Attitude Questions

When it comes to developing a positive attitude, framing is an important technique. Simply telling someone to be more positive doesn't have a lasting impact. A positive attitude takes practice. Throughout the day, there are many opportunities for emotions to arise, especially at work. Leaders should remember that their interactions with employees can have a ripple effect. Engaging with people based on their strengths can increase their engagement. The highest motivational factor for employees is progress and improvement in their job. Asking self-actualized questions, which focus on positive actions, can help frame the mind to think positively. This technique takes time and consistency to nurture the brain towards positivity. So, asking questions about successful engagement and positive delivery can get the ball rolling. When it comes to attitude development, we have to use a technique called framing. See, when you have somebody who has a negative attitude or someone who needs to be more positive and we take the proverbial, you need to cut it out type of approach and they nod at you, sometimes we walk away falsely assuming, you know what, that really had an impact. It didn't. A positive attitude takes practice. Let me give you a really high-level overview of someone's day. Someone gets up early in the day and if they happen to have kids, they get their kids ready for school, which is never a smooth endeavor. They get in the car and maybe they turn on the news and they passively listen. And the news rarely invigorates. And then they walk into the office and they say some niceties and hi to people or if they're working virtually, they might do the same thing. And then the day starts. And during the day, emotions start to occur. So when a boss calls somebody into the office and just reprimands, guess what happens? Now when somebody else gets called into the boss's office and they get reprimanded or they get some constructive feedback, we often share with leaders, don't ever for a second think you're just talking to one person because employees talk. And that also can be to your advantage. So remember the Gallup Organization reports, when we engage with what people do well, their strengths, they will engage eight times more. Do you know the highest motivational factor found at a study called The Progress Principle at Harvard showed that people were at their most motivated state when they were progressing and improving in their job? It was not reward recognition or money. Use that to your advantage. How do we do that? We ask questions. What are you going to do to successfully engage with that teammate? What are you going to do to successfully and positively deliver that work to the other department? The greatest question you can ask someone is a self-actualized question, which is a what question plus a success imperative. It also uses another questioning format called an opposite insertion question, where you insert the desired behavior. That triggers the brain physiologically to react in a positive manner. Now, if I go up to somebody and say, so what happened? Most people gravitate to negativity versus me saying, so what did you do positively? And I fill in the blank. It frames their mind to only answer positively. Yes, occasionally people will frame out some negative responses, yet it's more rare than you would think. And what that does is it nurtures their brain to start to think positively. It creates triggered reactions of positivity. Here's the good news and here's the bad news. The good news is it works. The bad news is it doesn't just happen one time. You're going to have to do this over a period of time to nurture the brain. So again, questions. What plus a success imperative. What are you going to do to successfully and then fill in the blank. And that will get the ball rolling.