Understanding the benefits of a healthy balanced life will motivate anyone to make necessary changes. Balance will improve the lives of individual employees as well as the company culture. Learning the basics of work-life balance will also increase employee productivity, health, and morale.

Why It’s Important

A healthy balance between work and home should be a priority for everyone. Implementing proper work-life balance offers many important benefits. There are, however, many hazards linked with an unbalanced work and home life. 

Risks

Benefits

Increased Productivity

While it may seem counterintuitive, work-life balance can actually increase productivity. While it is true that overtime will initially increase production, the surge only lasts a few weeks before taking a destructive toll on productivity. In fact, working long hours for an extended time period will lead to exhaustion and unhealthy habits that decrease productivity. 

Shorter work hours will actually increase productivity in the long-term. Additionally, studies show that people who take short, frequent breaks are more productive than people who only take a single break or work all day. Most people recommend taking a few minutes each hour to regroup. Ways to increase productivity:

Take healthy breaks: You should take time to refresh yourself. Try stretching, walking, or meditating throughout the day. This will also improve your health and overall wellbeing. 

Take enjoyable breaks: A recent study by Don J.Q. Chen and Vivien K.G Lim of the National University of Singapore discovered that taking a few moments to surf the internet and mentally change gears actually increases productivity. This fun activity increases productivity by nine percent.

Take time off: Working to the point of burnout is not productive or healthy. Do not lose vacation days, even if you have to spread them out. Studies show that people who take their vacations are much more productive than those who do not. 

Improved Mental and Physical Health

It is common knowledge that stress is directly linked to different diseases. Numerous surveys have discovered that work is a leading cause of stress related illness and injury, such as stroke, heart disease, and mental breakdowns. A balanced life will improve both physical and mental health.

How to Improve Health

Awareness: A balanced lifestyle increases personal awareness, allow individuals to identify potential health problems early.

Lifestyle: A balanced lifestyle automatically improves health. It encourages healthy choices and helps develop the body and the mind. 

Increased Morale

Work life balance is an effective tool to increase morale and improve company culture. Employees seek out companies that support healthy work life balance. The only factor more important than balance to job seekers is compensation. According to several surveys, work-life balance improves happiness and overall job satisfaction. Additionally, employees are more invested in companies that support their work-life balance. Work- life balance typically translates to employees who work harder and are more productive.

This post is from March’s topic on Work-Life Balance, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Running a business is a complex enterprise. In order to look at the big picture in your business, you need to know the answers to some basic financial questions. It is not enough for your accountant to know this information. Business acumen requires you to be aware of these answers so that you will be able to guide your company to success. 

What Makes My Company Money?

The purpose of every business is to make a profit. You need to make money in order to survive, but in order to do this; you must identify what makes your company money. You need to examine your products and services to determine which ones are actually making money for the company. For example, a bakery makes croissants, cookies, and cakes. The croissants account for 80% of the sales, and the cakes make up 15% of the sales. Cookies make up 5%, and some days most of them are thrown out. Knowing what makes your company money will provide influence and help steer the future of the company.

What Were Sales Last Year?

Companies need to grow to stay competitive. You are able to identify growth only when you see an increase in sales over time. Knowing last year’s sales is essential to understanding the current status of your company. For example, you should use last year’s sales to calculate the rate of change.

What is Our Profit Margin?

Every business needs to make a profit. The profit margin indicates how well the company is running. A large, successful company typically has a 13% net profit margin. The higher the profit margin, the more efficient the business is run. There are two types of profit margin: gross profit margin and net profit margin. Both are found when the profit is divided by the total revenue. The difference between the two is that the net profit margin is profit after tax and operating costs. 

What Were Our Costs?

A company’s costs affect other financial aspects such as profits. This is why it is so important to control costs. Many companies choose to increase profits by cutting costs. However, this can backfire when the costs you cut directly affect the customers’ experience. 

