Imagine you’re leading a change management project. You’re exhausted. Your team is stressed and overworked. In an effort to motivate them, you smile and shout positive sounding things like:
“Come on, team. We need to shake things up!”
“Adapt or die!”
“Change is the only constant.”
But instead of motivating them, you could be making things toxic.
What is toxic positivity?
You could be displaying toxic positivity by:
- refusing to recognise that you and your team are feeling down
- using positive phrases to paper over the negativity
- putting pressure on people to hide their negative feelings and emotions
What to do instead
A quicker and more effective approach would be to face the negativity by:
- creating time for reflection in meetings
- allowing space for people to express their feelings, even the negative ones
- leading by example and saying what you really feel e.g.
“I’m exhausted. ’m sensing a lot of stress in the room. How are you feeling?”
This creates a more honest and authentic type of communication, helps clear the air, and allows you and your team to eventually focus on the change you want to deliver.