A word of
encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can
save a marriage. A word of encouragement
from a leader can inspire a person to reach their potential. ~John C. Maxwell
This week I heard someone describe what happened when they
intentionally took a break from watching the news. After taking a hiatus from the news for a
number of days, when he returned to watching the news, he was overwhelmed by
all of the "bad" news.
That made wonder, what if we did an experiment. When I watch the national news I intentionally
watch it to the end so I can hear the "feel good" story, or the "good" news. What would happen if the news was
flipped? What if the "good news" was the
first 20-25 minutes and the "bad news" was the final 5-10 minutes?
I don't know what would actually happen, but it makes me
ask, have we become a culture that craves the negative, or the bad news, more
than the good news? I have to believe
that ratings influence what we see on the news, so we play a role in this.
And since it's also election season, could that be why
politicians run so many negative ads against their opponent? Because they know it's the negative or "bad" stuff that we are wired to remember?
What does this have to do with leadership? Well, are most organization leaders also
falling into this bad news/negative trap?
What do employees hear from their leaders? Do they hear the "good," or is most communication
they hear from leadership filled with the "bad?" A number of years ago I recall a leader in a staff meeting say he was going to present the good, the bad, and the
ugly. What did the employees remember
after that meeting? The ugly, that's all
I heard about for several weeks.
I'm not suggesting that leaders should be Pollyannaish in
their communication. But what we
remember most, what we respond to (i.e., TV news ratings) is the "bad
news."
Actual research has been conducted around this very idea. Based on psychologist and business consultant Marcial Losada’s extensive
mathematical modeling, 2.9013 is the ratio of positive to negative interaction
necessary to make a corporate team successful.
This means that it takes about three positive comments, experiences, or
expressions to fend off the languishing effects of one negative. Dip below this tipping point, now known as
the Losada Line, and workplace performance quickly suffers. Rise above it—ideally, the research shows, to
a ratio of 6 to 1—and teams produce their very best work.
Imagine what
might happen to organizations, and dare I say countries, if we all started
following the premise of the Losada Line?
So for the next week, will you join me in intentionally out-weighing the
bad with the good at a ratio of 6 to 1?
Let's try it and see what results from our counter-cultural social
experiment.