Basic Costs:

This post is from February’s topic on Business Acumen, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Business acumen requires an understanding of finance, strategy, and decision making. Most managers and employees, however, are responsible for specific areas and they have little understanding of the impact their decisions have on other areas. When too much focus is placed on one aspect of the business, it is difficult to make decisions for the good of the company. In order to make effective decisions, it is necessary for you to examine the big picture. 

Short and Long Term Interactions

When looking at the big picture, it is necessary to consider long term as well as short term interactions. Short term interactions are immediate, single exchanges, and they are necessary for the company to survive. Without looking at the big picture, however, short term interactions may hinder long term success. For example, you may damage a business relationship by using aggressive sales techniques, costing you sales in the future.

Long term interactions are processes or relationships that are essential to growth. Long term business success requires the long term interactions. The relationships with customers, vendors, and employees need to be carefully cultivated. Failure to cultivate relationships occurs when there is a lack of communication or communication is not respectful. Long term relationships help guide the future of the business.

Recognize Growth Opportunities

It is essential for every organization to recognize growth opportunities to ensure long term success. An opportunity is any project or investment that will create growth. Opportunities, however, can be overlooked when we do not pay attention to the big picture. Individuals with business acumen are constantly recognizing opportunities for growth. If recognizing opportunities does not come easily for you, there are steps to take that will ensure that you do not overlook growth opportunities.

Mindfulness of Decisions

Decisions need to be made carefully and mindfully. In stressful situations, it is easy to make decisions based on emotions or external pressure. Recognize these events which increase the risk of making a poor decision that can have long term consequences. Mindful decision making combines reason with intuition to come up with decisions that are based in the present. 

Everything is Related 

In business, it is necessary for each person to perform specific roles and functions. Every business role is related to each other. For example, poor production and poor customer service will affect sales. Too many sales returns costs the company money, damaging the profits. Each aspect of the business relies on the others. Most people only focus on their specific roles, without considering how they affect the other departments. Looking at the big picture allows you to see how everything is related, and it begins with the leadership. The leadership of the company is responsible for the culture and values. These guide the other aspects of business, which are: operations and marketing, finance and governance, and information and people.

This post is from February’s topic on Business Acumen, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

With the advent of information technology, knowledge management has evolved into a technological based program. Understanding what knowledge management is today requires review of what it was in the past. What and how it is applied is the overall goal of knowledge management. Understanding these concepts will allow you to understand the principles behind today’s knowledge management model. This in turn, will allow you to be more knowledgeable about the program you are about to introduce to your organization and recognize if you already have a knowledge management system in place but is outdated.

Paradigms of the Past

Knowledge management does have a past and there are models out there that rely on knowledge collection and storage as the design for a knowledge management system. What resulted from this strategy is usually a query database that employees used to search for knowledge.

Research an old-style knowledge management system that was previously used. Get lessons learned from those who were involved and incorporate this information in your newer knowledge management system proposal. 

The New Paradigm

The new paradigm for knowledge management is vastly different from the past. Instead of focusing on data storage and retrieval, the focus is on connections and networks involving employees. There is storage, but this would be more for sharing documents and reference materials. Storage would not be the end-all-be-all system for knowledge management. 

The new paradigm takes advantage of new technologies like sharing programs, portals, intranets, etc. 

Of course, no system is perfect and the next lesson will discuss the implications of establishing a knowledge management system. 

Implications and Applications

As you contemplate the introduction of knowledge management to your organization, you should consider the implications that applying knowledge management brings. If your organization is not used to sharing information and learning, this could become an obstacle to your knowledge management project.

Another consideration is the effect of technology on the organization. The new programs and communication tools present some issues to address in your project plan. It is not wise to make your knowledge management project a technology project. 

Finally, you also have to consider who will be the agents for championing and managing the knowledge management program as it develops within your organization. Who will do what? Choosing the wrong people could doom your project because of association with the wrong people. Think globally. If you are not a project manager, you should consider having one on your project. They are trained to watch for these types of risks. 

The Knowledge Management Endgame

The most important message you should convey about knowledge management is what it will do for the organization. Simply suggesting knowledge management on its own merits will not gain the support you need. You must remember that knowledge management involves the entire organization and the benefits should span the entire organization.

