“You get what you celebrate.” – Frank Blake, former CEO and chairman of the Home Depot

Frank Blake is a great example of an encouraging leader who achieved exceptional results during his tenure at The Home Depot.

When Blake stepped down as CEO in 2014, Home Depot’s share price was up 127% since the beginning of his tenure. Shares of their biggest competitor, Lowe’s, were up only 69% over the same period. 

Blake was known for spending his weekends writing encouraging notes to his best employees. He was also known for fixing Home Depot’s culture by returning it to the “cult of the orange apron,” a place where employees took great pride in their stores and how they helped customers.

Blake served under Jack Welch at GE. Jack taught Blake that the greatest quality of a leader was generosity. A successful leader celebrates the success of others. It takes confidence and humility to lift the successes of others above your accomplishments.

Through his habit of celebrating small wins and writing hundreds of personal notes to his employees every week, Blake was an encourager. His encouraging leadership style rebuilt a brand and a culture that had fallen on hard times.

Encouraging leaders attract and keep great people. We all want to be around people who see the best in us and bring it out through encouragement. Attracting and keeping great people is the only sustainable competitive advantage available to organizations today.

How can we be more encouraging leaders? Here are some ideas.

1. Look for the best in others and recognize it. Writer Mark Twain was pointing to this characteristic when he stated “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great people make you feel that you too can become great.”

Looking for the best in others is a skill that can become a habit with training. Perfectionists look for what is wrong, encouragers look for what is right. Encouragers find the small spark of goodness in someone or something and fan it into a flame.

As you go through your day look for opportunities to praise others.

2. Celebrate. Look for excuses to throw a party, to celebrate, to recognize the great work of others. I understand the heart behind “employee of the month”-type celebrations, but don’t those start to feel forced?

Instead, sharpen up your celebration radar by looking for small wins in the organization and then celebrate those wins. Forms of celebration can be: