Episode #290: Banish Personal Negativity

The boss is the fountain of positivity for the team, like a fountain of youth of lore and legend. We have to stand tall, no matter what is going on, because people rely on us to lead. That means reassuring them that the company will be okay or the section will be okay and that we will all get through this current difficulty. When things look grim, who are the people first out the door? The low or average performer? No, it is always the best people who jump ship, because they always have options. The first sign of top performer overboard has everyone else worrying about what did that person know that they don’t? The feeling of insecurity triggers people searching for exits, before it is too late. The boss is the bulwark standing firm against the tide of panic and confusion. What happens however when the boss becomes negative?

We all know what we are supposed to do, what type of role model we should be. But we have human frailties. We are not robots, devoid of feelings, who can toil around the clock, with perfect consistency. We have our personal health, financial and family issues bubbling along at home, as we belt the crocodiles with our oars from our work canoe. Once we go dark and negative, we can spiral into depression. Even such a famous and successful person as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill struggled with what he called the “black dog” of depression.

If we do feel negative and worried, how do we lift ourselves out of the bog, out of the morass sucking us down? Here are two ideas to form a positive energy force to counteract the oily, rising, roiling, black tide tsunami about to come down upon our heads.

We often use the Value Tower exercise with sales teams to reacquaint them with the strength and value of their offering for buyers. You can do it individually both for yourself and your business. The methodology is the same. For fifteen minutes in serene silence, write down on post it notes, all the value you personally bring to the work. Write one idea per note. Once you have done that, place the notes on a white board and start arranging them into columns of like ideas. Give each column a name. Have a look at what you have come up with.

Repeat this process for another fifteen minutes. The second time the ideas won’t come as quickly, but don’t be alarmed, because they will come, as we are now accessing our deeper levels thought process. Again, take the post it notes and now place them into the appropriate column or create new columns. You may think you are done, but now we go a third time. This time we spend just ten minutes going through the same brainstorming method. Ideas will be fewer but probably a lot deeper this last time. Attach them to their column.

Having gotten all the ideas out, now start making some judgments about the priorities of ideas in each column. Start moving notes around, until you can get a hierarchy of value in each column, with the best at the top. Do this from the point of view of an outside observer, who was making an objective calculation of the value that you bring to the team and the work. Finally, arrange the top group of items from each column into a single priority list, mimicking a tower and running from top to bottom.

Having done all of that for yourself, do it again for the business. This time you elevate the scope from you individually to the whole firm point of view. Look at what value the firm provides for the buyers. Go through the three rounds as before. When making judgments about priority value provided, arrange the items judged from the point of view of the buyer. Look at it this way, rather than what your company may think is more important. You will wind up with two magnificent lists of value that you personally bring to the table and where your company is strongly regarded in the market.

Emphasise the company’s strengths in your briefings to the team. Make a point of dwelling on the positives with them. Reinforce their belief in the righteousness of what you are all doing. Hammer hard the WHY of what you are all doing. Re-explain the Vision, the Mission, the Values of the organization. Talk in terms of specifics from your list rather than vague generalities. This lends more credence to the points you are expressing. Keep repeating this at regular intervals, because people need to hear it constantly for it to register with them.

Also, take your own personal list of your value and re-read it everyday. Make the time for it, because this is your engine we are talking about and these points are the fuel. Fill your mind with the positive to counter all the negativity flying around inside your head, the firm and in the market.

Stop watching the daily news cycle, don’t read newspapers or allow any negativity into your brain. Spend the saved time reading things which will help your work on leadership, persuasion skills, sales techniques, etc. Don’t spend any more time than necessary around negative people. Look for the positive people and hang out with them. If you do this, you will right the ship. You will become the beacon of light and hope on the hill. You are their leader, so lead!