By bringing optimism to the workplace, you can create a stronger desire to win and for achievement. Your hopeful attitude will embolden your team to get more done every day. It becomes a positive force that has the ability to drive your team to great accomplishments and also drive them to improve your key metrics such as sales and conversion.
Being genuinely optimistic will produce an atmosphere that the business environment will get better no matter what the circumstances are. If your business is failing, you can be realistic, but also optimistic that you will return to profitability. Your team needs reassurance that you will get the business in order. If you are currently successful, your confidence can develop new growth and continued development.
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
-Helen Keller
While serving in the Army for more than twenty years, I developed optimism as a life philosophy. No matter what combat deployment I was on or what mission I was facing, I knew that tomorrow was going to be better than today. We were going to get through today’s challenges. My teams looked to me for a positive outlook, not doom and gloom. We will win and overcome whatever obstacle is in our way. I knew that we could be flexible as we achieved our mission and that our preparation, our training, and our positive attitudes would lead to a victory.
Here are a few key areas to focus on as you bring a more optimistic view to the business:
- Believing that every day will get better. Focus on improvement and fostering the will to win every day. Tomorrow is always a better situation where you can celebrate an achievement. As the leader, you can bring the belief and the motivation that the work you are doing can create positive results and grow your business.
- Being positive about what you do. When you get bad news, don’t overreact. Find a way to overcome the adversity. Rally the team to develop an idea, to perform an analysis, and to create a positive outcome in the next situation or business period. Find a solution. Lead your team creatively.
- There is an opportunity with every challenge. You have to believe that with every setback there will be growth that follows. For example, if you are not drawing the traffic into your business that you need, challenge the team to conduct a fresh analysis, to bring out new ideas, and to take a risk to figure out new ways to bring the people in. Don’t be overly critical and negative. Believe that you can figure it out and utilize the skills and talents of the people around you to succeed.
The key idea is that you believe that your business can grow and that your team will be successful. Don’t quit believing that you can create an environment of winning and excellence. Your team is relying on you to bring optimism and a positive outlook that can translate into growth. Pessimism can destroy your team’s will to overcome adversity and to win.
“Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.”
-William James, Father of American psychology
How can you bring more optimism to your team, and what do you believe that optimism will do to improve achievement? Please comment or email me at comment@stephenmclain.com.
Copyright 2016 – Stephen McLain