Back to basics: how the power of positivity will prevail through the next stage of the pandemic

With restrictions getting tighter and more unknowns ahead, how are you going to ensure your staff stay positive and productive, even when you’re not physically together? We are headed into unknown territory again, and who knows where our teams will be working this time next week?

With more and more cities dropping into tier 3 like flies, it is likely that many of us will face unwelcome though perhaps familiar challenges in the weeks ahead.

How will you maintain a positive culture within your organisation if you are forced back to remote working having only recently re-entered the office?

How will you continue to inspire and facilitate your team to great results when moods dip thanks to tighter restrictions coming into play once more?

Never has harnessing the power of positivity been so crucial.

Indeed, genuine positivity is about so much more than simple optimism, or “hoping for the best” – neither of which will help you build resilience within your team and pursue profit and productivity regardless of tighter restrictions.

 But the positivity must start with you.

This new sense of chaos and confusion about who should be doing what in different parts of the country might indeed bring about a sense of despair. I have listened to calls from enough distressed business owners on Radio 5 Live to know that this is true in many cases.

But if you are able to reframe your present and prime yourself for positivity now, you will lead your team with Grace through whatever lies ahead. And your approach will affect not just yourself, but your staff and your business’s results too.

Even with your staff at distance, even on Zoom or Teams or whatever other conference calling software you favour, if you can get a handle on your own way of thinking and bring yourself into a positive state, your business will reap the benefits.

What happens when you lead with Grace?

Harnessing the power of positivity and leading with Grace not only allows you to become more approachable and someone that your team will want to follow, but it can set off an emotional contagion within your team too.

At a time when seemingly the entire nation’s mental health is under attack from left, right and centre, your teams will benefit not just in terms of their productivity while they work, but in their personal lives too, which will in turn lead to better performance for you. The effects of positivity are manifold:

·        Greater self-esteem

·      Less distraction from goals

·      Less concern over challenges

·      Greater productivity

·      Better sales results

·      Fewer sick days

·      A stronger immune system and pain threshold

·      Lower blood pressure

·      Less susceptibility to clinical depression

Has there ever been a more crucial time to instil these effects among your staff than during this pandemic? I seriously doubt it.

And if you can take the right approach and indeed help your staff not only to follow you, but to understand the power of positivity themselves, you will have less to fear during this next stage of the pandemic.

What ways can you think of that will allow you to exemplify this way of thinking if your staff aren’t working in the office this time next week?

If you would like to learn more about the principles of positivity, how to reframe your way of thinking and prime your teams for optimism and better results – even when you aren’t physically together – you would do well to read my new book, Positive Leadership, Positive Change.