Seeing the Positive Through the Negative Noise
While every client brings a unique culture to my consulting experience, one exclusive aspect of a specific engagement really causes me to think. I am fortunate enough to help a client with their monthly moves management meetings, as well as many other one-off discussions. The client starts each with a reflection. As a religious organization, most of the time there’s some religious content to it.
This last week, the reflection was given by one of the gift officers and talked about witnessing an employee going the extra mile with a patient and family and how that truly was in the spiritual nature of the culture of the organization. At the end of the story, I did something I normally don’t do. I chimed in. And essentially, here’s what I said.
We live in a world where there’s so much negative information. Negative perspectives. Negative attitudes. Negative news. And it’s loudest at the extremes of any group, broadcast, or publication. I’m certainly not a technology expert, as anyone can tell you, but it’s done to grab attention and be “clickbait “for a myriad of business and attention-getting reasons.
At the same time, I truly believe that a majority, if not a strong one, of Americans as well as citizens of the world, are good people wanting to do good things for other people, especially the people they love. They’re willing to go that extra mile and help someone. They find joy in helping someone else. They actually see the world through possibilities even though anyone would admit that there are challenges to be overcome.
When I got done speaking, I looked up at my screen at the myriad of colleagues that I have the privilege of working with and saw them applaud. It was as if I said something that struck a chord or a nerve. And it’s causing me to think for more than five days about how we spent way too much time on the negative and not enough time on the positive.
Whether it’s a reflection or a mission moment, the nonprofit world should specialize in seeing the positive outcomes of organizations and people. We specialize in it. We should embrace it. We should start every meeting, and even almost every conversation, with a positive thought or message.
While I will never be able to out scream mass media, I’m willing to do my part in this vein one relationship, one conversation, one meeting, one moment at a time.
