to inspire others in their dreams:
Gifts of Encouragement
Sometimes people stop dreaming because they have been told not to dream. Maybe they were told that their dreams were unrealistic. They may feel that their dreams were snatched away by circumstances. Maybe another person dictated to them what their dreams should be instead of what they really wanted.
As a leader, you can change this trajectory in their lives through encouragement. What are they passionate about? How could this contribute to the work that they do? What new ideas do they have? How can these contribute to the outcomes of your organization moving forward? Do you take a risk and let your team member (or your child) try something new?
Gifts of Endurance
Dreams can be numerous like sand or a very long Christmas list, but at some point a few of them will rise to the top. These become the dreams that you are dedicated to pursue for the long haul. This can take endurance.
An organization’s vision is like one of those dreams. A leader knows the dedication it takes to keep that vision at the forefront and to cast it over and over to inspire others to keep moving forward. But, people also have personal visions. Your most motivated team members will be those people who know how their personal visions’ connect to the organization’s vision. The most motivating reward you can give to others is to support people in the endurance of their personal visions.
How are you helping them to keep pursuing their personal visions? Do they know their personal visions and how they connect to the organization? In this way you are giving them endurance towards their dreams.
Gifts of Hope
Hope is the anticipation of something good yet to come. Dreams are made up of that “good yet to come.” I think that people have such strong memories connected to the Holidays because of the excitement of anticipation. Some of my strongest childhood memories are connected to the anticipation for Christmas morning. Some people have good or bad memories connected to the Holidays all depending on how hope was handled with their dreams.
We give the gift of hope to people when we help them to keep believing. Because of the past, some people can get derailed by negative thoughts that lead to hopelessness. They may become pessimistic about the vision of the organization. This could be related to their own personal lack of dreams. And then there are others who seem to be always inspired with hope. The difference is in our mindset. Are we inspiring people to keep believing?
So, what gifts are you giving to people? Go beyond just giving external gifts and instead add some internal gifts. Give the gifts of encouragement, endurance and hope.