Is Positive Thinking Passé?
by Kelle Olwyler, author of Paradoxical Thinking:  How to Profit from Your Contradictions

Getting a team of employees to work together at optimum performance levels is never easy. It takes wisdom and good judgment, qualities that can't be put into a formula and packaged and sold. We have all run across the hype that positive thinking can fix everything, but in reality each situation has to be weighed for its potential benefits and liabilities. Sometimes a work force can get into trouble by either becoming overly cautious, forecasting a negative outcome for almost anything, or overly optimistic forecasting an unrealistically positive outcome, ignoring the pitfalls and costs. High performance requires that a team establish a healthy balance of the two.

The following is an example of how, at least in one case, the employees solved for themselves this problem of balancing positive and negative projections, and raised their level of performance.

The Director of a non-profit organization hadcalled me in to discuss a problem he was having with severe attitudes of negativity among his staff members.  He was new to the organization, and after four months he was already frustrated with the negativity that permeated all meetings, all services, and the organization as a whole.  In meetings, any suggestion offered by someone was met with criticism and reasons why it wouldn't work.  Problems were impossible to resolve because no one could agree on what the best path would be.  Ultimately when new ideas and resolutions to problems were defeated, it fell upon his shoulders to resolve them. As a result, he had to make arbitrary decisions and force his staff to carry them out, adding to their negativity.

I met with the staff and the Director for a day-long meeting in which together, they identified what they thought were the key issues in the organization, with the board of directors, and with them as a staff.  They themselves identified "negativity" as being one of the biggest problems, along with concern about growth, mission and focus, roles and responsibilities.

In the first day, we focused on the issue of what they termed "negative thinking."  Rather than simply cut out all negative thinking, part of my job was to help them re-evaluate this tendency and harness its constructive aspects.

First I asked them to consider what their responses were to the following questions:

* What are the advantages of negative thinking?
* What are the disadvantages of negative thinking?

This is the list of responses they generated:

Negative thinking can be beneficial when it:

Warns us of danger
"invites" feedback
Calls for reassessment
Leads to constructive skepticism
Encourages us to call for help
Works as a reality check
Demands clarity, quality and correction
Challenges the status quo
Lets off steam
Punctures sacred cows

Negative thinking can be a disadvantage when it:
Becomes unconstructive or even destructive
Demoralizes and de-energizes the team
Becomes repressive and inhibiting
Creates resentment and validates the "I told you so" mentality
Creates stasis and a lack of excitement
Blocks creativity and causes burnout
Creates separation and undermines team work
Becomes time-consuming and unproductive
Forces positive people to leave

The staff observed that a negative attitude within a group reinforces a feeling of insecurity which leads to fear. Fear can lead to paranoia, victim mentality and other reactive behavior. This in turn can promote classic turf issues; leading to collusion among friends and sabotage among adversaries.

The staff agreed that they didn't want to continue heading in that direction.  They agreed that they needed to cultivate a positive atmosphere. So I asked them the same process in relationship to "positive thinking" and this is what they, together, came up with:

Positive thinking can be beneficial when it:
Generates forward movement
Creates constructive and productive relationships
Mitigates stress
Creates an energizing and creative space in which to work
Creates an inclusive, supportive, appreciative and respectful atmosphere
Provides space for new thought
Creates a loving, spirited, happy, and healing environment

The staff observed that positive thinking is more fun and makes everyone feel good about the work. It creates a dynamic, visionary, view of life that in more inviting, more unlimited, and more creative. They agreed they wanted to proceed in this direction, but were cautious as to the "blind spots" it might create.

Once again, we used the same technique, and together we created a "downsides" list for positive thinking. This is an important phase for self-evaluation which is often overlooked.  Just as making a critique of negative projections can unleash creativity and high performance, a critique of positive projections can have the same effect.

Positive thinking can be a disadvantage when it:
Becomes Pollyanna-ish and ungrounded
Is unrealistic and untrustworthy
Blinds you to the pitfalls and consequences of your actions
Promotes denial
Becomes exclusive vs. inclusive
Becomes non-questioning
Becomes unbalanced

After all was said and done, we reexamined the whole process and integrated our findings. Together we came to the conclusion that both positive and negative thinking have a place in the scheme of things, but that each had a "mature" and an "immature" aspect.
In other words, each of us is born with inherent "positive" and "negative" coping mechanisms that help navigate us through our lives and make important decisions. We couldn't survive without them. At first these efforts may be childish, but with observation and experience we become more skillful in applying them in complex situations. There doesn't seem to be any end to this maturation process, but High Performance is the result of "mature" evaluation mechanisms, whereas Low Performance is the result of "immature" ones.

The downsides of positive and negative thinking that they had listed were merely immature expressions of a useful evaluation mechanism. Taking this realization to heart, the staff then developed a statement that included the mature aspects of both negative thinking and positive thinking. They created a motto or pledge to keep them on track:

We pledge: "To make reality checks by seeking out constructive skepticism, challenging the status quo, and facilitating constructive criticism. At the same time, we will make every effort to grow in our capacity to function successfully as a team by healing what hasn't worked and by energizing and inspiring each other and the group."

It is always encouraging to find that even the most disunited staff can come up with viable answers to their problems when posed the right questions.

To ensure that they had a clear understanding of what it could look like if they were immersed fully in the harmful or immature aspects of negative thinking and positive thinking, I had them develop a nightmare statement or pledge. They had a lot of fun with this one, but it served its purpose.

OUR NIGHTMARE IS:  "To make the best of "sacred cows" because we are operating with an unrealistic vision and are unwilling to look at consequences; we are in a victim mentality that is wasteful, non-constructive and inhibiting and keeps us in a continual uncreative state, all of which makes us unbelievable and untrustworthy to everyone around us!"

As a final step, the staff created a set of guiding principals to reverse the trend of negative thinking in their organization, and bring it back into a healthy balance.  Every staff member made a commitment to practice these principles for a period of three months, then to re-evaluate.

Whenever the group found themselves labeling something as "undesirable" they would try to uncover the mature aspects it was ineffectively expressing. When they found themselves labeling something as "desirable" they would try to uncover the immature aspects inherent in it, so that problems could be prevented proactively. It was a new and paradoxical way of thinking. Through making seemingly contradictory concepts real simultaneously, a deeper truth was found. It was this element of discovery that made every situation a new adventure for them.

In the months that followed, the change in attitude and the energy among staff members was palpable. They were excited about coming into work; they communicated more openly with one another. The quality of services they provided shifted dramatically for the better. MORALE SOARED. And all it took was one day of focused evaluation and discussion to set a new course for the team, a course which assured their high performance for years to come.

Does your department have one day to spare? It's a question you might want to evaluate.