Here’s the overview of the second part from my next book: “Positive Power at Work – How to make a positive difference from any position.” Do you want to have more impact? Part Two explores what the “Positive Mindset of Possibilities” entails – compared to conventional thinking. This is where you start to expand the difference you make! You can …
Positive Power – Overview Part One
Welcome to this overview of the first 18 blog posts from my next book: “Positive Power at Work – How to make a positive difference from any position.” You can make a positive difference from any position, without needing permission or resources from others. This book will help you see positive possibilities and (re)claim your positive agency. Unstuck yourself and …
What is your Purpose?
You might have an idea of your big Why, your drive or purpose. What is the legacy you would like to leave? What is your contribution that you love to give, your strengths, values, and criteria? So, what is your purpose? Next, write down your vision and mission statement: an intention of who you want to be and how you …
How well do you know yourself?
Research shows that you deliver your greatest contribution if you know yourself well and use your strengths and work according to your values. Here are some exercises and questions to use. The Best Possible Self (BPS) exercise asks you to envision yourself in an imaginary future while everything turned out in the best possible way. Writing and imagining a BPS …
What do you love to do?
A colleague of mine once took a taxi from the airport. The taxi driver asked him what he did. He said he was a consultant who helped organizations become better at change and improve their performance. “That’s not what you do,” the driver disagreed. “What you do is what makes you happy. That’s your gift to the world regardless of …
Are you willing, able and ready?
But what if challenging beliefs like we discussed in the last post doesn’t work? You are willing but not fully able to be a positive agent just yet. We’re not ready. We might need to do some inner work on the level ME. Why? Because you can’t erase your upbringing in the conventional mindset and your life experiences to date …
How to change beliefs?
Do you want to adopt the beliefs and behaviors of the positive mindset? I hope you do. This next part (about 14 blog posts) will be about the “inner work” you can do to develop your personal potential: change beliefs, know yourself better, find your purpose, transcend your fears and what is holding you back, and so on. If we …
Positive leaders are like WiFi
Executive coach Steve Gladis also researched the researchers on positivity and wrote “Positive Leadership – the Game Changer at Work”. He quotes the notorious Gallup research: Currently, only 20% of the work population is actively engaged at work – so 80% are not! Many people dread going to work on Monday because their “conventional industrial age-organization” makes them suffer. This …
Why and how positivity pays off
Professor Kim Cameron wrote “Positive Leadership – Strategies for extraordinary performance”, a concise guide that contains compelling research on the effects of Positive Leadership. It’s inspiring to see this collection of evidence – and to see what scientific research has confirmed. Although many findings may invoke a “duh” because it’s what you intuitively know to be true. Nevertheless, for the …
Why do we need the positive mindset of possibilities?
Now that we’ve seen the positive mindset compared to a conventional mindset, and how it fits into our stages of human and organization development, let’s look at why this positive mindset is so important. Why would you try to think positive? Isn’t it safer to stay skeptical, or cynical about our current world and workplaces? You’ll save yourself the pain …
Teal Organizations and Cultures
Let’s continue our discussion of the development stages as described by Frederic Laloux. In Evolutionary-Teal we shift from external yardsticks to internal ones in decision making. It doesn’t matter if I get what I want (Red), I conform to social norms (Amber), I am effective and successful (Orange) or that I belong and have a say (Green). Now, I check: …
Mindset development – where are we headed?
We’ve discussed the two mental maps of conventional thinking and of positive possibilities – and how they both can help us navigate the many situations we encounter. But, if we are honest, isn’t one better than the other? Isn’t there some evolution in our mindsets? The answer to the latter question is yes. Our world views evolve based on our …
The positive mindset – to broaden your view
Now that we’ve looked at some models and mental maps, let’s compare the conventional mental map of “control and constraint” with the mindset of positive possibilities. As the world develops, we need to become bilingual to broaden our response repertory and to benefit from both maps. We can let the maps work together as allies to create a positive organization …