A Thankful Workplace?

“When I get to my new assignment, I'm going to make sure things are done correctly. --- To the standard I want. The way I want,” declared new lieutenant. He was summarizing his 'leadership transition' presentation to the class.

"You might want to see what's going on before changing things," one of his peers chimed in.

"Yeah. Teams haver their own way of working before you arrive. They will continue working long after you're gone. You might need to convince a few people," suggested another.

"But it will be my team. I know how I want things to work. Anyone who disagrees will need to get in line. There is no room for disobedience."

"Respecting what is working well and explaining your standards will go further than making unilateral change," said the instructor. "You have the positional authority, but it will be more effective to lead your unit than to direct them. Yes, people must follow your orders. But they may be slow to act. It's very unlikely that they'll do anything without supervision."

Driving change through an authoritarian leadership style may seem to be exactly what the military is all about. For those militaries that rely on absolute, centralized control; it is. For others, it works just as well as it would in any civilian job. It doesn't. There are certainly more rules and structure present, but the U.S. military has a tradition of its members to coming up with creative solutions. People in constant fear of blame and reprisals are less likely to take risks.

Science can quantify why this happens in an individual’s brain. Fear of reprisal triggers the parts of the brain that control our fight or flight reactions. Some call this our "lizard brain." And that is not the part of the brain that needs to be active for creative thinking. The more time people spend in a state of fear, the less productive they are. To put this in concrete terms, one study demonstrated that people with a positive mental state were 31% more effective than those in a neutral to negative state.

Science has learned that the brain can be trained to look for the positive. Actively reviewing the positive aspects in any situation and being thankful for them, increases dopamine in the brain. This trains the brain to seek out the positive in the future. Looking for things to be thankful for can create a habit of positive thought.

As a leader, training our brains to be positive not only increases our own productivity but the productivity of our teams. By encouraging our teams to look for the positive in any situation, they can learn from it rather than being frozen by fear. Sometimes the only positive may be that the current situation will make a great story some day, but even that perspective will alleviate stress and get people focused back on the problem at hand. Putting in place mechanisms that steer your teams towards overcoming challenges rather than affixing blame is just one example of how to encourage a positive perspective.

Watch out for those leaders who are looking to “lay down the law.” Just like the young lieutenant, because they are headed for trouble. People will follow leaders for many reasons, including morbid curiosity. But if people are in a constant state of fear; they will leave that leader.

When someone on your team does something substantially good, make sure you take the opportunity to be genuinely thankful for it. It will be good for your brain, their brain, and the team’s overall productivity. The work you praise must be substantially good, however, because hollow praise will have the opposite effect. Make your workplace sincerely grateful creative efforts and remove blaming as an active pursuit. Your team will be more productive, even in stressful situations.