I was listening to a podcast recently and the woman was talking about how she had been getting bad press around her social media, She was receiving accusations about her insensitivity and lack of knowledge about diversity and inclusion in her online content.

By the way, these were not helpful comments from someone offering awareness and kind suggestions about how she might improve her communication so as not to offend.

No! She was experiencing lots of shaming, insults, and straight-up cyberbullying. All of this was causing her sleepless nights and days of anxiousness. Not only because she hated the idea that she may have been unknowingly insensitive to others but also because she felt helpless against the attacks.

Taking Action

This successful entrepreneur did what we all need to do when faced with a hard situation. She took action.

She hired a DEI firm to help her learn and grow from what was happening to become a more responsible and inclusive employer, business owner, and human. This firm went through all of her social posts, comments, and other copy to find out that she’s been handling things with sensitivity and appropriately.

She had been doing nothing wrong.

At that moment she said she felt a rush of tears and relief.

She felt validated.

And it got me thinking that validation is underutilized and undervalued.

Validation gives you confidence, builds peace in yourself or your situation, creates breakthroughs, builds courage, offers a better understanding of

your experience, builds compassion, and reminds you that you are not alone in what you are experiencing or feeling.

Wowza! All from being validated.

The 3 Types of Career Validation Everyone Needs

Validation is not just something you receive from others. Validation has many avenues. It can be:

1. From Others

• Seek Feedback – Ask for feedback. Use it to fuel your growth and validate your strengths. It’s all about becoming the best version of yourself.
• Build a Support Network – Surround yourself with your personal fan club. Colleagues, a coach, mentors, friends —they’re your cheerleaders. Have them remind you of your greatness whenever you forget.
• Ask for Opportunities – Don’t be shy. Ask someone who you respect where you might be able to improve your skills AND help the organization. Let people know you are available to shadow a project, take the lead, or support an effort outside your normal functions (without adding extra workload and time to your day by the way!)

2. For Others

• Praise someone’s efforts – give a shout-out to a job well done. “That presentation you did was fire! Great job.” “I want you to know that your hard work on Project X does not go unnoticed. I appreciate you!”
• Provide constructive feedback – let people know what they have been doing well and, with their permission, let them know what they can do differently to improve their outcomes. This validation helps others feel seen, supported and can be a career game-changer.
• Support Work-Life Balance – Be a balance buddy! Encourage your colleagues to take mini-vacations at work – a quick stand-and-stretch, a coffee run, work a crossword together …

3. For Yourself

• Give yourself a high-five – At the end of each day write down all the ways you did yourself proud. Then, when you are having an off day, pull it out and read all about your greatness!
• Turn Mistakes into Masterpieces – I encourage my clients to evaluate their actions daily. Turn your mistakes into future successes. What worked well? What didn’t? What can you do differently going forward?
• Hire a Coach – We all need assistance in our lives and careers. A great coach will remind you of what is possible. You get support during the hard times as you take on a new role, change jobs, or stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. A coach validates how far you have come and why you are doing what you choose to do when you are feeling dragged down.

Experience the value in validation. Try out one of these ideas this week and see what happens.