Are Your Connections Positive or Negative?

Relationships, by their nature, require constant and consistent tending. The quality of care you put into these relationships translates into either a negative or a positive experience. That is, the other person perceives every one of your interpersonal exchanges and interactions as good or bad, supportive or unsupportive, trusting or untrusting, positive or negative, safe or unsafe, and so on. If you behave poorly during an interpersonal exchange with an employee, that experience is considered negative and the other person’s brain registers that encounter in experiential emotional memory (EEM); conversely, if you conduct yourself well, that experience is counted as a positive EEM.

This idea is similar to the emotional and trust bank accounts (you may be more familiar with), in that connectivity has a cumulative effect in deposits and withdrawals. (See the Speed of Trust, by Stephen M.R. Covey for a more elaborate distinction on this concept.) The more these interactions are seen as negative, the less likely you are to develop connections. If you want to increase the positive experiences (the intangible) and thus enhance your connections, you must improve your individual leader behaviour (the tangible).

When you are ready to improve, start with the skill of Positive Presence, an innovative thought model that makes the connection of workplace behaviour to human emotional energy – it demonstrates and develops the connection between the tangible and the intangible. Learning the Skill of Positive Presence and the Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies is a systematic, programmatic methodology that equips leaders and their staff with the knowledge and understanding necessary for developing and sustaining positive, effective thought and behaviour habits.

In this context, leaders are self-aware and serve as role models of responsible, professional behaviour. Team members, in turn, become highly collaborative in a responsive behaviour based on the how the brain processes experience relative to trust, compassion, safety, and hope. Consequently, team members readily understand what the organization is trying to achieve and how their behaviour and performance contribute to furthering the interests of the organization. Trust and accountability are not just expected; they become a cultural norm leading to higher performance. In a word, this connection creates the elements that foster engagement.

Do not wait for under-performance issues to appear to discover the truth of these neuroscience principles. You mess with the brains of your people at your own performance peril!