David J. Pollay's Blog

7 Reasons for “Positive Updates”

Monday Morning Momentum™

The most common way of getting people to share ideas is to hold a meeting.  We’ve all attended hundreds, if not thousands, of meetings. 

But, here’s the problem.  Let me demonstrate it.  Pretend the following statement applies to you right now. 

“You have to go to a meeting.” 

Okay.  How are you feeling?  What are you thinking?  If you’re like most people, you’re not happy.  You might have said to yourself, “Oh no.  I just want to get my work done.”  “Or, why do I have to sit in another meeting.” “Or, this is going to be a waste of time.”  If this is how you feel, how do you think other people feel?  This is what you’re up against when you ask people to come to your meeting.

Most people come to meetings in the mood of the last call they had, email they read, meeting they attended, or interaction they had with someone.  Their moods and attention are basically tied up in other things.

The key is to get everyone focused on the expected outcomes of your meeting.  So you have to do something different.  I’ll share with you what I’ve been doing for years with my team meetings.  It will not cure people’s fear or dread of meetings, but it will help you get your meetings off to a good start every time.  Begin your meetings with what I call “positive updates.”

Here’s how to do it.  If the group is eight or less (I’ll talk about big groups in another column), ask them all to share one positive or important thing that happened to them since the last time you met.  (I include “important” because it leaves open the possibility for someone to mention an event that might not be categorized as positive, but is obviously important to them.) It can be personal or professional.  It can be something they’re excited about, proud of, or interested in.  Tell them they have thirty seconds to give their update.  Then go around the room sharing positive updates. Encourage quick reactions from everyone in the group, but ask that extended responses be shared after the meeting.

Why should you open your meetings with this strategy?  Here are my “7 Reasons for Positive Updates”:

(1)   You are channeling your team members’ attention. You are engaging them with your request. 

(2)   You are reminding them to keep track of what’s good in their lives, not just what’s wrong. 

(3)   You are helping them access their positive emotions. When they recall something good that happened in their lives, they are likely to feel pride, excitement, gratitude, enthusiasm, encouragement, or optimism.  The research of Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina demonstrates how experiencing positive emotions is critical for success in business and life. 

(4)   You are learning about your team members.  You are opening a window into what matters to them and what makes them unique.  What do they focus on? What makes them happy? When do they succeed?

(5)   You get insight into what they like to do and what they’re good at doing.  You can look for more opportunities for them to do what they do well. 

(6)   You’ll know how to better recognize your people.  You’ll find out what matters to them in their short updates.  Rather than giving them some formulaic recognition award, you can tailor your gratitude to their interests. 

(7)   You’ll give your team members the opportunity to learn more about each other.  You’ll provide the opening for teammates to talk about each others’ interests and what matters to them. 

All of this happens in ten minutes or less.  The great thing is that you don’t have to come up with a big entertaining way to start every meeting.  Just ask people to tell each other something positive or important.  They’ll share.  Team members will listen.  Everyone will be engaged.

Still thinking if you should do this?  Stop for a second.  Write down one positive thing that happened to you over the past week.  Take a minute and think of one.  Do it now.  Write it down.  Then email me what you wrote (david@davidjpollay.com).  I’ll bet you feel pretty good right now.  You might even be ready for a meeting.

Copyright 2009 David J. Pollay

Invite your family and friends to join you

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

Have a great week! 

Best to you,

David

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And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, Momentum Minutes™, right here.

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David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, The Law of the Garbage Truck™, is due out this summer.  You can find out about the No Garbage Trucks! mission at www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com.

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email david@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio. 

You can sign up for David’s MO Minutes Newsletter here.

My First Day at Yahoo!

Monday Morning Momentum™

    Recently I gave a speech to a few hundred people.  The crowd was great.  I told them about The Law of the Garbage Truck, and they took The No Garbage Trucks! Pledge with me.  They participated in everything. 

