Transformational thinking occurs by efforts at home and in the workplace.  Think of how many hours you spend at your job.  You spend more hours on the job than at home.   I was rummaging around in my vast archives to find something to write about today and came across an article that was written in the January 1984 issue of Management Review.  It’s written by Arthur C. Beck and Ellis D. Hillmar.  This information is timeless and still appropriate for today’s manager, or any employee.  If you think about it, aren’t you your own manager?  You make a difference…empower yourself and by osmosis you will empower others.  Many of my readers work in an environment less than desirable, but now is not the time to throw up your hands and quit – it’s the time for self-examination and turning lemons into a Lemon Drop Martini to get you through these rough economic times.

The article is called What Managers Can do to Turn Around Negative Attitudes in an Organization. 

Thus I quote and paraphrase:

Negative Energy

Organizations experiencing negative energy frequently are faced with poor employee performance.  Great energy is expended on attacking individuals, avoidance, anger and punitive action at the expense of promoting exceptional positive performance.

Statements such as “Things will never change.” Or “You just can’t win,” indicate the level of despair associated with negative energy.  While the excitement of anger and hostility may be intense, it is counterproductive and fosters poor problem-solving efforts.  When people’s positive energies are absorbed or neutralized by these negatives, they are unable to engage in problem solving effectively.  Low trust levels prevail, and there is little risk taking.  Individuals do the minimum because it is safe and in keeping with the energy available to do the job.

Transforming Negative to Positive

Take 30 seconds to think about a negative experience that you have had where you felt very bad.  Re-experience those feelings.

Take another 30 seconds to reflect on a very pleasant experience that you have had.  Re-experience those feelings.

What did you find out?  You may have demonstrated that you can create your own feelings, both pleasant and unpleasant.  Know that you can refocus and change your unpleasant or negative feelings to positive feelings in less than a minute anytime you wish.  The attitudinal choice is yours. (Queen’s emphasis here.)

Managerial Transformation Techniques

Model positive behavior.  Expect a lot from people, support them, hold them accountable, confront them, and above all be clear and honest with them without damaging their self-esteem.  The positive orientation needs to permeate the organization and be articulate in its goals and concerns.

Acknowledge Negativity.  If negative energy is present, do not deny it, ignore it, or put people down with statements like, “you shouldn’t feel that way”, or “that’s a dumb way to look at things.”  Accept that condition as reality, look for the cause and develop strategies for transforming the negative energy into positive, i.e., “I understand how you feel.  What would you like to do about this problem?”  Get the negatives out into the open and then start listing the positives.

Give positive recognition often.  Providing positive recognition is probably the most significant strategy to establish and maintain positive energy.

Refrain from collusion on negativity.  Getting caught up in the “bitching” or “ain’t it awful!” conversations is easy to do. When faced with such conversations, refrain from collusion.  Strategies for dealing with negative conversations could be asking what can be done to improve the situation or ask what the positives are in the situation being discussed.

Refrain from using putdowns.  Negative words, and killer phrases, such as “we tried that years ago” and “we don’t do it that way here” need to be eliminated.

Be specific and clear:

• Talk directly to an individual in a specific way instead of broadcasting to an undefined group
• Say what you mean, speak in clear simple sentences
• Avoid telling others what they should or should not do
• Avoid exaggerating words such as everybody, nobody, always and never

The job of transforming an organization’s energy from negative to positive rests with both the individual manager and the organization.  While the transformation may take time, it will be quite beneficial.  Positive energy will enable people to rise to new levels of accomplishment and self-esteem.

Tags: employee, manager, positive attitude, transformational thinking, workplace