When times are tough, positivity is more important than ever

During this fairly miserable time of year, it’s difficult to escape the doom and gloom headlines about world events, post-pandemic recovery and the cost-of-living crisis. While human instinct may tempt you to pull back on messaging and hunker down, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

It’s not insensitive to be positive during a downturn. In fact, it’s necessary for brands, employees, and customers. When businesses go silent, it only reinforces the fear and estrangement, we all feel in times of crisis.

Positivity isn’t just a fleeting emotion; it’s a powerful force that can shape the culture, productivity, and success of an organization.

As such, businesses need to remain positive, use positive language and encourage their team to be positive, even when times are tough. A lot of things are outside of our control and while we can’t physically control what happens, we can control how we respond to them.

Positivity and negativity are a double-edged sword. They are self-winding mechanisms that can spread in the tiniest of ways.

Imagine your thoughts as radio waves that are projected out into the world. If other brains were there to receive them then they would become self-fulfilling prophecies. If you’re negative, your negative “radio waves” are broadcast to everyone else, bringing them down too. If you’re positive, then your positive “frequencies” resonate with everyone else.

In this aspect, the language we use is so important. Especially in people-centric industries, it’s imperative to not view challenges as obstacles but instead as opportunities. People want to feel that change is possible and will have a positive impact.

People are looking for hope. And while we necessarily can’t change the world right away, we can change the impact we have on the people around us.

Starting from the top

Positive thinking is a transformative force that can revolutionize the way businesses navigate their day-to-day operations. But it needs to start from the top.

If leaders aren’t feeling positive, then this impacts the whole organization as employees are likely to take their cues from them. Alternatively, when employees observe their leaders embracing challenges with a positive attitude, they are more likely to follow suit, leading to a culture of optimism and enthusiasm.

Life is serious, business is serious, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to have a joke and enjoy it.

As a boss, encourage positive language and terms. Encourage employees to embrace creative problem-solving and build on ideas.

Bring that incremental positive energy and have fun together. Business and life itself can be hard so celebrate the small things by socializing and eating together, to build that community feel and enhance your working relationships.

The more positive you feel, the better you, your employees and your business will perform.

Leaders can inspire their teams to achieve higher levels of productivity, creativity, and collaboration by cultivating a more supportive and inclusive work environment that encourages positivity, open communication, and idea-sharing.

This ability to navigate modern business challenges effectively and inspire teams to achieve greatness is a key differentiator between successful and struggling organizations, with businesses that maintain this optimistic outlook being better equipped to tackle obstacles and setbacks.

Instead of dwelling on problems, focus on finding solutions and encouraging creativity and innovation among your team members. This mindset shift can empower you to view challenges as opportunities for growth, fostering resilience and adaptability.

By exuding positivity, you can create an environment where employees feel motivated, engaged, and empowered.

The ripple effect

When your mind is in a positive place, you invite good things into your life and open yourself up to achieving success.

This positive attitude can soon create a ripple effect that spreads through an organization’s culture, positively impacting the employee’s creative problem-solving ability.

A primary element of problem-solving is the ability to approach situations from a mindful and clear-headed perspective. Those who think positively have a greater capacity to embrace new information, thus improving their ability to connect the dots and tackle problems.

Similarly, decision-making is closely tied to problem-solving, involving many of the same factors. If you’re in a negative frame of mind, you’re less likely to make decisions that have a positive impact. Being positive enables you to recognize and seize opportunities that others might overlook, leading to innovative solutions and a competitive edge. Moreover, it encourages you and your team to think creatively, take risks and challenge the status quo.

Because we are surrounded by negativity, remaining positive is easier said than done.

Think of negativity as the equivalent to your business being stuck in quicksand. As soon as one person starts being negative, everyone else gets dragged down with them. It’s important then to call it out before it breeds throughout your organization.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Yeah, there are lots of things wrong at the minute, but when hasn’t there been? When I grew up, there was a constant threat of nuclear war and heck, 20,000 years ago, large parts of the Northern Hemisphere was covered in ice.

Either way, the human species doesn’t give up. By remaining positive and upbeat, our resilience and naturally positive attitude has always shone through. And this shows, with statistics suggesting that positive people live 11-15% longer than negative people…