Examples of Two Organizations with Positive, Caring Cultures

In today’s world it is important to work in as positive a culture as possible. Several weeks ago I was at Goshen High School watching my 12th grade daughter Abby in a swim meet. In between events I roamed the halls and came upon these signs.
unnamedThey read ‘All Positives’ and ‘No Negatives’ and ‘Choose your Attitude.” I was impressed so I took a picture and put it up on my Facebook page.
Stacey Lynn Thornburg Aldridge saw my post and a few weeks later created duplicates of those signs. As salon leader of Hair Cuttery, she hung them up to remind staff of the importance of the positive attitude.
unnamed-1She says the staff loves the signs. They serve as a reminder about the importance of the right of attitude.
“Charlie, without a positive attitude you are your own worse enemy. In my line of work our job is to make people look good and feel great about themselves. It is impossible to give that to someone if you are not in a positive state yourself. The signs have been a nice reminder on a daily basis that you have to choose your own attitude.” – Stacey Lynn Thornburg Aldridge
Yesterday, I delivered a 90 minute form of my program on staying as positive as possible amidst the challenges of today’s world. Farmers State Bank brought me in to wrap up their off-sight meeting. They provided each team member with a folder with information on what they planned to accomplish in the meeting. To establish the importance of attitude and how that impacts customer service, the following quote from Chuck Swindoll was on the cover of each folder:
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.” – Chuck Swindoll
Becky Woodward, Vice President of Farmer’s State Bank, was telling me that their pledge to their customers is this: We Care.
Here is what they go by —
Work together for a common good.
Exemplify integrity which grants us the freedom, authority, and responsibility to do the right thing for our customers, community and each other.
Commit to our customers and our community.
Always hold ourselves and each other responsible for doing what we say.

Respect ourselves and others.
Exceed expectations of customers and team members.
One of the things I do when delivering programs is share short videos of people with incredible attitudes that I have been able to interview over the years. Below is the story of a lady who was dealt a bad hand in life and played her cards as positively as possible.

The Positive Attitude of Ril Miss
One of the things she said that when she was done with her job she always looks to see if their is someone else she can help with their job. That’s the team spirit. Positive people like Ril mean so much to a culture. Eventually, dark rooms became obsolete in that hospital with the advance of technology, but because of her attitude the leaders at that hospital created another position for her in customer service because they knew how important her positive attitude was for their team!
Stay positive!
Charlie Adams is the author of 4 books on positive attitude and peak performance, including 2013′s “How to Build a Positive Attitude and KEEP the Darn Thing!!” and “Stoke the Fire Within.” His books and motivational keynotes and seminars are designed to make sure events reach their objectives and to help create winning cultures. Email him at: Charlie@stokethefirewithin.com.