   Following my speech, the event sponsor asked me to stay for some questions.  It was my pleasure; I answered whatever they asked.  I think it was the third question that someone asked me, “What was it like working for Yahoo! in the early days?  The event sponsor, who had talked about my time at Yahoo! during my introduction, immediately asked the audience, “How many of you would like to hear about David’s experience at Yahoo!?”  The answer surprised me.  They all raised their hands. 

   Here’s the quick story I told the audience.  It’s about my first day at Yahoo!. 

Day One

   It was 1998. I was Yahoo!’s first director of Customer Care, and employee number 450.

   My first day on the job started with new-hire orientation. There were eight of us in the room. We talked about what brought us to Yahoo!, and why we were excited to be there. We listened to a company overview. Our benefits were explained. We filled out paperwork. We received our official badges. Then each one of us was escorted to our cubicles.  

My Tour

   My escort was great. On the way to my cube, she gave me a narrated tour of the building, pointing out everything along the way. 

“Here’s the kitchen,” she said. “Oh, and here’s the new-employee bulletin board. Your picture will be here later today.”

We kept moving and looking around.

“Here’s the life-sized Elvis statue. There’s the Luke Skywalker cutout; it’s always showing up in different people’s offices. And here are our cool chairs and sofas.” The furniture was always dressed in Yahoo!’s internal colors, purple and yellow.

The Cubes

Just beyond the furniture were rows and rows of cubes. We called it the cube farm. We headed into it and turned toward the back corner of the building.

“There’s Tim Koogle’s cube,” she continued her tour. “You know he’s the president and CEO.”

Everyone called him T.K. His cube was in the corner. I thought it was great that he worked in a cubical just like all the other Yahoos (the name for all of us inside the company).

We turned right and walked down the line of window cubes.

“There’s Jerry’s cube. It’s a little messy. He gets away with it. He’s creative.”

Jerry Yang, along with David Filo, had founded the company a few years earlier.

We kept walking.

“There’s Jeff’s cube. You met Jeff when you flew in for your day of interviews.”

Jeff Mallett was our chief operating officer, soon to be promoted president.  Jeff would also be my boss a few months later.

“Here’s Gary's cube."

Gary was in his office, on the telephone, and waved. Gary Valenzuela was our chief financial officer.

We continued. Five steps later, we stopped again. My guide looked at me. “Here’s your cube.”

At that moment, I had an out-of-body experience. I thought to myself, “Is my name really on the big gold star outside this cube? (The custom at Yahoo! was to use gold stars instead of name plates.) I know my role is important. I’m here to build Customer Care. But they have me sitting next to the CFO, who’s next to the COO, who’s next to the co-founder, who’s next to the CEO. This has to be a mistake.”

It wasn’t. At Yahoo! every role and every department were equally valuable. We all had cubes and we sat where there was (1) space available (we were growing fast) and (2) wherever it helped us best coordinate our work.

A Chance to Contribute

   My five years at Yahoo!, first as senior director of Customer Care and then as director of Learning and Development, reinforced my belief that the best companies focus on collaboration, keep politics to a minimum, and continually deliver outstanding products and services to their customers. Yahoo! had its challenges in the early days, and we all made mistakes—plenty of them—but they didn’t get in the way of ultimately offering us a chance to provide our customers with the best products and services possible.

   I think this is what we’re all looking for in our companies.  And that’s what I told the audience that day. 

Copyright 2009 David J. Pollay

Invite your family and friends to join you

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

Have a great week! 

Best to you,

David

---------------------------------------------------------

Sign up

And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, Momentum Minutes™, right here.

---------------------------------------------------------

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer.  You can find out about the No Garbage Trucks! mission at www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com.

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email david@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio. 

You can sign up for David’s MO Minutes Newsletter here.

The "Rule of the Test Drive"

Monday Morning Momentum™

Twelve years ago I learned a powerful lesson in an automobile showroom. 

For years, I’d had my eyes on one car.  It was a convertible.  The shape of the body was unique.  The soft top looked great.  I liked the body painted red.  I liked the top in black fabric.  I had never been in the car, but I loved the way it looked. 

