Let’s Talk About Something Positive!
It’s becoming very apparent to me personally, that no matter who you speak to, where they’re from or what you’re speaking about, there is so much negativity in the world. To be frank it’s a little bit draining – personally I have a positive outlook on life– I’m not saying everyone should be like me but I ask the question “what does being negative about something achieve?”
I’ll hold my hands up, if something doesn’t go my way I may I become frustrated, however, once I have had time to reflect and asked myself the question “what does being negative about something achieve?” I snap out of it and get on with my day.
Have a little think to yourself… in the last week how times has someone: said something negative, been negative or even done something that caused negativity… Ok good. Now I want you to ask yourself the question “What did that achieve?”. If you can jot down more than five positive outcomes from being negative then fair play and I’d stop reading this blog now. It’s all about how you define positivity and negativity.
But why be positive?
It’s an amazing question and the best bit is no matter what answer I give I cannot be wrong, as surely if anyone questioned it then that would be being negative!
For me personally it is important to be positive as it has an immense effect on the team around you. Whether that be your “team” at home (family) or your colleagues at work. It all links to EVP (Employee Value Proposition) within the workplace. If you have a team who are positive, then it’s more than likely that they’re going to communicate effectively, when people communicate effectively, typically employees are more engaged. When people are more engaged normally productivity increases and when productivity increases it tends to have a correlation with improved business results – If only it was that easy!
In all seriousness positivity within the workplace from a leadership level can be so effective. For example; if you have a HR leadership team who are keen to make impactful changes and reshape the way in which HR operates, then that creates positivity – it’s something different, it’s exciting. When that leadership team deliver their plans to the wider business/HR function if they go in with a positive attitude, then the projects will be delivered with tangible results and a bit of personality to them. Alternatively, you may have a HR leadership team who are delivering change and transformation from a compliance perspective or because “everyone else is”. They roll out their plans straight from the box, don’t make them bespoke to their business and it has an adverse effect… this creates negativity!
Hopefully the above example will show you why it’s important to be positive… it doesn’t just affect your performance but it actually affects the performance of those around you.
We work in business, we need to be professional…
It’s very interesting observing each stakeholder I come into contact with. I work with a broad range of professionals within HR and change, all the way from administrator through to C suite. Some people seem so hooked on the “I work in business, it’s me against the world, I’ve been promoted into a new role and have a new job title so I’m going to show my authority” method. Which is great and works for some people. Personally I see this as a “negative virus” within businesses.
However, the business world seems to be moving away from the traditional culture mentioned above, into one that is a lot more honest and flexible. Personally, honesty creates positivity… it’s just about how you define “positivity”. For me positivity comes when I add something to my tool bag, I may learn a more streamlined way of completing a process, I may learn some new information or may even learn a hard lesson – some people would say the last example is negative, however, I ask the question “what does being negative about doing something wrong achieve?”.
Why’s it relevant to HR transformation?
I began to elude to the relevance of positivity to HR and HR transformation projects above. At the moment, a lot of businesses are suffering with high attrition rates, struggling to retain staff, poor engagement levels, dreadful communications and some even struggle to attract the talent in the first place.
Put yourself in a candidate’s shoes. You’re looking for a new job, if someone was to ask you “from a culture perspective, what type of business would you like to work for?” What would you say? 7 out of the 10 candidates that I have spoken to within the last week said that from a culture perspective, positivity or a forward thinking/collaborative organisation would be there preference. Not the “I now have a manager job title so it’s my way or no way” technique.
What about internally, if someone was to ask you what improvements/suggestions do you have for the business (just like you would in an appraisal), would you link anything to positivity, a forward-thinking culture or anything like that?
Summary
Everything is getting more and more expensive, United have just paid £100m for a bang average striker!
As things begin to get more expensive, it’s important for businesses to utilise what’s free and half of the time it is already existing within the business! Positivity will not cost you a penny, yet it can be so effective when looking to implement change and drive your business forward.
A lot of people would benefit from removing stigma’s, making pre-judgements and putting people into a box. Be open minded, be forward thinking and be POSITIVE!
