Creating Positivity

TwoTen Magazine caught up with Jon Gordon at the World Leader’s Conference in West Palm Beach, FL. Jon is an accomplished writer, speaker, and consultant for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams, schools, universities and nonprofit organizations.

Jon develops positive and engaging leaders, organizations and teams as he both challenges and entertains his audiences.  He is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller The Energy Bus, The No Complaining Rule, The Shark and The Goldfish, Soup, The Seed and his latest book, The Positive Dog.  TwoTen wanted to learn more about how positivity can change the culture of the workplace, so we asked him the following questions:

1. TwoTen

What are the keys to casting a positive vision that your team will want to follow?

1. Jon Gordon

A great vision is simple, clear, bold and compelling. It’s something everyone on your team can remember, recite and rally behind. It’s important for your team to know where you are going, but it’s even more important to know why you want to go there. Your vision must also have a powerful purpose behind it. When you have a purpose that drives you towards your vision, your team will work harder, longer and more powerfully.

1. TwoTen

How do you keep the vision in the forefront of the minds of the team members?

1. Jon Gordon

As a leader you must share the vision all the time. Doug Conant, the former CEO of Campbell’s Soup, said sharing the vision was the most important part of his job, and he did it every day. Share the vision in conversations, meetings, emails, signage, etc. Start every meeting with the vision, and ask, “How are we doing?” Then, most importantly, know that it can’t just exist on a piece of paper. It must come alive in the hearts and minds of everyone on your team. Each person on your team must not only know the vision but also identify what it means to them and how they can contribute to it each day.

1. TwoTen

Describe some ways to keep energy and enthusiasm up in an organization.

1. Jon Gordon

Culture drives behavior, behavior drives habits and habits create our future. If we want our team to be energized, we must create a positive culture that fuels them and their performance. Too many organizations create cultures that drain people rather than fuel them. To do this I often share 4 C’s with audiences.

First, focus on being contagious, in a positive way. If you share positive energy, your team will feel it and respond to it. Smiles, kind words and positive emotions are contagious.

Second, make sure you communicate with your team. Communication builds trust, and trust enhances teamwork and performance.

Third, it’s also essential to coach your team by encouraging, mentoring and developing them. When you develop your team and make them better, they will be more excited about working with you.

Fourth, it’s all about caring. When people know you care about them, they are more engaged. It sounds simple, but it requires effort and focus to remember what matters most.

1. TwoTen

How do you handle negativity?

1. Jon Gordon

You have to confront it and weed it out of your organization. I believe the biggest impact I have had on leaders and organizations is helping them confront and handle negativity in a productive way. The best way to deal with negativity is at the cultural level. Explain to your team that mindless complaining isn’t acceptable. Energy vampires will be frowned upon.

Positive interactions should be fostered and encouraged and negativity that sabotages your morale and teamwork must be reduced. Share the costs of negativity and the benefits of positivity and optimism. Many organizations read The Energy Bus and this helps everyone in the organization speak the same language and build a positive culture.

"Positive interactions should be fostered and encouraged and negativity that sabotages your morale and teamwork must be reduced."Jon Gordon

1. TwoTen

When things are grim, how do you personally and corporately stay positive without being phony?

1. Jon Gordon

The key is to confront the brutal facts, as Jim Collins often says. You understand the reality of your situation, but then you lead with optimism and create a plan to create a brighter and better future. You ask what you can learn from this experience. How you can grow from it. What do you want to do now? And decide what actions need to be taken. You move forward with faith and take action each day to move forward with purpose towards your vision.

1. TwoTen

Is it possible to be positive in the face of a loss, e.g. loss of contract, bid, large project?

1. Jon Gordon

Of course. You allow yourself to be disappointed, sad, upset for a little while. Then you get back up and use your LOSS as an opportunity for growth. In my family LOSS stands for: Learning Opportunity Stay Strong. Every loss we have is an opportunity to learn from it, grow stronger because of it. By staying strong and optimistic we create more success in the future. Everyone has losses. But winners, champions and successful businesses turn their losses into future victories.

1. TwoTen

In all the companies you have consulted for, where have you seen the greatest impact of positivity?

1. Jon Gordon

I’ve seen it in a lot of places. I’ve worked with professional and college sports teams and have seen a huge impact. I’ve heard from leaders of UPS in the Northwest region that saw a huge upside after introducing The Energy Bus to their 1,000 leaders and 11,000 employees. I’ve seen companies like Gallagher Bassett, Bona, Re/Max and others enhance their culture and infuse their organization with positivity. The research is clear. When we cultivate more positivity in our organizations, we enhance leadership, teamwork and performance. That makes for a better bottom line and a thriving workplace. It’s my life’s work, and it is rewarding to see it make a difference.