Positive, Productive, Fresh, and, Enthusiastic

Positive, Productive, Fresh, and, Enthusiastic; hereafter to be referenced as PPFE, is much on my mind lately as several of my prior colleagues handle a recent notification from their employer.  Each received a letter formally alerting them to a business dynamic which will eliminate their positions; a letter expected, yet now all too real. (Diagram THAT sentence!)

I know each of them to be PPFE.  We shared that as our culture and indeed that culture is the predicate of my business, Motivus LLC.

Positive reflects an overarching perspective, a perspective that acknowledges the thousands of silent positives in our lives.

• I have a job;
• I have my wits about me,
• I like myself,
• I am healthy,
• My mom loves me
• I have all essentials,
• I control my future,
• I can learn.

The list, it seems, is endless once you get going.  You really have a lot going for you. The bustle of our lives can obscure just how wonderful the world we live in is, and how free we are to do or be anything we want.  That includes at work. Want to be a star? Be a star.  What would a star do?  Do that. Most in our orbit are really quite fortunate. Much of the globe looks at us with a certain envy, albeit they can be quite positive too. There are millions of people who don’t have much and yet are positive. Don’t they know they have little?  Where you stand depends on where you sit. The excuses you might have for not being positive are called life, so get over the bumps. Be positive,

Productive, within the context of the work environment, aligns with the team’s mission(s). Productive embraces the team goal; heck it runs toward that goal.  It is FUN to work together with a group of colleagues in chasing a goal. Who wants to rake the yard alone, but if you get 50 people together and clean up a local park, it gets fun.  So make sure you have a team goal and collectively go for it. It is even more fun to attain the goal.  Productive is animating behavior to meet those goals.  Productive is getting on the dance floor, getting involved, not being a wallflower.  Productive is contributing for the satisfaction of the contribution. My son tells me, “winners want the ball.”

It is not productive to darken a colleague’s doorway to complain about others in a general fashion.  Productive IS however sharing with the right person the specifics of how a colleague is not getting it done; done so with the tone of voice of a supporter.

Productive is championing the cause.  Productive is recognizing that when you are positive and fresh, it motivates others. Hey, colleagues know when someone else is running faster. You might think some of them won’t care, but if that dynamic is going to change, will you be part of it?  Be a catalyst, an agent of change! You have a role in motivating those with whom you work. Motivate your boss. Represent

Fresh signifies an openness to change, though I write that haltingly given the barrage of change metaphors abounding in business today. Need proof?  Look at my last paragraph. Its become a buzzword.  Yet fresh fits in the ideal work environment.

Some folks can abide years and years of the same.  Routine appeals to all of us at times, but the thought of a work environment with little change sounds awful.  I could not take it and my sense is most high achievers want tomorrow to differ from today a bit.

If you absolve yourself because you do not self-identify as a high achiever, bear in mind there is one person who can change that.  Fortunately, you are well-acquainted.

Fresh sees opportunity where others see change.  Fresh does not have to code every problem as an opportunity.  A bit Pollyanna for me.  But Fresh does recognize that not all progress is linear, that not all success occurs where it was expected.

Enthusiastic perhaps requires the least explanation, not that any of PPFE are complex. Enthusiastic recognizes the appeal we all experience when we witness quality performance. Rare is the artist, performer, lecturer, athlete, boss, waiter, landscaper, plumber or other who impresses with their skill who did not concurrently throw themselves into the work.  They were in the moment.  They exhibited enthusiasm.  And you caught it.

The colleagues of mine referenced earlier will take their PPFE approach to the next job and that employer will be the better for it. The team they join will be the better for it.

We each have three legs of a stool in terms of skill set:

• Work ethic
• Attitude
• Intelligence

Each of these colleagues, via PPFE, checks off boxes 1 and 2. (Rest assured those to whom I am referring also have #3, but I’m making a point here)

Clearly, hiring managers will want all three characteristics. Yet in my experience, if you land a candidate with that great attitude and a great work ethic, you have taken the first several strides to success. If I’m hiring a controller, yes I want the CPA.  If I’m hiring a Director of Engineering, of course I need the certifications one associates with the craft. Yet ultimately, you give me a colleague with a great work ethic and a fantastic attitude, I know we can make that work.

Make PPFE the filter for all your actions, all your behaviors, for everything you do.  Strive to inculcate PPFE into your person.  You might discover Positive, Productive, Fresh and Enthusiastic becomes a personal approach too.

What a brand you will have.