Therefore, you should clearly communicate the knowledge management end game. Your knowledge management project should address one or more of the following areas to help ground it to a more common business strategy:

Placing knowledge management more on the back burner then the front will take the focus off the knowledge management project itself and place it on the business strategies that get the interest of managers, creating more support for your project. 

The goal of knowledge management is to connect employees to one another in an effort to facilitate knowledge in a way that promotes learning and new knowledge that will help the organization gain a competitive advantage through increased efficiency, quality, and innovation. 

Clearly communicating this to your stakeholders will create a solid foundation for support and growth of your knowledge management project.

This post is from January’s topic on Knowledge Management, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

The more information you can share with your organization about knowledge management the more apt they are in accepting it. This post explains the principles, history, and application of knowledge management in the workplace.

The words knowledge and management are two very broad concepts when separated. When the two words come together, it speaks of a concept that strives to organize information in a way that produces an advantage for an organization. While anyone would think that harnessing the knowledge of an organization is a positive thing to do, there are many who do not see the value of knowledge management. They may see this as a waste of time. This is true of many other disciplines like project management. Many see planning and assessing risk as time consuming. Therefore, they do not support initiatives that bring this change. In all honesty, change is the real issue. 

What is Knowledge

The word knowledge is often confused for information or data. The online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines knowledge as the following: Fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association. 

What is data and information? Both of these terms are a part of knowledge. Data is raw content, which by itself has no meaning or value. 

When data is grouped together, it becomes information. For example, getting a temperature reading of the climate outside on one day is meaningless without other information to make a comparison.  

Once a database is created, it becomes information because comparisons can be made. In terms of knowledge management, knowledge is information that is in context, producing an actionable understanding. 

Back to our temperature scenario, when the temperature information is placed in context with say agriculture, then knowledge is created. For example, knowing that if temperatures fall below a certain point in January they tend to last for about a week. Orange farmers in Florida must determine if they are going to harvest early or take other precautions like heating the orchard. The decision will be based on how long oranges can withstand cold conditions at a certain temperature. 

Organizations and companies hold and transfer data and information that can be placed into context allowing an actionable event or an understanding to occur. 

What is Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is a program or system designed to create, capture, share and leverage knowledge towards the success of the organization. This is easier said than done because instituting a knowledge management program requires many changes and support at all levels of the organization. Furthermore, there are different forms of knowledge to contend with and understand.

Knowledge can be tacit or explicit, which requires different strategies to capture each type. Another challenge is to distill the practice of knowledge management into one neat concept.

A Brief History

The origins of knowledge management can be traced back to the late 1970s. Everett Rogers and Thomas Allen’s work in information transfer laid the foundation to the concept of how knowledge is created, implemented, and integrated throughout an organization. 

In the 1980s, knowledge became a focal point to increasing the competitive edge for companies. People like Senge and Sakaiya discussed the advantages of creating learning and knowledge based organization. The primary object during this time was improving business in general.

In the 1990s, knowledge management was introduced into mainstream business management publications. Authors like Tom Stewart, Ikujiro Nonaka, and Hirotaka Takeuchi brought formality to the managing of knowledge. In the mid 1990’s, the Internet became the channel where knowledge management expanded greatly. 

The history of knowledge management has many prominent theorists like Karl Wiig, Peter Drucker, and Paul Strassmann. From information technology to improving how an organization learns, knowledge management started in many areas of business. There is no one source of its history. Nonetheless, knowledge management has a history of producing the kind of change businesses desire in terms of improving the communication of knowledge in order to achieve successful outcomes. 

Today, knowledge management has many applications and is useful in most any discipline in an organization. 

Applications in the Workplace

Knowledge management can be applied to many areas of the organization. Remember that knowledge management is not only storing knowledge. The larger focus is on sharing. With this in mind, applying knowledge management in the workplace is nearly unlimited. Areas that can benefit from knowledge management are as follows:

Applying knowledge management in any one of these areas will lead to improved communication and responsiveness to change.

