Building a Positive Team

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."– Mahatma Gandhi

Have you ever been part of a highly motivated, high-morale team?

If you have, chances are that most days you were happy to come to work. You were focused and enthusiastic. You enjoyed collaborating with your colleagues and, together, you worked hard and came up with some great ideas.

Positive, highly motivated teams are fun to be a part of. And they can accomplish far more than teams that struggle with negativity and low morale.

That's why it's so important that, as a leader, you strive to build a positive team. In this article and video, we show you how!

The Benefits of a Positive Team

Research shows that positivity can make a real difference to our success and well-being.

One study found that happy individuals are more successful in many areas of their lives, especially at work, compared with those who struggle to find happiness or to think positively. [1]

Positivity increases our ability to think creatively, to progress in our careers, to cope with challenges, and to work with other people. It can reduce absenteeism and staff turnover, and lead to more satisfied and productive teams. In short, it's an essential ingredient for success.

Positivity brings longer-term benefits, too. Social psychologist Barbara Fredrickson developed the Broaden and Build Theory   to explain how positive emotions can make us more creative and flexible over time. The more positive emotions we experience, Fredrickson says, the more likely we become to exhibit other positive behaviors, such as curiosity, awareness and innovation. And this applies to groups as well as individuals.

How to Build a Positive Team

With all of these benefits in mind, consider the following four steps for building a positive team:

1. Become a Positive Leader

Teams often become more motivated when they have a positive leader. This is why focusing on your own happiness, well-being and emotional intelligence is the first step toward creating a great team.

Martin Seligman, a leading positive psychologist, developed the PERMA model to highlight the five essential elements that we all need to make us happy. [2] PERMA stands for:

1. Positive emotion.
2. Engagement.
3. Positive Relationships.
4. Meaning.
5. Accomplishment/achievement.

Start by thinking about how you can increase each of these elements in your life. Read our article on PERMA   and then take action – the more of these things you can bring to your life, the happier you'll be!

Next, stop and think about the work you do. Do you know what your strengths are? And how often do you use them?

Our work is most satisfying when we can use our unique abilities in a way that makes a real difference to other people, or to our organization. So, conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis   to discover your strengths.

Then, use the MPS Process   (MPS stands for Meaning, Pleasure and Strengths) to see how you can use these strengths to bring more meaning and joy to your career.

Finally, work on your emotional intelligence   (EI). This is a vital leadership skill, because it gives you a deeper awareness of your own emotions and how they affect other people.

If you're feeling stressed or angry, for example, you can learn how to avoid passing on these negative emotions to your team.

2. Remove Obstacles to Positivity

Before you can really boost positivity in your team, you need to remove the things that stand in its way. "Roadblocks" can quickly undermine your team members' progress and reduce their motivation.

Herzberg's Motivators and Hygiene Factors   are a good starting point for identifying your roadblocks. Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist, discovered that employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not opposites. In other words, simply removing the causes of dissatisfaction will not, in itself, increase satisfaction.

Instead, for your team members to be truly happy in their jobs, you must first eliminate the causes of dissatisfaction (the "hygiene factors"), and then add the "motivators" that produce satisfaction.

Think about your organization's policies: what could be causing dissatisfaction for your team members? Is each person's salary competitive? Would your team be happier if you provided more training, coaching or mentoring, or flexible working hours, for example?

Your working environment is important, too. Take steps to create a healthy workplace   for your team. Your offices should be comfortable, well-lit, clean, and safe. And try to minimize distractions   , so that people can focus on their work.

Finally, support your people by making sure that they have all the tools, skills and resources that they need to do the job.

3. Manage Positively

Once you've removed the roadblocks, it's time to start managing your team in a positive way. Here are some ways to do that:

• Create mission and vision statements   . These are inspiring messages that express the deeper purpose of the work that you're doing. Teams and organizations that can rally around a shared sense of purpose often become more engaged and committed.
• Write a team charter   that defines each person's role, the team's aims, and your own expectations. A charter provides focus, direction, and a mutually agreed benchmark for measuring a team's performance.
• Use Management by Objectives   to make sure that your team's goals align with those of your organization. Motivation will likely increase when everyone understands what they need to do, and how their roles benefit the organization as a whole.
• Also, make sure that your team members' goals are realistic   , and reward people appropriately when they achieve them. This doesn't always mean offering a bonus or other tangible reward. Simple things, like saying "thank you" for a job well done, can show people that you appreciate their efforts.
• Communicate effectively. Aim to create an environment that's open and nonjudgmental. Encourage people to voice their opinions, and don't censor discussions. Keep your team members informed about what's happening in the wider organization and how it affects them. The more open and transparent you are, the easier it will be to build trust   and create good relationships.
• Meetings are a good opportunity to discuss important updates or changes, and for your team members to voice any concerns.
• Build positive relationships in your team. Encourage team members to spend time together outside of work. This might mean socializing at a restaurant to celebrate the end of a project, or organizing team-building   days, for example.

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4. Reinforce Positivity

Positivity is a habit, and the best way to cultivate it in your team is to reinforce it daily. This takes focus and self-discipline, but the benefits can be huge!

First, make an effort to build confidence in your team   . Allowing team members a degree of autonomy is the first step, but you can also build confidence by celebrating their successes.

But staying positive isn't always easy. Sometimes, one person's negative outlook can impact the entire group. If you have a team member who consistently thinks or acts negatively, it's important to take action before they drag the whole team down.

The Betari Box   is a useful tool that explains how a person's attitude and behavior can affect the people around them. You can use it in a one-on-one with your negative team member, to show how their attitude is affecting the group. But always approach the situation with sensitivity and respect – the person may be having problems at home, or have deeper issues that contribute to their negative behavior.

Try to understand the problem. Is this person unhappy in their role? What could you do to help them turn things around? Look out for self-sabotaging   thoughts and behaviors, and offer coaching on how to overcome them.

Our article, Positive Thinking, Thought Awareness, and Rational Thinking   , offers a useful framework for reframing negative thoughts. Practices such as affirmations   and mindfulness   can also be beneficial.

Finally, remind your team members how their work has a positive impact on others. If it's appropriate, share testimonials from happy customers to show how your products or services can improve people's lives. Make sure that your people know about your organization's charity work, its initiatives in the local community, or its efforts to reduce its environmental "footprint."