CHANGE IS GOOD ........YOU MUST KEEP IT POSITIVE

You Must Have a Positive Attitude & Atmosphere in Your Business to Insure Success

By Melissa Vokoun

The difference between success and failure is a very fine line. It was Henry Ford who said: "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." In my many years' experience of running companies, departments and working with clients, I have always found that Henry Ford hit the nail on the head. With the attitude of "I can't" or "we can't" or "that won't work" success is very elusive and harder to achieve.
When working with clients now, I coach the owner or entrepreneur into always approaching the success of their business as a fait accompli and even during the bad times, not letting the negatively defeat them. Only with time reflecting back on the times that I stopped believing in success or fell into a deep feeling of negativity, did I realize what happened was part of my own "self-fulfilling" prophesy - it just wasn't going to work out, and alas, it did not.
This critical breakthrough of having the business owner believe in their success without boundaries has allowed many of them to take a leap of faith that makes success more tangible and accessible. I am not going to tell you this is always easy - faced with a pile of Accounts Payable, stagnant or falling sales, poor customer retention, etc., can be a huge obstacle to blind faith in success - but it has to be there or the road is so long and so hard to travel.
Negatively will suck all the energy out of a business - like a vacuum, you will find it is hard to be energetic when negatively is the prevailing atmosphere. In order to have energy, you must remain positive - for energy is a by-product of positive attitude. You can't feel positive and lethargic and drawn out at the same time. Yes, you can experience fatigue for working long hours, frustration for not getting enough done on a certain day, fearfulness of making that presentation or calling that prospect, but you cannot lose your energy when you have the power of positive thinking at your back!
The next important step is removing negative people from your organization. This is by far the most critical step for most business owners. When negatively and lack of energy enter an organization, it is like a creeping mist throughout the office - I don't mean to be ghoulish here, but it is like a hypnotic trance that is hard to break.
When I walk into an organization that I am coaching - and I sense that negativity by a few well-placed questions to those I encounter, I usually find myself taking the next two hours discussing with the owner where the source of the negativity is and how to eliminate the cause. This is where the discussion gets tough. You would be surprised the number of "key employees" that turn out to be the ones who are the most negative and unable to change their attitudes. As part of coaching, we have a questionnaire that we give to all the employees, and when we identify these "energy drainers" as I like to call them, it is very difficult to get them out of the business.
Honestly, they are masters of their trades. They make themselves indispensable (so they think) and find a way to dominate most of the workers who would never complain about their tactics - and so it goes on and on until the "energy drainers" have instilled fear in most of the rank and file - and the "boss" never really understands what that nagging feeling is that something isn't quite right.
Well, through analysis and evaluation, the culprits of negativity, biting sarcasm (usually aimed at the boss behind his/his back), veiled threats, and other well-used tactics can be exposed easily enough. Now the trick is to get them out of the organization.
This is the most difficult step. The business owner thinks that the business will suffer from loss of the "competence, business knowledge, and officiousness" this person or group of employees have. They usually appear very loyal to "the business" but that is their mask and how they are so successful in hiding out for long periods of time. It is a hard decision to break ties when you know that filling those positions and getting the right employees hired, trained, and profitable will take time and money. But in the end, the business is already losing time and money - not always apparent to the business owner. How many employees spend time complaining about "that one" or work not getting done because the "energy drainer" has his/her own agenda and timelines. This is a very difficult change to make, but I have worked with business owners and seen through my own experiences, that making these changes can make all the difference in the world between success and failure.
When I ran a company of over 100 employees and a change in the economy forced a lay-off, I had identified the "energy drainers" in my staffs and in all departments, and they were the first to be shown the door. Afterwards, there was a collective sigh of relief and many remaining workers stuck their heads in the door with a "thumbs up" or a whispered "thanks" - and although it might have been due to the fact that they retained their job, there was the underlying sense that they were relieved that the bad apples had been culled from the harvest!
These are very tough times that we all face - and as a business owner you need all the positive, high-performing employees on the team. Please take my advice -- if the time comes to do a little housecleaning - make you choice to exclude the negativity and the energy-draining employees from the rebuilding that will eventually occur. Your remaining employees will thank you - silently or more verbally if you have that type of feedback allowed in your organization. And as you rebuild the team, if someone seems to be a bit negative in talking about their ex-employer or their lot in life - give them a pass. You really can't afford them!


Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor, Coach and Trainer. From 1983 to 2005 she was COO and VP of Sales and Marketing for a national telecom equipment distributor. Her passion for business, working with clients in solving critical issues in the strategic, tactical and operational areas of growth continues. She is now President and Founder of NuVo Partners and Successful Business Advisors and The Coaching Queen. To learn more about the services available, please visit the website at: http://www.coachingqueen.com or call 847-392-6886.
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This article has been viewed 26 time(s).Article Submitted On: September 30, 2008
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