At 2:00 P.M. CET on Friday, March 13th, 2020, I was sitting in a teacher’s meeting with the school directors and other secondary staff.
The first wave of COVID-19 was running rampant throughout Spain, and we were brainstorming plans for unprecedented confinement.
As a private, international school, we needed those tuition payments — no public funding for us. We feared that, if lockdown came, parents would immediately reclaim tuition. The school would go broke. Teachers would be jobless.
Thirty minutes into the meeting, the decision came from the government. Lockdown for the entire country.
We, teachers, had minimal tools, even less experienced, and mountains of anxiety about immediately switching to an online program that met the satisfaction of the paying customers, the parents.
And we had to make that switch over a two-day weekend.
This is how I emerged as a figure who calmed anxieties, resolved problems and created a positive workplace attitude during the dark days of COVID confinement.
My advice to you: follow these simple steps to establish yourself as a positive force in your workplace.
Be available to help those who need it.
“Giving is one of the best ways to increase happiness.”
During the commute home on that fateful Friday, I outlined how I would structure my online classes. I planned to record a demo class, full of online work, and send it to my colleagues, many of whom struggled with technology.
I did just that. The feedback was immediate and positive. Many of my coworkers were more lost than they lead to believe during the meeting. One of my supervisors even sent me a personal message, complimenting my initiative.
The simple step set the stage for the following months of confinement. Whenever coworkers struggled with online teaching, I quickly made myself available.
It didn’t matter if I knew the solution. I would help them find a solution. I would get on a video call and we would problem-solve together.
By making myself available, I became a person they sought for solutions.
Although I don’t know you, I’m confident that your workplace could use another person to step up. Every company needs one.
When you see colleagues struggling with details of the job, offer to help. If you don’t know the solution, then help them figure out the solution. Who knows — maybe you’ll find that information handy for the future.
More importantly, by being that person who helps, you will create an environment where offering and helping become infectious.
If you work in a highly competitive workplace, perhaps where office politics dominates, you could be a new trendsetter.
All you need is the initiative and the time to help. Once you do, you feel the positivity emerge.
Small wins lead to big wins. Celebrate them.
“Even ordinary, incremental progress can increase people’s engagement in the work and their happiness during the workday.”
In my case, no teacher was prepared for the about-face caused by the sudden lockdown. Suddenly, we needed to rethink our entire approach to teaching within a two-day weekend.
While it was a steep mountain to climb, each step up was a small win.
The science teacher had no clue how to use Google Drive. So, a pair of us techy teachers spent an hour orienting him.
The next morning, I sent a message in the team chat congratulating the teacher on the small win.
The English teacher was lost in Google Classroom until another teacher showed him the ropes. Same thing — the next morning, I sent another message announcing the small win.
Each message earned applauses and likes and other congratulatory messages.
The floodgates had opened for positive communication, which is what everyone needed.
This certainly made the individual teachers feel good, but the most positive impact was that it also let other teachers know they weren’t alone. Help is there, and we will get through this together.
Of course, I didn’t know that these small messages would end up building a sense of community. We rarely know the full impact of our small actions until after the fact.
I knew that we needed to celebrate every small win when it seemed like we were fighting an impossible battle.
Celebrating small wins in your work environment will help create a positive tone.
Just like offering to help, it will also create a norm. Once you take the step, others will follow your path. Everybody wants to work in a positive environment, but they fail to create it because of workplace politics, competition, or some other pointlessness.
Get to know your coworkers and their tasks. Listen to their stresses and struggles. After offering to help, celebrate the small win. Buy a coffee or post-win beer, announce it to the team, slip a note to the boss.
By making these small wins important, we also noticed that every aspect of our work becomes more meaningful. We felt like a true team.
If your workplace lacks that, you can be the person to change it. All you need is the initiative to be the first.
Focus on solutions, not problems.
“The individuals and companies that are able to get through tremendous setbacks and actually grow because of them are the ones who focus on solutions, not more problems”
When health systems and national economies are collapsing around the world, problems are as common as water faucets.
The shift to online classes with a group of teachers who hardly used computers was definitely a problem. I knew that and others knew it.
Pounding that into the heads of my colleagues, though, wouldn’t have helped. If anything, it would have made me look like a prick and created resentment.
Instead, I offered solutions to many problems.
During meetings, I proposed solutions to all sorts of issues: connection issues, behavioral issues, attendance issues, workflow issues — whatever. Even if my solutions weren’t selected, I drove the focus of the conversation from being problem-centered to solution-centered.
In team chats, I dedicated 30 to 60 minutes per day to offering solutions. What else was I going to do? We were in confinement. Better to use the time to help coworkers and make sure the boat stays afloat.
The point is, it’s easy to see all the negatives when they are in your face screaming at you. But by taking a step back, and looking for ways to fix those negatives, I inspired others to do the same.
Eventually, we came up with an effective solution.
By focusing on solutions, you can create great energy in your workplace. And that is infectious. Just like the first two steps, others will follow your lead.
The benefits don’t stop at energy, though. By being the first to propose solutions, you could cause a mental shift in the work environment like I witnessed in mine.
Right now, everyone is terrified of the torment that COVID-19 is causing. Right now, the world needs people with solutions. Your workplace is no different.
Be that person who drives the conversation towards solutions.
The Steps Towards Positivity
Everybody wants positivity in their lives. In fact, in my experience, many people will complain about the lack of positivity in their lives, the world, and the workplace.
But few actually take actionable steps to create that positivity. Being friendly, polite, and smiling are always nice gestures. But tangible actions create waves. And you want to create those positive waves.
In order to create those waves in your workplace, you can start with three simple steps:
- Make yourself available to those who need help.
- Take time to always celebrate the small wins.
- Drive the conversation towards solutions, not problems.
Due to my work circumstances, I realized someone needed to step up. And I did that through small gestures without expecting anything in return.
As a result, the team felt a positivity that helped carry us through a dark and difficult time.
Unexpectedly, I returned to work this year having much more influence with the decision-makers at my job.
Now it’s your turn.