A positive attitude is one of the most important assets we can have both personally and professionally. A positive disposition provides a perspective that has no limits, and is a must have for any aspiring top project manager. With a positive attitude, you see the bright side of life, become optimistic and expect the best to happen. That positive energy is a powerful tool to have when dealing with the daily challenges that life and work can bring.
Now, I realize that having a positive attitude is neither easy nor does it come very naturally to us especially as we got older and more jaded. It is very easy to fall into a more pessimistic or cynical attitude, but we need to resist the temptation. It takes work, determination, and drive to break free and achieve the many benefits that come with being positive.
We know that there are so many things that can go wrong or, at the very least, be challenging to deal with during a project. The challenges come from all angles and generally at the worst times. In the midst of that chaos, there is a calming and comforting aspect to being around someone who is positive.
In order to successfully navigate the team through these issues or challenges, top project managers leverage their positive perspective to provide confidence to the team that things will work out and that they have it under control. These same top project manager’s don’t take no for an answer and are able to challenge the status quo for themselves and their teams. The positive attitude becomes infectious many times and others on the team begin to take on that positive perspective. Frequently, that positive team momentum begins to correlate into a higher performing team.
These are just some examples of how a positive attitude can manifest itself not only from a team perspective but also for each of us as project managers. So, what steps can you take to harness the power of a positive attitude or in the case for some how can we continue to maintain it?
Well, as part of the research for another project, I interviewed many different project managers as well as many executives from a wide variety of industries. I was quickly able to see from their insights that there was tremendous value―both perceived and actual―that a positive attitude had on a project manager, team, and executive stakeholder. From those interviews, I was able to see some clear trends about what provided a foundation for the top project managers to gain and maintain their positive perspective.
Overall, there were six key items that jumped out of the comments that helped support their positive attitude and they are:
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