THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2024 - THE HELIOTROPIC EFFECT

 THURSDAY, JANUARY 4TH, 2023 - THE HELIOTROPIC EFFECT

Okay, Karen, what is the Heliotropic effect?  

Let’s first think of sunflowers. Sunflowers constantly bend to face the sun (helio- a combining form meaning “sun”).  

The concept is that people like to face the sun and feel the warmth on their faces. Supposedly, cavemen thought the world rotated around the Earth, but eventually, scientists found that the Earth rotated around the Sun.    

So, in the heliotropic effect, people look for people who are “warm” and “authentic” - not fakes - looking towards people like sunflowers look to the sun.  

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From: https://www.success.com/be-the-sun-not-the-salt-heliotropic-effect/

In “Five Keys to Flourishing in Trying Times,” University of Michigan Professor Kim Cameron defines the heliotropic effect as “the tendency in all living systems toward that which gives life and away from that which depletes life—toward positive energy and away from negative energy.” Just as plants turn to the light, people do, too.

Fellow University of Michigan alumni, psychologist, and executive coach Dr. Harry Cohen simplified it further: “Be the sun, not the salt.” Sun gives out warmth, salt (while good is cooking), and kills. (Remember the statement - rubbing salt into a wound - The idiom “rubbing salt in the wound” means to make a situation even worse for someone.)

It’s simple enough to implement. A heliotropic person looks for any opportunity to be a positive influence and, most importantly, acts on it. “When you see someone who needs assistance, offer them a hand,” Cohen says. “It’s a practice. How can you lift someone up? Make their day? Say a kind word? Think of the best coaches, the best friends, the best teammates, the best strangers. It’s a mindset, but it’s also a way of life.

“Being dependable is a quality we like in other people. Authenticity—we like it when people are real. We like it when people are grateful. There are endless opportunities for us to practice these qualities. By doing so, [the results are] immediate. We feel better, and other people around us feel better,” Cohen says.

Leaders need to be aware of their impact. “Leaders have to be ‘on,’ and that doesn’t mean happy all the time. They just need to be deliberate in terms of their emotional contagion. They know the power of their words and use them deliberately to bring out the best in their people, so [those] people bring out the best in their other people and their customers.”

However, the heliotropic effect isn’t a switch that can be turned on or off on a whim. A fundamental tenet of being heliotropic is complete authenticity rather than toxic positivity. “You can’t fake any of this,” Cohen says. “Get this into your culture. It’s heliotropic to desire to be better, for continuous improvement in how we care about our customers and employees. This will drive performance.”

A heliotropic person bites their tongue when it comes to expressing anything that wounds and looks for opportunities to make something better or, at the very least, not to make anything worse. In the extended metaphor of the heliotropic effect, salt causes our roots to shrink, making us wither.

“Salt is unkindness, incivility, disrespect, poor listening, selfishness, and inauthenticity,” Cohen explains. “Little snarky ways we communicate at work, like ‘as per my previous email.’ We are short of people. We are impatient. We are unkind, disrespectful, or rude. We make people feel stupid. Salty behavior comes in different forms, and the subtle ones are probably the most damaging because we think they don’t matter. And all of this is salt on our roots.”

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We have all experienced toxic people in our lives - (“salt in our wounds”) and warm, healing people (heliotropic).  

As a student, I experienced both. I remember two professors in my Ph.D. studies that were “salt.” But - I did learn from them - despite them. And I remember MANY TEACHERS AND PROFESSORS who were sunshine, encouragement, and supportive in my learning process.

As an educator, I wanted to be approachable, warm, and “heliotropic.” I wanted students to learn - because of me.  

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Maya Angelou had a quote, “People will forget what you say or did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

But it has to be honest and authentic. It has to be an attitude deep inside - an attitude of LOVE. You can “turn” it off and on - but that’s fake. It must be YOU - from deep inside - always shining like the sun. 

Now, it can be challenging to be constantly “on”.” There are days when I am tired and might not be feeling good; I just want to be left alone and recharge my batteries. That’s okay occasionally, but I want to be 99 and 47% PURE like Ivory Soap. I want to be a LOVER - a sharer of light and hope, not one to run salt into a wound.

More tomorrow.

But for today, the Fourth Day of January 2024 - LET THE SUN SHINE IN!!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, ©, January 4, 2024