Week 4- Use your positivity to build positivity in others

My motivation for writing these articles about positivity is to help create this capability in all of us. We know how positivity aids creativity and innovation, and it is fundamental to emotional resilience, and in change and transformation, these are essential ingredients for success.

This week I want to show how your capability for positivity can be used to help others who are struggling. I am coaching someone who has had a significant promotion. It has been 2 months now, and he is failing to see the upside of this development in his career. Instead, he continually focuses on what he has left behind:

1. He has lost his original peer group since he has become their boss, and they are now his direct reports.
2. He has lost his day-to-day work, as he now has a new set of strategic responsibilities and far fewer tactical activities to complete.
3. He has lost the feeling that he is respected for his knowledge and ability because instead of being the shining star in his previous peer group, he has joined a new group where there are more star players with more experience and skills than he has.

Whilst I appreciate the short-term pain of his change, my role is to use my positivity to help him see advantages and improvements that are currently blocked by the fear and worries he is experiencing. For each of the areas where he sees loss, it is my job to highlight the alternative, more positive view:

1. He has a set of direct reports that he knows very well, with established respect and trust. He can build on this by helping this group continue developing their skills.
2. I remind him that he was getting bored of the repetitive nature of his former responsibilities. These new strategic responsibilities allow him to think more deeply and to stretch himself to learn new skills, which is fundamental to contentment at work.
3. By joining this new group of directors, he will be stretched to learn new things, and they are a group that he can learn from. He can identify each of their areas of expertise and, over time, get to know what they know, which will broaden and deepen his own skill set.

We must be ready to step in and help others find the positives in their situation, often by taking whatever they are worried about and finding the upsides, improvements and advantages. This is essential to resilience building. If you want to learn more about emotional resilience, join me for my webinar on Wednesday 1st March.