Four Ideas for a Positive Workforce

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Several times a day he used the ship's speaker system to tell the entire 5,000-member crew what specifically they were doing well, often recognizing teams and individuals. The entire ship hummed with energy and high performance. What kinds of captains are we in our own organizations?

2) Encourage fitness. It's hard to feel positive about much of anything when you don't feel well, and leaders are prone to the exhaustion that comes from long hours, lots of travel, and hectic schedules. Eating well and exercising regularly can make a huge difference in our mood and energy level. Indeed, it's hard to enjoy success over the long term as a leader if we disregard personal fitness. And in addition to making us feel better about ourselves, staying in shape will make other people feel positive about us as well. In working with executives from around the world at CCL, we've found that leaders who exercise regularly receive significantly higher ratings on leadership effectiveness from their bosses, peers, and direct reports than men and women who exercised only sporadically or not at all. In other words, fit leaders give off vibes and get the job done better. We can do our colleagues a real service by setting up voluntary classes on weight loss, exercise, nutrition, and wellness. As leaders, we need to set the tone by taking part in them ourselves.

3) Focus on teams. There's a tendency in many organizations to reward individual performance. Certainly, high performers deserve recognition. But as my CCL colleague Chris Ernst found in his research on leadership across boundaries, many of the biggest challenges that companies face today, from global competition to natural disasters, can only be solved by groups working collaboratively. Having spent much of my life in environments that depend on teamwork, I've learned that team success can generate tremendous positivity. The level of goodwill that comes from a group accomplishment is often greater and more meaningful than that of strictly personal achievements because of the relationships we build and the larger scope of the outcome. Cisco Systems (CSCO), under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer John Chambers, saved itself from possible ruin a decade ago by building a collaborative culture in which groups, rather than individual stars, drive key decisions and products. People felt empowered, and more innovative ideas surfaced. What better way to build positivity at work?

4) Give skepticism its due. It's hard to overstate the importance of positivity in personal and organizational success. Still, we all have colleagues who will tell us "Everything's great!" even when it's not. That doesn't serve us well either. Just a few years ago, many so-called experts were talking up the wonderful state of the U.S. economy as the Dow crossed 14,000. New York University economist Nouriel Roubini, on the other hand, refused to join the crowd. He spoke ominously of mortgage defaults, housing bubbles, and a financial crisis of global proportions. As it turned out, "Dr. Doom" accurately predicted the severe recession from which we're just now beginning to recover. Let's remember the lesson: Skepticism is a crucial counterpoint to positivity, and it's not the same thing as negativity, which destroys rather than nurtures. We all need Roubinis in our organizations who challenge us to revisit our assumptions.

As leaders, we spend a lot of time hiring and retaining talent, reviewing metrics, examining competitors, setting strategy, and ensuring execution. These tasks are essential to success. But what's even more crucial is the attitude we bring to them. Negative mindsets limit possibilities from the very start. Positivity opens up a world of options and opportunities.

John R. Ryan is president of the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of executive education. He previously served as chancellor of the State University of New York and superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. He was a pilot during a 35-year in the Navy, retiring as a vice-admiral.

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