Staying positive and energized is a one of the major jobs of a Manager/Entrepreneur. There are many pitfalls on the way to making our dreams come to realization, but once we go negative, it is hard to go back. So I try (not always that successfully) to refrain from saying “no”, and to not accept a “no” from others, Instead I ask "How can we make this happen?" and "Under what conditions can we do this and that?"
I try to focus on the success and positive actions of my team and not the negative ones. I believe that my team can do better then what even they themselves believe. I found out that when I focus on this, the teams actually surprise me and do become outstanding.
That is why before we do something that is out of our comfort zone, instead of saying “What is the worst that can happen, that we fail”, I say “The best that can happen is that we succeed”. Suppose we have a big technical problem? And many team members are negative, saying “This is not possible, because…”, to leave the negativity, I tend to say “Lets try it, the best that can happen is that we succeed, now lets see how can we make this happen”
Think about the best case scenario and not the worst case scenario.
I hear the statement you made from the various executives I work with:
“Under what conditions can we do this and that?”
Unfortunately, the lack of focus resulting from *trying* to do multiple things often causes serious problems.
By the time I get brought in, things are in such a state of affairs that I respond to the executives:
“We can barely do one of them. Trying to do both will almost certainly cause us to fail at both. You have to pick which one we do, and which we don’t.”
They sometimes counter with “you should be able to do both”. This is simply refuted by pointing out reality. There’s nothing like the risk of going out of business to make executives listen.
Not to be too negative 🙂
True Udi,
What I wrote was not a way to overwork the team, but a way to solve problems.
A team should never commit to what it can’t do. Use whatever method you deem (Kanban or threat a chapter 11) to make sure that you are not overloaded 🙂
Remember Udi, that my *first priority* goal is: What can I do to make our team a great team?”
The basis of this is
1. Integrity
2. Positivity