This post is from January’s topic on Knowledge Management, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Self-leadership involves leading yourself. It involves working on yourself and your skills from the inside out. A self-leader develops and takes responsibility for their actions. A self-leader has the ability or has learned to have the ability to influence their thinking, behaviors, and feelings. This person guides themselves in positives ways, which equals success. 

Sources

Before you can be a self-leader, you need to know ways to become a self-leader. Self- leaders are built from within. They are constantly developing themselves. They work hard for what they want, and work even harder to keep it that way. 

Before Action

To be a proper leader, you need to think about your actions. It is important to realize and understand when it is appropriate to act and when it is not. One must be prepared to act, and it must be done with the best intent.

During

Once you decide to be a self-leader, act like it. You have to change your mindset, and realize you are a leader. Take the actions necessary to fulfill this role. Continually work on yourself. Never be content with where you are. Work to be better. Give your all to establish yourself, and show others that you deserve your role. 

Tips to help a person self-lead:

After Action

Once you have become a self-leader and have taken action to prove it, you need to continue it. In self-leadership, it is your duty and your duty alone to continue to be a self-leader. You must advance yourself and ensure that all of your actions continue to be on the right track and doing what you need them to do. 

To continue self-leadership:

To learn more on this topic, buy our acclaimed self-directed training manual on Self-Leadership for only $9.99. Delivered as downloads, it includes the training manual, action plan template, podcast, and digital badge.

In order to be successful bridging the gap across the generations, you must find common ground that enables you to close the gap and effectively reach your opposing generation.

Adopting a Communication Style

Being sensitive to the way you communicate will help you bridge the generation gap at work. Understanding that the older generation prefers face-to-face communication and the younger prefer electronic methods should give you a base to form a flexible communication style that reaches all generations at work.

Here is an easy way to adopt your communication style. Use the TAP method for communicating. You will have to think a little before you communicate to someone, but the investment is well worth it. TAP stands for the following components:

If you need to address the entire group, younger and older, in an email, make yourself available for follow-up by telling the group to reply, call or see you in person if they have questions.  

Creating an Affinity Group

Affinity groups are groups of people sharing common interests. You can create such groups at work that give different generations a chance to work with each other with an activity, which is not directly work related.  

These groups provide a way for the generations to learn more about each other’s interests and values. You can create several affinity groups, promoting cohesion among the various generations. Affinity groups are usually non-hierarchical. They are typically small and do not require centralization.  

Affinity groups could tend to become closed. That is why allowing groups that focus on non-polarized topics are the best way to introduce affinity groups in your workplace.

Sharing Knowledge

The lack of knowledge could breed fear between generations or lead to misinterpretations. Sharing knowledge helps to break down barriers and create an understanding and collaborative environment. There are many ways knowledge can be shared.  

Here are some ways to share knowledge at work:

This post is from November’s topic on Generation Gaps.

The term generation gap is a term used to describe the different values and attitudes between one generation and another. This term is typically used to describe the gap between parents and their children.  

Since the 1960’s, the term generation gap has also been used to describe the clash one age group has with another in various settings. The workplace is such an environment where different generations must intermingle and deal with each other’s way of thinking.

What Generations Exist in the Workplace

Today’s workplace presents many challenges that are based solely on meeting goals, business objectives, and project deadlines. Threaded throughout the normal business activities are dynamics that could present issues and conflicts if left unchecked.

Since many older workers remain on the job longer and younger workers are entering the workplace right out of college, the work environment is fragmented into various generations. In order to understand this eclectic environment, it is necessary to understand what generations are present in today’s workplace.

Because humans live on average 77 to 80 years, four potential generations may exist in the workplace today.

The four generations that could be present are the Traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y.

Understanding the background, attitudes, and work styles of each generation is essential for a manager or supervisor. If they want to effectively coach and communicate then understanding these differences is paramount in creating a respectful and peaceful work environment for all employees.

What Defines a Generation

A generation is a group of people born during the same period and shares the same attitudes and values. The period is the factor to dividing the generations into groups. The four generations mentioned in the previous section have time ranges that define their period.

