By Danielle Blocker
Happy Positive Thinking Day! That’s right, Sept. 13th is the day to look at the glass half full. Here at Vibrant Credit Union we live everyday as if it were Positive Thinking Day.
Positivity is such a powerful tool. People want to be around positive people. In a recent internal survey at Vibrant Credit Union, we found that four out of five employees had received praise or recognition for good work within the last seven days. That’s positivity at its finest. You see, why wouldn’t positivity be used in the workplace? The workplace is the perfect place for it!
Think about it this way. Dr. Donald O. Clifton explains each of us has an invisible bucket and it is constantly emptied or filled depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel awesome. When it’s empty, we feel not so great.
Each of us also has an invisible dipper that we can use to fill other people’s buckets. We can easily do this by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions. Doing so also fills our own bucket. Sometimes, however, and hopefully less often, we use that dipper to dip from others people’s buckets by saying or doing negative things. This obviously also empties our bucket, too.
Negativity is an empty bucket-- an unhealthy and expensive bucket. It leads to poor health and lack of productivity. Research shows that actively disengaged employees cost the United States between $250 and $300 billion per year in lost productivity.
Increased Productivity
It’s simple! When our bucket is full we are happy. When it is empty, we are not. Positivity is great for the workplace because it increases productivity and engagement among colleagues. It also decreases employee turnover.
This sounds all great and, of course, you want to fill buckets, but how do you actually make the workplace positive? At Vibrant we’ve found it’s actually pretty easy. We experience literally hundreds of potential turning points in a given day at the workplace.
More than 85% of Vibrant employees surveyed stated that there was someone at work who encourages their further development. How awesome is that? We want our employees to grow and better serve our members. We do this by encouraging them. Managers and co-workers at Vibrant regularly compliment and recognize a job well done.
We do multiple things at Vibrant to foster a positive environment. First off, our culture is positive and allows for this type of environment. We know we have a serious job and we do take it seriously–but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun, too. We start each day with motivational moments. It can be anything from paper airplane contests to a high five train. The only rule is no shop talk–just have fun. Starting our day off this way sets the tone of the day.
Just Saying 'Hi'
We continue that positive culture throughout the day. Our Leadership Team is the driving force behind this positivity. It’s not uncommon for them to stop by your desk just to say hi or even play a prank. It’s a great way to keep from drowning in the work day-- they keep the workplace positive and fun.
At Vibrant we love email chains. No, not “pass this along or you will never find true love” type of chain emails. We use emails to recognize great work and share with the company what outstanding work an employee has done. It could be congrats for exceeding goal numbers, getting awesome feedback from a member or literally anything else that you should be recognized for. This is sent out to the whole company and ends up being a long email chain of everybody congratulating–everybody filling buckets.
Our CEO and president, Matt McCombs, really keeps the positive culture here strong. He sits down with each of Vibrant’s 170+ employees once a year to have a one-on-one meeting to discuss what we are exceeding at and find out more about our interests and where we would want to be. If you want to eventually switch departments because it’d be a better fit for you and your strengths, you are welcome to share this. In fact, you are encouraged; that’s what these meetings are for.
Vibrant also has a Bulletin Board on Google. It’s exactly what it sounds like–a place to electronically share news. Similar to our email chains this is a place to post shout outs, personal accomplishments, or anything else you would like to share. Most times employees post shout-outs about their coworkers and everybody pitches in on filling their bucket. With employees at multiple locations this really helps keep us all feel that togetherness.
Vibrant U
Another contributor to our positivity is Vibrant University, an internal training system taught by Vibrant employees. It all started with our strengths-based training that each and every one of our employees goes through upon hiring. The idea is to identify strengths and create an environment where they can thrive. We don’t ignore weaknesses, but instead focus on strengths. This allows us to easily fill buckets with positivity.
You see, positivity is easy and clearly needed in the workplace. Each day we can spend our time filling one another’s buckets, or we can dip from them. You’ve got a choice. Are you a bucket filler or a bucket dipper?
Danielle Blocker is Marketing Coordinator with Vibrant Credit Union, Milan, Ill.