Carroll on Work

By John Carroll

“How are we ever going to complete this project on time and on budget?”

“Where will I find the time and energy to learn and grow in my job?”

Above are three examples of questions that go beyond a request for information and beyond concern to serious doubt and outright pessimism.

You have likely encountered these or similar questions. Perhaps you have uttered them yourself once or twice under challenging circumstances or stressful situations.

There are many times when it feels as if your crew, your project or your company is working under the banner of “Mission: Impossible.” It is during these times that our true colors tend to surface, the colors that tell whether we’re committed to stick it out and persevere or we handle our challenges by running away from them.

More than positive thinking

I’m not talking here about some pie-in-the-sky, optimistic-to-the-point-of-nonsense type of thinking here. I’m also not recommending that you simply smile now and in all situations, appearing as if you’ve never had a care in the world. Such behavior would cause anyone to have trouble taking you seriously.

Instead, what I’m suggesting is that you become and remain a positive force in your world, including work, home and other elements of your life. You resolve to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, becoming one who takes purposeful, positive action to improve and add value to a challenge, a project or a life.

Why take the high road?

In the movie Pretty Woman, Richard Gere, playing the character of a wealthy businessman, asks Julia Roberts, whose character has attended the School of Hard Knocks, why she insists on focusing on the bad things. Her answer is both simple and profound: “It’s easier to think about the bad things.”

The high road demands that we rise above the easy things and consider the positive possibilities rather than concentrate on troubles and problems.

Here is why your ability and willingness to take the high road is most valuable to you and your company:

You’re always part of the solution. The reason that companies are in business in the first place is to face and address challenges in ways that add value to its customers. When you choose anything other than participating in the solution, you go against the reason for the company’s existence. That is a shortsighted approach to building your career. Being certain that your project just cannot be finished on time puts you and others on the low road and virtually guarantees no hope of your desired outcome.

You give others hope. When someone can see that you are serious about finding a positive path to address a particular issue, you are likely to find followers who are ready to help you do just that. They may lack, at the current time, the courage or outlook to lead the way. Your example gives them a valuable, positive experience; one they can lean on for years to come. For example, when you encourage others to hang in there on a project and they see that your encouragement made a difference, they can be the ones to deliver a supportive word to someone else in a future challenge.

You build your own confidence. We know that repeated experiences, successful or otherwise, build a mental file that we access in future, similar situations. To the degree that we build positive responses into desired objectives, we gain confidence that we can face almost anything the world chooses to throw our way. Keeping your personal production at a high level, despite the appearance that it may not make a difference in the big picture, helps you know that your contribution is important and gives you the confidence to approach future situations in much the same way.

You attract others of like mind. You have probably heard that misery loves company. Likewise, those who maintain a positive frame of mind with the sense that they can handle virtually any challenge will attract those of similar mindsets. As the numbers grow, you find that your team and eventually your entire company have a huge majority of problem solvers rather than problem dwellers.

Next time we will look at ways to help you become a positive force on your team and in your company.

John Carroll is a business consultant, speaker, author and president of Unlimited Performance inc. in Mount Pleasant. E-mail him at jcarroll@uperform.com.

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