For example, the Traditionalist Generation represents people in a generation born before 1946. The Baby Boomers are people born between 1946 and 1961. Generation X represents people born between 1962 and 1980 and Generation Y represents people born in the 1980s and 1990s.

In each period are experiences that shaped the attitudes and values of each generation. In addition, the interaction between generations is also a factor in shaping the subsequent generation. For example, Generation X sought to be different by the larger more influential Baby Boomers. This thinking affects their behaviors and preferences.

What this Means in our Workplace

When groups have the same values and attitudes, communication and other dynamics typically go smoother. When there are multiple groups and each group brings their own style, values, and attitudes, this could create tension and other issues if not paying attention.

Multiple generations in the workplace presents challenges in many areas. Let us review two perspectives that must be managed.

First, the employee-to-employee perspective is critical; it shows how different generations interacting with each other may lead to miscommunication or misunderstanding. Furthermore, the way each generation handles confrontation may also be a point of friction.  

The generation gap between employees could be seen more in the modes of communication, the words, and gestures used.

The manager-to-employee perspective is another sensitive area. Generation gaps in this situation could be difficult if the relationship starts on the wrong foot. For the manager, knowing that there are differences in the way generations communicate, view authority, life-work balance, and relationships is just the beginning.

The manager must also plan how to address these issues proactively, avoiding difficult or tense situations. Having difficult situations at work could lead to poor morale and productivity, which will reflect on the manager’s performance.  

Generation gaps at work means more work is needed to cultivate an environment that respects each generation’s perspective and way of life. This also means the manager has to be observant and knowledgeable of the various traits associated with each generation.

This post is from November’s topic on Generation Gaps.

A few simple steps can help you improve the delivery of your presentation:

As long as you have the confidence to use the room to your advantage, and have your ideas straight in your head, the presentation really will take care of itself for most of the time. You will find that, simply through saying it and hearing it often enough, your speech will evolve to a point where you can make slight adjustments on the spot as and where necessary without it becoming confusing.

Starting Off on the Right Foot

The opening of a presentation has two purposes:

The opening should be very brief, in most cases one to two minutes. In that short span of time, you need to present yourself and your topic in a way that will make your audience want to pay attention. In planning your opening, go back to your analysis of your audience. 

An effective opening convinces your audience that what you are going to say will be worth their time and attention. If you lose them in the first two minutes, there is not much you can do to get them back with you. In some ways the presentation’s most important element is its introduction.

There are many things you can do to catch the audience’s attention. Taking into account that a presentation is generally a quite formal setting, this number is maybe slightly reduced in terms of what you can do to catch the audience’s attention and keep your job. However, if you work on getting the opening right, you will find that your presentations receive the attention they deserve, and that you will be able to hone them to the point where you become a very skilled presenter.

It is worth opening with a bold statement. The statement may be controversial – to the extent that it is something you believe and that some in the audience may disagree with. “Controversy” in this case is more to do with slight differences of opinion than saying something which will offend people. But it is fine to open with a statement along the lines of “X is something which is absolutely essential to the running of a business”, where “X” stands for something that, up to now, many people may not have agreed was essential. Follow this up by saying “I know, many of you may not agree with me, but this is what I plan to prove to you here and now”.

Making a statement which requires backing up will draw the attention of the audience, as they listen in to see how you will back it up. You will also have introduced your subject, and can then follow up with a few lines about how opinions have differed on the subject, but people with more years in the business than you have had very positive, complimentary things to say about it. In some cases, it may be beneficial to write the opening statement for your presentation after you have written the rest of it, as this allows you to make your statement chime with what you are going to say.

To learn more on this topic, buy our acclaimed self-directed training manual on Public Speaking for only $9.99. Delivered as downloads, it includes the training manual, action plan template, podcast, and digital badge.

The key to effective public speaking is preparation. The better you prepare, the more confident you will feel.

