Focus on strengths

SWOT analysis is a great tool to understand more about ourselves as a whole and plan out a strategy that will be best for us. This does narrow down the categories for thought to 4. But, there are line items under each of the categories. It then requires a lot of discipline to connect the S to the O and overcome W while mitigating the Ts.

I firmly believe that the human mind works best if it can focus on fewer items. So, I suggest the undivided constant focus on S (STRENGTHs). If everyone is constantly thinking about what they can do best, they will identify the fitting opportunities as they come up. Then, as they start to pursue the opportunities, they can identify the threats and plan for them. Constant focus on strengths also puts the mind at a "can do" attitude all the time. It also fosters original thought that can spur innovation.

Start every day with undistracted accomplishments

This is perfect for early risers. For those of us that are not, we just need to make time every morning for individual tasks that require no involvement from others. This can be as small as responding to backlogged emails, working out, doing yoga, or meditation. With no dependency on others, these tasks are sure to succeed if we, as individuals have the determination to do them. This sets a positive tone at the start of the day. It will provide a sense of accomplishment, however, small.

Savor every accomplishment

We all accomplish some thing every day. It is just that we move past those without much emphasis. As a manager, we clear hurdles for our teams all the time... as small as getting the right resource to move a project along without noticeable delay. As a leader, we bring about changes in peoples behavior quite often... as small as making someone consistently follow a company/department/team procedure. We play a part in building relationships withing the company and between companies. Every act that is directed towards keeping the ship sailing smooth is worthy of taking note. We avert bigger problems some times through what appears to be a simple act which is part of our everyday work/responsibility. Most big problems stem from small issues, and every small positive act to avert that must be recognized. After every small accomplishment, we must take a brief moment to analyze what actions of ours lead up to that accomplishment and feel good about ourselves for doing that. This will help us fill our minds everyday with our strengths and capabilities to bring about a positive change. It will also serve as a mental knowledge base that we will consciously build everyday. Our mind will be able to draw from this knowledge base unconsciously whenever needed... thus paving the way for more and bigger accomplishments.

View everyone as positive people

Negative thoughts surface in us when we read more negative intent/outcomes in other's actions. If we tuned our mind to read every action of other's as driven by some positive motive, we will not get frustrated with thoughts that they are out to get us. At a very minimum, this will keep us happy and focused on doing our job well. This is very important to stop any cascaded repercussions as well. If our immediate feeling to one of other's actions is unhappiness, then, it would help us to analyze what positive reasons would they have done that for, and what positive outcomes that could provide for us. As soon we find some points for these questions (and we will, if we think), the same situation could make us happy. In the corporate world, everybody has a job to do and passionate professionals always try to do their best. This could be aggressive/abrasive at times, but, it would be best for us to not take any of it personal. If we are smart and passionate, then, our laurels will speak for us.

I cannot thank my mother-in-law enough for being my valued role model practicing this everyday.

Appreciate sincerely and often

All hard work feels good when it is appreciated. Appreciation does not have to be expensive and elaborate. This is probably why most people do not do it as frequently as they should. It can be as simple as a verbal thank you. Effective appreciation needs to be sincere. True expressions of appreciation must be crafted appropriately for the receiver. The receiver must be made aware that their efforts are valued. This cannot be mechanical, because repetitive behavior gets ignored very easily. Each expression must be crafted with attention. As much as possible, the details of the effort must be understood, and the impact of the delivered result must be understood. The message must convey how each aspect of the effort relates to the big picture. This will also invoke greater ownership among the team as well. Sincere appreciation in difficult situations involves being a part of the team, feeling their pain and helping to ease that. Appreciation is the best form of positive reinforcement. More frequent the appreciation, more loyalty we will be able to build up. And this is key to getting things done... as a manager.

The key aspect of every performance review is to summarize the continuous assessment of the team member. This is a prime time to emphasize the positives first. Emphasizing the strengths and contributions at this time fills the team member's heart with good feelings about what they are doing. Then, their mind becomes very receptive to discussions relating to improvement.

This is a valuable lesson that I learned from my wife, and I'm reminded everyday by my 18 month old son's appropriately placed "Goo Job!" praises for actions around him.

Believe in people and expect the best from them

When we consistently believe in the capabilities of our team to achieve and deliver, then we will treat them with respect, encourage them, and appreciate them whenever possible. This will produce the results as per our belief. This whole positive effect is usually referred to as the pygmalion effect. There is a very good write up about this by Eric Garner that is worth reading rather than me explaining it here.

Understand the strengths of others

A personal journal of positives (as indicated in my previous blog) reinforces a "can-do" attitude in us. But, this is sufficient as long as we are individual contributors. As a manager, we need to get things done using our teams. For this to work effectively, we need to take the time to understand the positives/strengths of each member of our team. Then, we need to focus on how we can appropriately provide proper assignments to each team member that mostly utilizes their strengths. This way we will be setting them and ourselves to succeed. Ideally, we should have identified the strengths of each team member at the time of hiring them and we should have made sure that the team is diverse enough to meet the goals.

How to build a positive mindset

Now that I have written my bits on "what" and why", it is now time to start looking at the "how". Since this is a big topic with a lot of different techniques, the "how" will be series of notes. This is the first one in that series.

To build a positive mindset, we must fill our mind with positive episodes from our own lives. This will be reassuring to us, that positive things have happened to us and can happen again. Example of positive episodes could be as simple as how hard we worked on a science project in middle school to get everybody to admire us or as big as how our positive attitude helped us recover well from a serious medical condition. A very simple exercise to fill our minds of this is to start writing a personal journal describing our approach, our thoughts and our pride associated with each episode, one episode at a time. The frequency of this writing can be up to each individual, just frequent enough to not let the positive attitude fade away. I would recommend atleast once a week. As mush as possible, we must try to reflect on the episode that we just wrote until we write the next one. The more we think about it, the better we will feel and the better we feel, more likely we will be to focus on the positives around us and not get bogged down by the negatives.

This approach is a great a confidence builder, and it puts us in control of building up our confidence level. We are the only one who know all about us and we must take charge of our ability to perform optimally, everyday.

Why Positive Management?

Clarity of thought is key to sound decision making. Having one central value to drive decisions provides an easier path to clear thinking. Optimism is the essence of any growth oriented strategic planning. Optimism is the manifestation of internal positive well being. Productive synergy is the natural outcome of a happy team, and happy teams are made up of appreciative members and an encouraging leader. From Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence to Dr. Randy Pausch's last lecture, history is full of examples of positive means to achieve results. These are result oriented acts that one can be proud of for a long time to come.

What is Positive?

Positive energy leads to the creation of win-win situations.

A picture that stays in mind from my childhood days is of the 3 monkeys that represent "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil". I would like to add to this... do no evil. This is another way to explain positive.

In the words of Thiruvalluvar, positive is "Inna seidaarai oruthal ,avar naana nannayam seithuvidal". This tamil aphorism means "How will a man punish those who have done injustice to him? By doing good back to them and shaming them". with his kindness"

Understanding negative sentiments - the cause of problems

People are full of positive energy by default, and this is the natural outcome of any human action. Negative actions are usually uncontrolled reactions to unavoidable circumstances of difficulty. The keywords here are uncontrolled and reaction. Could these reactions be more of actions and can they be controlled by rational human thought process? Absolutely!

Negative actions are easier solutions in difficult situations. They require relativley less thought, courage and time. Because of the level of thought involved and rash nature, they usually gain support and momentum faster. They are a very powerful destructive force in any professional/social organization.