What are the benefits of ‘Positive Mind Thoughts’ in these times of reported doom and gloom?

On Sunday, the Times headlined ‘High slump hints at a black Christmas’, National Statistics revealing that volumes dropped by 0.8% October month-on-month comparison, whereas, the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) recently commented on ‘Employment outlook remains positive for the rest of the year’ stating that employment is forecast to grow steadily throughout the rest of 2012. This being the third consecutive quarter of projected growth recorded!

Which do you tune into… the negative element of slump in sales or the positive affirmation of improved employment levels? One thing is for certain, Individuals, teams, firms or companies work much more congruently and ‘positively’ when engaged in a positive atmosphere.

So when was the last time you were part of a high-morale, highly-motivated team? You’re in one!, great… if not, when you were, you were probably happy going to work collaborating with work colleagues and/or clients and, together, came up with some great ideas and due to the enthusiasm, created some of your best work. Being happy and highly motivated creates a condition where you accomplish far more than those who are in a state of low morale.

Here’s a few guidelines to help yourself or those you are responsible for to be happy and engaged…

• BE A POSITIVE LEADER… Teams follow the lead! Focus on your own happiness, emotional intelligence and well-being. Change the way you address things from a negative to a positive affirmation (eg from ‘I want to GIVE UP smoking’ to ‘I want to BECOME fitter and live a healthier life’) and we all know about the SWOT analysis (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) in business but try carrying one out on yourself! Finally, look at your own state of emotions when becoming a ‘positive’ leader.
• OBSTACLES TO POSITIVITY – GET RID OF THEM!…  Obstacles block the positive thought process and until this has been accomplished, neither you or your team will become motivated. Look at policies or procedures within the organisation, training needs, clear differentiation of roles, responsibilities or autonomy. Also, be aware of the general demeanour and working environment! Would a lick of new paint brighten the place up, what’s the state of work stations like (cluttered desks = cluttered minds). Do you recognise and reward achievements! Just a few areas to consider.
• POSITIVE MANAGEMENT… Charters are great in defining people or team roles. With these you can ascertain what the expectations are for individual’s and the team or group’s outcome providing both the necessary focus and consequent direction. From this, you can then establish the objective which helps with the motivation as both teams and individuals know what their worth is through clarity of their role and how this benefits the firm or organisation. Keep people informed about what is happening with regular meetings to discuss how things are progressing, updates, changes etc, this transparency helps with building trust as well as giving opportunity for people to voice their concerns. Finally… Support! This is a crucial element and can be aligned to having the right tools to do the job, the manpower to handle the tasks with training/coaching offered to help those who would benefit from it.
• NOW LET’S REINFORCE IT!… Now you have great ‘positivity’ or at least the road map to achieving it, don’t slip back into old ‘negative’ ways, let the new positive become the new habit! Celebrating success is a fantastic way of creating this new motivational outlook but this can be expensive… actually, it doesn’t need to cost a penny, it’s amazing how much a simple element of recognition can be. A public ‘Thank You, well done’ gives the recipient a feel and a beacon of light to others that they too could be praised or recognised if they were only to step up or over the mark. On the other hand, a bottle of French Chateau Ausone, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru would also go down well (but then, at around $940 I should hope so). Be aware of the ‘grumps’, one person is all it takes to change the good positive vibes. These people need to be addressed before they bring the rest of the team down, and this needs to be done early and face-to-face. Ascertain what the problem is playing on their mind and don’t just think that they have to change, it may be something you need to look at (google emotional intelligence?). And to wrap up, either coach those around you or employ the services of Coaching to Success or someone like them to use ‘Affirmations’ and for these to be ‘positive’ thus overcoming negative thinking.

Coaching to Success have helped firms/companies and the people therein to develop strength through motivation and pleasure within the workplace so if this is an area you are looking to develop within your working environment to either simply increase the positive atmosphere or to improve performance, take the next step by speaking to someone who can help and call us to arrange a free consultation, contact Neil (07761 187238) or throw us an email at info@coachingtosuccess.co.uk… We’re here to help