Preparation begins with identifying your audience. What do you know about your audience? What do they care about? What’s important to them? Do they have any misconceptions about your topic? These are the kinds of questions you should ask as part of your preparation. Sitting down and listing the questions, and your answers to them, will give you a basic structure for your speech, around which you can add things and take them away as you see fit.

Holding the attention of an audience and speaking to what interests them is the most important thing about any public speech. It is not merely about what you say, but also how you say it. If you have a message you wish to get across, then think of how that message will communicate itself best to the audience you are speaking to.

Performing a Needs Analysis

Preparing for a speech should begin with thinking about the wants and needs of the audience. What are they interested in? What do they care about? No matter how entertaining a speaker you are, people will not give you their full attention unless you are talking about something that is meaningful to them.

You should try to let the audience know early in your speech that you are going to try to address their concerns. Too often a speaker starts out with a lengthy discussion about the history or background of a topic. That is usually not what the audience cares about!  They want to know how this topic will affect their lives.

A needs analysis measures what skills employees have — and what they need.  It indicates how to deliver the right training at the right time.

The method can be simple observation, careful note taking, and asking questions.

Creating an Audience Profile

The audience’s familiarity with an interest in the topic will also be of importance. You may be seeking to educate your audience on the topic in hand, or to communicate your own ideas to an audience who is already familiar with the topic. Deciding between these will help shape your speech – if they are familiar with the topic then it does not hurt to include some jargon, as this may even make your speech that little bit more dynamic – if you don’t need to keep explaining things, you can communicate ideas more effectively.

The mood and opinion of your audience is also important. It will influence the tone and content of your speech, as a nervous or worried audience will require an element of comfort or reassurance, while a celebratory audience will want to share a positive, electric atmosphere and possibly hear some congratulations.

One person speaking to a large crowd is in a unique position – they have the attention of many people and the power to get ideas across that will change mindsets and behavior on a large scale. It is therefore important to consider how you phrase things, and that you correct any persistent misconceptions of which you are aware.

Identifying Key Questions and Concerns

If you have a good understanding of your audience, you can probably predict the key questions and concerns they are likely to have. You may not be able to give the audience the answers they would like to hear, but at least you should be ready to discuss the things they care about most.

Many speeches these days are followed by a question and answer session which allows the audience to raise any issues they do not feel have been fully dealt with by the original speech – but it is better for the audience if the original speech deals with those concerns, as it shows that they have been thought through rather than addressed “on the hoof”.

Predicting questions and concerns should be straightforward. If you are in a position to address a larger group of people, then the chances are that you have knowledge of the issues that affect them and how these can be addressed. It is also possible to take a sounding from people “on the ground” as to what is concerning them. It may well be that you share those concerns and have given some thought to addressing them.

If you can speak intelligently and emotionally about the issues that concern your audience, they will have a lot more trust that you can help provide solutions to problems, and that their position is understood and respected.

It may help before delivering a speech or presentation to make a list of the five most searching questions you expect people to have. Your presentation should then concern itself with answering those questions as well as delivering your own standpoint.

When delivering the speech it is helpful to pay tribute to the fact that these concerns exist, by saying something along the lines of: “And before I go any further, I would like to raise an issue that I know has been foremost among the minds of many here…”. As the audience is giving you their attention, it is simply reasonable that you make clear that they, too, have yours.

To learn more on this topic, buy our acclaimed self-directed training manual on Public Speaking for only $9.99. Delivered as downloads, it includes the training manual, action plan template, podcast, and digital badge.

Influencing other people can have a ripple effect – it can start small but then the efforts begin to grow and grow. Of course we want to influence other people in a positive manner, not a negative one. Through Appreciative Inquiry, we can influence others by not only being positive ourselves, but helping other people make changes in their lives and be a more positive person too.

Using Strengths to Solve Challenges

Every problem or challenge is different. Some of them we can handle on our own. Some of them require help from others. Whatever the case, we know that we can solve the problem the best way we know how by using our inner strengths. Maybe you think well when you look at the big picture or you take a step-by-step approach toward any solution. 

