Monkswood Associates

"People do great things by focusing on their possibilities, not by dwelling on their limitations"
Henry Kissenger

In some workshops I run I want to demonstrate the positive power of the mind on performance - what follows is an exercise I use. I ask everyone to stand up (it is possible to do sitting down) and spread out so that they can put their arms straight out to the sides so their arms are horizontal. Next I ask them to have their feet slightly apart so that they are stable and twist their upper body round without straining as far as they can and just hold the position so that they can register where their arm now facing backwards is pointing in relation to the wall or whatever is there. Once they have fixed this point they can return to facing forward and arms by their side. Now they need to shut their eyes and visualise themselves turning their upper body completely round without moving their feet with the greatest of ease. I talk this through and assist them visualise this impossible experience. After about a minute, they open their eyes, put their arms out again and turn their upper body round as far as they can without straining and note how far they turn this time. Incredibly usually 95% of the group experience a significant improvement in their ability to turn their upper body round! And this is through visualising something that they physically are unable to do yet it positively impacts their real performance. I have asked those that experience no change and they generally admit to taking no notice of the visualisation part of the exercise.

Most people know about athletes visualise winning races and standing on the winner's podium - this experiment allows them to experience the impact of visualisation in an analogous situation. You can use visualisation in work and at home to great effect. Analysing what happens when I use visualisation to improve performance, I notice I am breathing more effectively and so more oxygen is going to my brain, which definitely helps. I have run through what I am going to do and so it is fresh in my mind. I am in a positive frame of mind and so any interpretation tends to lean towards a positive view. These can take place without visualisation. What is differently significant is that as I am not distracted by having to manage my negative thoughts, I listen more effectively and have a lighter touch on what I am doing - my energy is focussed and released to performing well.

There are many circumstances where business people are known to use visualisation as part of their preparation - for presentations and interviews, talking to a person that normally they find difficult, chairing a perceived difficult meeting, to name a few.

I covered AI just over a year ago. In essence it is about choice and the power of positive thinking. In both the personal and social realms, we can choose to focus on problems, needs and deficits - the traditional problem-solving approach - or we can choose to see possibilities, capabilities and assets - the basis of appreciative inquiry. Since then I have read the book 'The Power of Appreciative Inquiry' by Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten -Bloom, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, 2003, ISBN 1-57675-226-7. In it they mention a US auto-repair business whose customer survey showed 95% customer satisfaction. Their first attempt to improve involved gaining feedback from only dissatisfied customers - they posted causes for dissatisfaction on the office walls. Within a very short time the ratings dropped along with employee morale and retention. At this stage they changed their approach and, using AI, focused on satisfied customers. Ratings not only reversed but also improved on the original level as employees began to learn and replicate their root causes of success. This is such a wonderful example of the power of AI being applied in business.

What practices do you have in your business that could be enhanced through using an AI approach?

Recently I have heard several people from different walks of life say that giving thinking time to negativity is like giving food to young plant - it will grow in size through giving it its food - thinking time and energy. I certainly know when I have tried to diet, all I think about is food as I am trying not to eat it! And inevitably I eat, when normally I wouldn't be even conscious of food. It's a bit like when people say 'now don't think about the pink elephant behind the door', immediately you start thinking about it! Negative thoughts affect the chemistry inside your body which in turn causes you to feel below par, be it energy, mood, desire to do anything. In the same way, positive thoughts positively impact on your body chemistry and thus on your frame of mind. The level of impact depends on how positive the thought is, how much it excites you.

So what are the practical implications? One example is that you are more likely to achieve a positively phrased objective than one that is stated in the negative eg 'arrive on time' rather than 'don't be late'.

What other examples can you come up with where your positive approach has had a benefit to you? Are there situations where you would like to develop such an approach?

"When we consistently direct our attention and action towards the future we want to create, unseen forces come to our aid and we find ourselves the beneficiaries of all sorts of serendipitous coincidences and happy accidents."

If you find this newsletter of use, please forward it to people you think may also find it of use and/or interest: for instance, directors and managers in Human Resources and People Development or other directors and managers who deal with these sorts of issues.

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Please ask any questions that the topic has raised, or share your thoughts and experiences with me, Helen Wade, at: