When faced with adversity, it can be a challenge to persevere and have a positive outlook. Monty Python’s Eric Idle wrote Always Look on the Bright Side of Life for the movie “The Life of Brian.” It’s the kind of song that stays with you as you long after the film has ended. If you are a student of ‘positive psychology” then you probably work to maintain some kind of balance between bad news with keeping an optimistic outlook. Sometimes the headlines test our ability to find hope.
For most people, happiness feels better than anger or depression. There are a few studies that even measure the effect an upbeat attitude can have on an organizations bottom line. Research suggests that being happy at work can improve revenue, employee retention, customer loyalty and even employee creativity. It makes some good sense to focus on what you CAN do, what you are good at doing, and what brings joy into your life.
Time to Act
Upbeat professionals and optimistic leaders behave in ways that generate positive energy. If you feel that things are dragging you down, here are some things you can do:
- Communicate positive stories from you customers/clients. Not only are you focusing on the people who support your organization, you are providing reinforcement feedback to employees who should know that what they are doing matters to the recipient of the goods and services of your firm.
- Acknowledge a person who made you more effective. Gratitude and attention improves productivity.
- If a persons’ strengths don’t align with their job responsibilities, see if you can adjust the job. People like to ‘go to their strengths’ and tend to solve problems faster when they are feeling capable of doing so.
- Hire for fit rather than skill. Skills can be taught but a good cultural fit is worth more to your firm in terms of the both the positive energy and emotional strength it brings. These are also both critical attributes when times are tough.
- Look out instead of in. Helping others can be empowering while keeping your attention on what may be going wrong tends to be draining. Complaining may be the default mode of choice, but it IS a choice. Choose to focus on ways you can take action or support others
- Suggest something fun. “Wacky Hat Day,” “Ugly Sweater Day,” or even a scavenger hunt or ‘Employee Bingo’ won’t change the business climate, but these kinds of activities can create an opportunity to lighten up, have some low-cost fun, and help people focus on having a good time. Smiling can be contagious. Even just the physical act of laughing is an exhale that relaxes the muscles.
- Take time to inspire and create. Retreats that focus the team on their work can help them examine how their contributions fit into the larger purpose of the organization. When things improve, you’ll be poised with new ideas and strategies. You can even get the team to explore ways to save money collectively, rather than making a unilateral decision to cut budget or people.
Keep in mind that people may feel upbeat as a result of your positive outlook – however that’s a temporary way to address a problem. It’s not only about how you think – it’s about what you DO.
Hope can disappear if it is left on its own; doing nothing can make the workplace a drain on the psyche. The goal should be to help people stay focused on doing what they CAN so they will be more upbeat. Since each person is unique, employees will define happiness at work differently from each other. Although not everyone thinks Always Look on the Bright Side of Life in funny, by 2014 it was listed as the most popular song to be plays at funerals in Great Britain. Go figure!