They key is to find what your strength is and use it to your advantage. Use Appreciative Inquiry to ask yourself what kind of strengths have worked for you before. Ask yourself how you felt when you used them to solve a problem and remember how confident you felt afterwards. These Appreciative Inquiry exercises will help you get to the root of your problem and then help you determine how to solve it! 

Confidence Will Promote Positive Change

The perception you have of yourself not only affects how other people see you, but it can affect how you view the world and act in it. Sometimes we can’t control these things, such as embarrassing moments or recent mistakes, but there are many things we can do that can boost our confidence. When we remember our earlier successes or imagine a goal we want to achieve, we get an instant confidence boost and can feel better about the choices we make. When we are confident in ourselves, we are more apt to make positive changes without being fearful and without our own criticism.

Inquiry is a Seed of Change

Many things in our lives have changed so much and continue to grow over time. But what makes them change? What steps do they take to make something different? We’d be surprised to know that the simplest way to make changes is to ask a question. Inquiry is the seed of change because it brings up the mental question of “what if?”.

Through Appreciative Inquiry, anyone can ask a question that seeks to find another type of thinking. When different types of ‘thinkers’ come together, it can create various types of changes that can alter how we view many things in our lives.

People Will Gravitate Towards What is Expected of Them

When you look for a job opening in the want ads, what type of ads do you notice first? Chances are you read the ones that mention your type of skill set, such as a secretary, a chef, or even a construction worker. You feel confident reading these ads first because you know that they are in your area of skills and you’re confident you can do the job. 

The same effect is true for anyone else. When people have an idea of what is expected of them, they are more likely to drift toward that persona. If we are positive and helpful in our own actions, people will naturally want to join in when we encourage them to feel the same way. They feel as though they are expected to feel more positive, upbeat or confident, so they begin to review how they do things and ‘gravitate’ towards a different way of doing things.

This post is from September’s topic on Appreciative Inquiry, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

One of the simplest ways to relieve stress and feel better about ourselves is to change the way we think about things in our lives. Having a positive attitude allows a person to change their own lives because it shows that they have an understanding of their surroundings and feel confident enough to use them to their advantage. But if we hide behind negative thoughts and allow our environment to make us sad or depressed, we may never have the drive to reach for our goals and ambitions.

Shifting from “What’s Wrong?” to “What’s Right?”

One of the first things that can ruin a positive attitude is looking at a situation and only noticing the negative aspects, or the “What’s Wrong” side. Since the main focus of appreciative inquiry is being positive and aiming towards goals, a pessimistic attitude won’t get anyone very far. When presented with a problem, take a few minutes and look at both sides of the problem. Make a mental list of everything that is positive about the situation before touching on the negative aspects. You’ll find that any situation won’t appear as bad as we think when we notice the positive first.

It’s Not Eliminating Mistakes-It’s Holding up Successes

A common misconception that people make is that being positive or progressive means they cannot make mistakes nor have faults. This, of course, is untrue. Mistakes happen all the time, and although they can sometimes be prevented, they cannot be stopped altogether. They key is to learn from your mistakes and then focus on the successes that follow them. 

When a child falls off their bike before learning to ride, we do not focus on how many times they fell, but celebrate when they ride down the sidewalk on their own. Being positive doesn’t mean we eliminate mistakes or problems, we just learn to focus on the achievements we reach. Success leads to more success when we are focused on the positive. 

Positive Language Will Affect People’s Thinking

From a young age we have learned that positive language has more effect on us than negativity. When we tell ourselves “I can’t do that” or “I’ll never finish this”, we normally find ourselves to be right. But if we use more positive and influential phrases and language, we find ourselves feeling more confident and ready to handle any situation. Positive words encourage positive thinking, so add some “I can…” and “I’m great” phrases to your vocabulary! Positivity is contagious, so don’t be afraid to share it with others and encourage them to think positive too.

Limit or Remove Negative Phrasing

As we’ve said before, positive words encourage positive thinking. The same goes for negative phrasing – when we allow ourselves to use negative language, our thoughts become negative.

This post is from September’s topic on Appreciative Inquiry, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.