Self-management - Being a source of positivity

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The importance of being positive

Imagine you walk into work every day and are faced with a leader who has a negative attitude. You are constantly told that “It can’t be done” or “It’s not possible”. How would that make you feel? Would you enjoy going to work? Would you be inspired to achieve?

Attitude is contagious, especially when it comes from leaders. A leader with a negative attitude creates a negative work environment and lowers the morale of the team.

What's more, when a leader's negative attitude is adopted by their team members, it can impact the customer experience - and poor customer experience means that customers walk out the door and the business suffers as a result.

The great thing about attitude though is that it is easy to control. So to keep your team in a positive "can-do" state of mind, you need to be a source of positivity. Having a positive attitude will impact on productivity, quality, service, innovation, and the emotional bond customers feel with your organisation.

Being a source of positivity

Being more positive

Think "can"

One of the biggest dampeners of positivity is the tendency to jump straight to all of the reasons why something can’t be done. Take the view that anything is possible and explore how you can make things happen rather than why you can't.

Be solution-focused

Focusing on problems is a negative way of thinking that encourages procrastination and inaction. Focusing on solutions is a positive way of thinking that inspires action. Be proactive and think about solutions not problems.

Choose positive talk

If you find yourself criticising others and complaining about things all the time, swap the negative talk for positive talk. Compliment people. Give them positive feedback for a job well done. Try and find the positives that can be taken out of a bad situation. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining.

Choosing positive talk doesn't mean that you can't let off some steam once in a while - everyone needs to vent - just try to be mindful of the attitude that you are putting out into the world.

Takeaway

The attitude that you adopt will impact the attitude of your team and those around you. When you find that you are being negative, remind yourself of how your attitude can impact others and take steps to be more positive.

"Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude." - Victor E. Frankl

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Next: Self-management - Taking initiative