TL;DR
Optimism isn’t a soft skill — it’s a strategic advantage. Shawn Murphy’s book The Optimistic Workplace lays out how leaders can build a workplace climate where people thrive, and thriving teams outperform. The biggest lever you have as a leader is the tone you set every single day.
Here’s the thing about leadership that people forget: your biggest strategic advantage isn’t your strategy deck. It’s how positive your team is. It’s how optimistic your workplace feels.
When people like coming to work, understand they have a vital role in the purpose of the team and the organization, and respect and appreciate the people around them, they thrive. Thriving teams are high-producing teams. High-producing teams stay intact longer, operate more efficiently, and bounce back from disappointment faster.
Bottom line: thriving teams make things happen.
In The Optimistic Workplace, Shawn Murphy has written an unapologetically optimistic and incredibly practical guide for leaders at every level to make workplaces more productive, more fulfilling, and more meaningful. Shawn recognizes that we don’t leave our souls at the door when we walk into the office, turn on our computers, or respond to emails on our phones — and he gives leaders an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to creating more human organizations where people can actually thrive.
The Power of Optimism
I fully subscribe to Shawn’s thesis and mission. My own book came out of the work we did at Double Forte to fully embrace our younger colleagues. I’m a positive person, and I couldn’t bear being frustrated with the Millennials in our office and at our clients just because I didn’t understand them. After reading pile after pile of negative articles, blog posts, and comments about Millennials in the workplace, I rejected all of it and started from scratch — building a positive work environment from the bottom up.
When I give workshops and speeches on this topic, one of the first questions I get is some version of: “By catering to Millennials, aren’t you lowering your standards?”
My answer: absolutely not. You’re raising your standards. You’re declaring that everyone matters and that together, you can achieve great things.
My primary job as a leader is to facilitate greatness. And an optimistic workplace demands high expectations and high standards — it doesn’t lower the bar, it raises it. As Shawn details through story after story from companies around the country, creating an optimistic workplace climate where people thrive and feel fulfilled is the new strategic advantage. And it’s not that hard.
Work Climate vs. Work Culture
A workplace climate is not the same thing as office culture. Climate is the feeling in the air — it’s between the emails, in the tone of conversations, in the words you choose, and in the feelings you share among colleagues.
As Shawn explains, from a leadership perspective, climate is easier to influence than culture, and it’s useful in creating the lasting change an organization needs to build real value.
Climate is the positive tone you set — regardless of what everyone else around you is doing.
Bottom line: we need more leaders, at every level of an organization, who are willing to choose to set a positive tone for their teams, no matter what anyone else in the organization is doing. Because optimism and positive tone attract greatness — and they propel an organization forward faster and more easily.
And for the doubters in the crowd: workplace optimism isn’t touchy-feely organizational theory that ignores the need for profitability or the real downsides of work life. It’s built on research. Appreciated, thriving teams outperform teams in a negative climate by 10 to 30 percent, and you can transform the work experience by focusing on the best positive potential realities.
Express Joy at Work
Another one of Shawn’s points that really resonated with me is the importance of showing joy — real happiness — in the workplace. As Shawn puts it, when people feel that the work environment is safe, optimistic, and yes, joyful, they are more likely to contribute their best.
And nothing could be simpler than expressing joy.
It’s the “please” and “thank you” throughout the day. It’s the great big smile when you see great work. It’s the laugh out loud when something strikes you as funny. Expressing joy is the public recognition and thanks for a job well done, and the celebration when the team hits an important milestone.
Expressing joy translates directly into people feeling appreciated for their work and their time. And when people feel appreciated, they thrive. And when they thrive, they achieve.
Read the Book
I could go on. But honestly, the best next step is to read Shawn’s book yourself. I think you’ll be as inspired as I am to create the optimistic workplace where people — and business — thrive.
Want more on building a workplace people actually want to show up for? Visit everything-speaks.com for more conversations on leadership, communication, and culture.