Do you add or subtract the energy from the room?
I just shared a FaceBook post about kind and happy people that particularly resonated with me on a personal and professional level.
Firstly, the personal perspective.. I have recently had some happy events in my life that were worth sharing by phone and on social media, now I don't think I'm a huge sharer but sometimes social media is just the platform to spread news quickly and easily. I was surprised and flattered by the beautiful comments and responses to my news, they made my heart smile. But I wonder how much energy would I had given to a less than positive response?
Could one negative response cancel 100 positive ones? I can think of other instances in my life when rather than be uplifted by overwelming positivity I have lost sleep over the single negative - what a waste of energy.
The professional interaction I am thinking of was during a training session yesterday. I was talking to some managers about time spent managing staff and how 1 or 2 non-respectful, gossipy, negative employees can take hours of their time. While in the background the productive, respectful employees do a great job just getting on with their work. The problem is that the toxic employees take so much time and energy that sometimes the managers don't get around to acknowledging the employees that keep the business flowing. The balance is wrong!
When we feel valued and appreciated (and of course respected) we bring more of ourselves to our work, a simple show of acknowledgement can build the energy of an individual which then carries on through the team.
The answer, unfortunately, is not to spend less time on the problems - a head in the sand approach never works! Perhaps the answer is to keep noticing and acknowledging the good, it doesn't matter how small the acknowledgement as long as you keep adding to the energy.