In her book, Story of a Soul, Saint Therese of Lisieux describes “The Little Way” by saying “rather than aspiring to doing great deeds, do many small deeds with great love. When not concerned with personal greatness, we find solace and humility in our littleness. Much like small children, we start to focus our attention on small details; details that keep us 'in the moment'. Without distractions, we are entirely present; not only to ourselves, but to others too. This allows us to act with great love, and over time, allows us to make a real difference in the lives of others."
Embracing "The Little Way" as Best Practice...
White Light Communications embraces the servant leadership of "The Little Way” as its "best practice." A fresh alternative to "status quo", it's a philosophy that asks us to follow the lead and needs of our clients as well as to acknowledge, recognize, and promote their efforts too! Why servant leadership?
The end result? Increased recognition and praise, higher retention rates, higher customer loyalty and satisfaction, and an overall increase in productivity!
How Do We Embrace It?
It starts with a new attitude - a positive one that focuses outward rather than inward and places the needs of others ahead of our own. A form of Servant Leadership, commitment to "The Little Way” at first glance sounds easy; in practice, however, it is far more difficult. True commitment requires us to place the needs of others before our own. Further, it requires us to cultivate seven values demonstrating our desire to serve others as a matter of choice, rather than as a job title, role, or responsibility. These values are:
Humility.Serving and placing the needs of others first to prevent us from thinking too highly of ourselves.
Respect.Treating others with respect and requiring respect from others in return.
Self-Discipline.Striving to know our selves and to use our inner resources to speak, live, and lead honestly.
Thoughtfulness.Having the presence of mind to recognize and appreciate the needs of others along with the ability to discern our own path, thoughts, and actions.
Attentiveness / Mindfulness. Being present in the moment, listening and remembering what is being said, and paying attention to what is being done. It also means being conscious of word choice and its effect - positive or negative - on others.
Courage & Encouragement.Having the strength and perseverance to pursue dreams, build skillfulness, and speak honestly in spite of fears, risks, and uncertainties. Inspiring others to take risks, to pick themselves up after making mistakes, and to take their skills to the next level - all in pursuit of their dreams. As the word ‘encourage’ suggests, helping others to find courage within.
Patience.Having a quiet, steady perseverance to endure the long and painful process of growth so we can reach our full potential in all life areas. This not only requires us to admit our imperfections, but to also view our challenges and failures as learning opportunities that inspire us to achieve greater wisdom and skillfulness.
Guiding the "The Little Way"
There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential.” --Rusty Berkus
To help us live "The Little Way", we follow Five Guiding Principles:
Principle 1 - Explore. Explore and embrace each challenge as a learning opportunity. Embracing our imperfections and failures, we seek, learn from, and acknowledge that our greatest accomplishments arise from our greatest challenges.
Principle 2 - Experience. Experience all possible solutions as a child would...in the present moment and without distraction. By focusing on and living in “the moment”, we have an opportunity to view our challenges from all vantage points without distraction. What’s more, we give our clients the greatest gift of all ... the gift of great love expressed through our attention and our talents!
Principle 3 - Learn. Learn one or more lessons each challenge offers, with great rewards following in the form of knowledge, opportunities, skills, relationships, resources, answers, and solutions.
Principle 4 - Grow. Grow knowledge and skillfulness to reach our full potential.
Principle 5 - Share. Share what we have gained with others so everyone benefits, inspiring all to learn even more.
Finally... by applying these principles to all life areas, we not only achieve our goals, but balance too - something we all seek!
