The Journey to Master Grateful Leadership
As the VP of Operations leaves his office, Pat thinks “She’s ready to step into my shoes.” Looking out the window reflecting on the conversation with his VP, he reflects, “The last 20 years have been amazing and I’m surrounded by a thriving, high-performing team who know what to do and are totally committed. I think my work here is done.” That night he tells his wife, “I think it’s time for me to move on.” She says, “You’ve done an amazing job building the team but I won’t miss the long hours and late nights you put in. It’ll be great to have you around the house more and I think you’ll be reinvigorated by a new challenge.”
Two months later, it’s the end of another long day—he checks his voicemail and it’s the recruiter he’s been working with, “They want you Pat !” While he knows he’ll miss his old team, he can’t wait to get started as the new CEO serving the exact type of clients he had always dreamed of helping when he was in college.
Three weeks in—the honeymoon is over. His frustration is beginning to show as he coaches the Director of Operations, “This is the third time in as many weeks we’ve had this same conversation on the same topic and we’re not making any progress. What is going on?” “Our systems, our processes and our people are in disarray—and we have way too much change going on.” The Director of Ops in typical fashion, then answers an incoming call on his mobile phone and as he walks out the door, distractedly says, “We’ll do our best but don’t get your hopes up.”
Pat sits dumb-founded, stroking his thick wavy hair. Slouched in his chair, alone in his office and staring at a motivational plague on his desk, he talks to himself, “My top team is overwhelmed and undervalued. The whole organization is overwhelmed and lost. Our culture is sad, indifferent, angry, and hopeless.” In this moment he realizes, “They need me more than ever. I gotta step up.”
That night he shares with his wife “I probably shouldn’t have left for this job but I can’t go back now—besides our clients really need us. I don’t know if my team is ready for it but I’m going to do some of the same things that worked over the last 20 years. I’m not certain if it’s going to work and I don’t know where I’m going to get the budget for it either. But my gut is telling me that we have to do that grateful leadership program again—especially with the leadership team.”
The initial resistance is worse than he expects, “Seriously, gratitude ? And where are we going to find the time to do this training?” Within a couple weeks, the staff shift from being more interested in getting a break away from work for training to actually looking forward to the training. Buy-in grows as staff volunteer to take on leading roles to accelerate the culture change. He starts seeing more collaboration and engagement with his top team. He shares with his wife, “It’s night and day with my team and I think they are beginning to understand their role in building a high functioning professional culture.” As a result of the collaborative philosophy he’s engrained in his team, within his first year he negotiates a very significant, and once unimaginable, deal with a client.
On a bright summer morning, feeling like the worst is behind, Pat enjoys his morning coffee as he stands looking out his window. The hop is back in his step as he walks to his desk to quickly check his email before his next meeting. Three messages from the top—he can’t believe his eyes, “Notice of Union Certification”. His head falls into his hands, which take to stroking his hair as the stress overcomes him.
While this feels like a major setback, he rallies the leadership, “We can’t take this personally. Our work is critical and our role as leaders is important more now than ever.” In a matter of months, Pat sees the silver linings in the union, “The people who were most negative have left and the leadership team really stepped into their roles. We have more of the right people on the team and people actually want to work here.” Pat continually reminds his team, “This is not a flavour-of-the-month.” That night he tells his wife, “I can’t believe it—employees expect each other to live by the Peak Positivity Practices™ at work and they’re telling me they actually use it in their personal lives too. I’m glad I stuck with this.”
This is the second team he’s taken a team through, what we call, the Peak Positivity Process™ (he did so with his previous organization as well) and while he’s satisfied where it has moved the organization, Pat acknowledges they are not done yet. A board member is so impressed with the progress Pat has made in just 2 years, she embarks on the Peak Positivity Process™ with her team.
Peak Positivity Process™
The 3 Step Process
Use our simple 3 step system to build a more productive, more engaged and happier workplace.
Equip your top leadership team
the tools, knowledge, frameworks and the commitments needed for success and the reason you’re doing this
Equip your team
the tools, knowledge and commitments needed for success, which creates a common language across the organization.
Make it genuine
a custom plan that genuinely reflects the culture of your organization
The 4 Leadership Commitments
Commitments make things happen and we are excited to work with organizations willing to make commitments. As a client, we ask each member of your team to make four foundational leadership commitments.
I am committed to:
finding the good in every situation (positivity)
getting help and drawing on others for regular inspiration (vulnerability)
setting an example that is clearly visible (accountability)
acknowledging others regularly (humility)
People ask me, "Why gratitude Steve?" My answer is simple... it's not because people are broken nor because they are ungrateful or ingrateful. Nope. The reason why you want more gratefulness is...
...gratitude is essential to wellbeing and success.
WE make people happy
For more than 16 years Steve has been teaching the Peak Positivity Process™ through his speaking and consulting with companies, organizations and groups who wants to understand the power of Grateful Leadership in their work and in their day-to-day lives.
The Peak Positivity Process™ gives your employees or your audience what they need to quickly begin incorporating more gratitude into their lives. We offer and professionally deliver our programs either in-person or remotely.