Good leaders always view things in a positive light.
In order to possess and use any of the recognised attributes of being a good leader you must be positive.
If you are proactive or adaptable, for example, you need a positive outlook to get the most out of these attributes.
All projects will have problems and issues that need resolving. The leader may point out some of these but not without a potential solution.
Issues and problems are not seen as such for a leader. They become a source of gaining experience with the added possibility of discovering new opportunities.
In general being positive is about believing you will succeed no matter how large the obstacles appear to be.
It partly constitutes.
It is not about.
There are a few areas to concentrate on to improve positive behaviour.
The SWOT technique involves the analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that is normally reserved for project aims.
It can be adapted slightly to the way you consider any obstacle. Focus on your strengths don’t dwell on your weaknesses just try to improve them.
Deal with threats and try to minimise or eliminate them. Look for the potential opportunities in apparently negative situations.
It is very easy to transfer your own emotions on to others. If you happen to be in an angry mood it is entirely unfair to take it out on a team member. It is up to you to display Emotional Intelligence and put your own feelings on the back burner.
This technique is common amongst top sports people even if they are not aware they are using it. It involves visualising in your mind what will actually happen in practice when you take a course of action. If you are a golfer taking a putt you naturally believe that it will go in the hole.
If you don’t, you are unlikely to win many tournaments. Part of this will involve visualising the path of the ball, the speed on the green all the way to the hole.
In this way you are using your own experiences and your own brain to run various scenarios. When you are satisfied you pick a particular one and try the putt.
If it fails, you don’t worry about it but rather add the experience to your record of experiences. Carrying out this exercise improves your confidence.
You will actually begin to believe that every putt will go in. Unfortunately, they won’t all go in!
However, over a period of time your confidence rises considerably and your success rate will improve.
You need to be highly focussed on your goals.
This is basically saying don’t dwell on mistakes and worry over them This is often easier said than done. Actively plan for the future based upon your past experiences.
It is an easy matter to devise a table to monitor your feelings of success in particular areas.
The diagram shows a simple version which you can expand upon.