Give your team a mindset advantage to rebound and innovate

How to develop a culture of positivity that empowers your workforce to thrive amid uncertainty.

3 minute read

If there’s one thing you can be sure of in business, it’s uncertainty. We operate in a world where adverse events can, and will, happen. The good news is that you can create a workforce culture where people not only rebound from adversity, they innovate because of it. Imagine the power of a workforce who can unleash new ideas and opportunities at a time when they are needed the most.

Embrace the power of positive mindset

Many prominent researchers have studied the science of a positive mindset, including Richard Wiseman whose research on ‘lucky people’ reveals that luck is not a matter of chance, but a product of mindset. People who identified as lucky were open to new opportunities, maintained a positive outlook, trusted their intuition, and embraced resilience in the face of setbacks. All this is not to say that there are two types of people, those with and without a positive mindset. Wiseman's research highlights the notion that we all have the ability to be lucky by adopting a proactive and optimistic approach to life.

Anyone can achieve a positive mindset, and will be bolstered into achieving it more often, when the people around them, leadership in particular, are supporting them. Of course, to be human is to have a mental state that is always in flux, moving through a natural cycle of highs and lows. Having support through all those times is key to an overall sense of wellbeing, which is a strong foundation for building positive mindset.

Incubate innovation

The advantage (for both people and organisations) of a positive mindset, is that new ideas, and opportunities start to emerge. We see things we might not otherwise have noticed and approach challenges with optimism. One of the simplest tools for developing this skill is to keep a journal, and to reflect each day on what opportunities were realised or possibly missed, training the mind into spotting them more and more often.

Maintaining an openness to look, and to try, presents the solutions (big and small) that can navigate a path forward for businesses, and quickly. This is important because often the speed at which change can be achieved, following turbulence, is the single biggest determiner of success.

Start at the top

When you consider that the most agile, positive person in your team is only as effective as the organisation will let them be, it’s relevant to ask whether you have the right leadership behaviours and structures in place to encourage new ideas, and to embrace a degree of risk.

People will come forward with fresh thinking and a willingness to try new things if they see this behaviour in action at a leadership level, and if they believe the business leaders are good listeners.

Take a long-term view

There are no quick fixes when it comes to building and nurturing culture. But there are early wins to be gained when you introduce a positive mindset program. It’s an investment in wellbeing that is likely to be well received, especially if you equip your workforce with a convincing case for doing mindset work, use evidence-based insights, and coaching support for sustained success. It may be worth considering a specialist third-party training provider to help develop a program that you can implement and build on.

Five actionable steps to embrace a positive mindset

Build awareness and understanding: training should begin by creating awareness about the value of a positive mindset in the workplace.
Practice mindset shifting: such as reframing negative thoughts, gratitude exercises, positive self-talk, and visualisation.
Practice reframing: by reframing negative thoughts and focusing on strengths and solutions, employees can cultivate a more positive mindset.
Create a supportive environment: promote empathy, active listening, and constructive feedback among employees.
Reinforce and practice: offer regular workshops, coaching sessions, and resources that employees can use to continue developing their positive mindset.

If building a culture of optimism with a strong team who can embrace and harness changes in the business environment is your goal, be prepared to invest in an ongoing way. According to experts it takes around three years of consistent work to bake a positive mindset advantage into a business. But results may be evident much sooner, in increasing degrees of growth, within people and the business.

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This article is solely for information purposes. It’s not financial or other professional advice. For help, please contact BNZ or your professional adviser. No party, including BNZ, is liable for direct or indirect loss or damage resulting from the content of this article. Any opinions in this email are not necessarily shared by BNZ or anyone else.