In 1997, I moved from New York to Atlanta. I needed a car.  “Why not get the car I like so much,” I thought. 

So I did research.  An Atlanta dealership had just the one I wanted.  My girlfriend, Dawn—now my wife of ten years—came with me.

We arrived at the lot.  I saw the car.  I loved it.  A salesman came out to meet us.

We sat down at the salesman’s desk.  We talked about the car—how unique and attractive it was.  Then I started negotiating.  We talked about the sale price, financing, and warranties.  We talked a lot.  The salesman stepped away to get some more information.

Dawn watched the salesman until he was out of hearing range.  She leaned into me and said, “Why don’t you take the car for a test drive?”

I laughed.  “Why hadn’t I thought of that?”  I was so caught up in talking about the car; I had forgotten the most important thing:  see how the car drives.  The salesman returned.

“Can we take the car for a test drive?” I said.

“Sure, let me get the keys,” he said.

I was excited.  I was about to drive my dream car.  We went out to the lot.  I opened the door and slipped into the driver’s seat.  Dawn rode up front with me, the salesman climbed in back.

I turned on the car.  The motor was louder than I’d expected.  I drove out of the parking lot.  I put my foot on the accelerator to merge onto the busy street.  The pickup was slower than I’d expected.  We turned onto the highway.  The car was not as comfortable as I’d expected.  We returned to the lot.  Dawn and I got out of the car and stepped to the side. 

“What did you think?” Dawn said.

“The car is beautiful, but it doesn’t drive or feel like I thought it would,” I said. 

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not going to buy it.  It still looks great, but it’s not the car I want to drive every day.”

All those years of admiration and all that talk in the showroom, and it took only a ten minute test drive to make me see that the car was not for me. 

Haven’t we all experienced this at some point in time?  We’ve dreamed about something for years, only to realize we’re still sitting in the showroom.  All we really need is a good “test drive.”

Many of us experience this with our careers.  We say, “That’s what I’d really like to do in my life?”  Or we say, “If I were doing that, I would be so happy.”  Then we look at what we’re currently doing and we see that we’re not spending any time exploring our dreams.  We’re stuck in the showroom thinking about what we want, thinking about what we would enjoy, and thinking about what we would be good at doing.   

This is when we must follow The Rule of the Test Drive.

If something interests you, get out of the showroom.  Take your interest for a test drive.

The Rule of the Test Drive helps us get away from the “ifs.” If we were given the opportunity.  If we were discovered.  If we had more luck.  If we had less responsibility at work or home.  If we had more time, money, or support.  If only we didn’t have these constraints, we’d pursue the lives we want to lead. 

The key is to get ourselves out of the “showroom” and take a “test drive.”  When we do, we quickly find out one of three things. 

1.  We like what we explore and do more of it. 

2.  We don’t like it and we put our energy somewhere else. 

3. We’re not sure if we like it; we need to give it another try. 

Whatever the result, we’re at least exploring our interests.  We move ourselves closer to living our best possible lives. 

How about you?  What are the interests you’re talking about?  What are you going to test drive this week?

Copyright 2009 David J. Pollay

Invite your family and friends to join you

If you want your family, friends, and colleagues to join us on our Monday Morning Momentum™ journey, send this post along to them. 

Have a great week! 

Best to you,

David

---------------------------------------------------------

Sign up

And remember you can sign up for my newsletter, MOmentum Minutes™, right here.

---------------------------------------------------------

David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™.  He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group, creator and host of The Happiness Answer™ television program, and an internationally sought after speaker.  David’s book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out this summer.  You can find out about the No Garbage Trucks! mission at www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com.

David is the founder and president of the consulting and seminar organization, The Momentum Project.  He is also a founding associate executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).  If you want to reprint one of David’s columns, email david@themomentumproject.com.  Here’s David’s full bio. 

You can sign up for David’s MO Minutes Newsletter here.