A positive and optimistic atmosphere in the office depends on everyone, who is working in the office, right? But how can we jointly create a positive climate and an optimistic team spirit? In addition, what contributes to feeling energized and positive? And why is it valuable to work on our individual attitude around positivity first?
This article looks into how a positive team culture contributes to remote onboarding processes and fosters well-being in the team.
Before we start, I would like to invite you to tune in. Now consider which colleagues you feel most connected with and why that is the case?
Do you value them because they never give up, or because they always smile, or generally, because they just do not take life too seriously? People like that usually consider their glass half full and they do not jump to negative conclusions too quickly. Within the team, they are the ones who create space for seeing opportunities. Those colleagues motivate others to think outside the box and they take chances while others keep themselves busy outlining possible, negative consequences to acting within uncertainty.
Who is coming to mind right now?
Positive thinking rubs off
Let me share a brief anecdote about our myndway team: We work remotely and usually meet on Google Hangouts. I became part of the team as Senior Marketing Manager at the beginning of this year, when the Corvid-19 lockdown was in full swing. Hence, my entire onboarding process happened in the virtual space. Working remotely was new to me. But thanks to the myndway team, I quickly realized how much positivity and optimism we can share through the screen.
Very often during our team meetings, it seems to me like our screens are vibrating with positive energy.
Rituals for kicking off the week with positive energy
One of my favourite rituals with Martina and Tim is our team Check-In every Monday, which always fills me with a surge of energy. We take turns in facilitating the respective check-in in order to ensure that we all experience different modes of both, facilitating and conducting it. Different varieties include starting the meeting with one minute of silence or sharing our internal weather conditions according to our current state.
On other days, Martina facilitates a 10-minute meditation during which we focus on the breath or listen to our thoughts passing by. I have never started my team meetings with more focus.
If anyone initially entered the meeting with a bad mood, they usually leave it with a lot more optimism. Positivity really rubs off. Those check-ins also help me appreciate my work and my colleagues a lot more. I can distance from the judgements that form such a big part of our lives. Not seldom, I feel such a huge smile on my face towards the end of our meetings that it hardly fits the screen. By pursuing our mindful routines in the team, motivation and positivity become a natural motivation and part of our company culture.
My personal key take away from this is as follows: Mindfulness helps to foster positivity within the team. It motivates and energizes every team member.
Positivity within the team drives success
Put simply, people with a positive outlook do rarely consider giving up when things go wrong. They are intrinsically motivated and can envision their success. They believe in themselves and others. Following their secret recipe which includes learning, persistence, and optimization, helps them to reach their goals (Amstrong, 2019).
Optimism and positivity foster successful teamwork
Daily business may include days during which our task lists are much longer than the working day itself. This drives us towards our personal limits and creates pressure. How can teams deal with that pressure? Blaming others or moaning usually won’t get your tasks done. On the contrary, this may more likely result in lower motivation and productivity. A vicious cycle begins.
Being part of a positive team, however, can support everyone in the team to keep their goals in mind and to share the small successes on the way towards that goal.
Celebrating those milestones together, revives the team energy and strengthens the bonds within the team way beyond the aforementioned goal.
People with a positive mindset are happier
A positive mindset strengthens us as individuals and provides our teams strength and energy. The good news is that we can train our positive mindset through small mind hacks like:
- Imagining 3 things that we are grateful for every morning;
- Closing every team meeting with one aspect we appreciated about the meeting itself;
- Moving for around 5 minutes once every hour.
For more see Kelly, 2020.
Practice makes perfect!
It often seems easier to complain and to focus on all the little hurdles which we face in our daily lives. But imagine saying yes to a challenge, that is, the challenge of saying YES to developing a positive mindset.
You will notice that by simply saying yes, you are already becoming more resilient in times of crisis. You will also become a pro at taking on the obstacles that come your way, both in your professional and personal life. This helps you to pursue your goals and to maintain faith in your own strengths (Windle et al., 2011). In this vein, never underestimate the vibrations you are sending out. The more positivity you bring into your team, the more you will vibrate together.
Enjoy the ride with your positive team towards creating a purpose-driven path and sharing that path with like-minded people.
____________________________________________________________________________
DIGITAL LEARNING JOURNEYS BY MYNDWAY
Find out more or schedule a free call with us. We are happy to talk to you.
References:
Kelly, M. (2020). 50 Practical Examples of High Emotional Intelligence
Armstrong, A. (2019). Resilience Club: daily success habits of long-term high performers. Rethink Press.
Windle, G., Bennett, K. M., and Noyes, J. (2011). A methodological review of resilience measurement scales. Health Qual. Life Outcomes 9, 8.
