High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 546: The Secret to Top Performing Teams

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

In this episode, we talk about the secret of thriving as a team and as a person. In general, we can thrive to experience the 3 to 1 ratio which predicts us thriving. And in the workplace, we should strive for more of a 6 to 1 ratio if we want to build a high-performing team. Dr. Cindra explains both ratios. Quote of the Week: “When you think positive, good things happen.” – Matt Kemp  This Week's Power Phrase: “I choose empowering emotions and a positive perspective today.” 

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best, so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed, packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. Time to check in with Cinder Kampoff. And today we talk about the secret to top performing teams.

Cinder, welcome. You like to start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Matt Kemp. He said, when you think positive, good things happen. So what exactly are we talking about today? Well, we're talking today about the secret of top performing teams. And you know, leaders spend a lot of money or energy or time thinking about what's going to help their team, you know, gain the edge. And what if part of the solution was actually choosing more empowering emotions and feeling good more often? And so let me give you a little bit of overview of this, Lisa. So for over 30 years, a researcher named Barbara Fredrickson from the

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has published this research about the power of positivity, and she describes what's called the positivity ratio. So her research shows that when we maintain three empowering positive emotions, like gratitude, hope, confidence, love, for every one negative or disempowering emotion like embarrassment or anxiety or anger, that actually that allows us to thrive. And so what is the research on top performing businesses? Yeah, good question. So the top performing businesses are kind of similar.

So there's a follow-up study on this. And this follow-up study observed management teams, and they coded comments for the participants, and if they were either positive, like, oh, that's a terrific idea, or I agree with that, or negative, for example, like, yeah, that'll work. No one could ever do that, and what they actually found was the positivity percentage needed to be higher in business teams and teams in general than even within ourselves. So, for example, the lowest performing team had a positivity ratio of 0.3 to 1. That means almost three negative comments for every one positive comment.

And a medium performing team had about a 1.8 to 1, so almost twice as positive as the negative ones. The highest performing team had a 5.6 to 1. And so that means like almost six positive comments to every one negative comment. And so the power of this is today we're talking about the secret of top performing teams. What if part of this was, you know, the positivity percentage that you have between each other? Because, you know, we need a lot of positivity to thrive. And so why is this so important? Well, when you think about the power of positive or empowering emotions, they do allow us to be more innovative and creative and productive. They help us be more gritty and resilient. They even increase our dopamine levels in our brain, which allows us to promote our

cognitive functioning. And it just helps us cope with things better and cope with changes. And so that's why we want to really choose more of a powerful, empowering emotion to help us thrive every day in our life and even in our work. We've talked about this before. There is a place for negativity. Can you tell us about that? Yeah, absolutely. You know, no one can experience the world or, you know, do well in their career without some kind of stress. And so our goal isn't to completely eliminate the disempowering emotions. And you might think that, you know, the word positivity is the opposite of negativity. But I think we have to be kind of careful to have that binary thinking. And so

sometimes positive emotions can, you know, not allow us to address conflict. And so there is a place for negative emotions. They can sometimes help us keep us more motivated and be more innovative after we've experienced some kind of disappointment. But the power of this ratio is, you know, for us to thrive as people, it's three to one. So there's a place for that one, right? But we still want to choose more empowering emotions throughout our day. Cinder, do you have a final point for us? I do. And I think the final point is just not to get stuck in that negativity or that disempowering emotions. And we just want to be more emotionally agile, which means, you know, being flexible and adaptable with our emotions. And, you know, these negative

emotions when felt consistently don't help us to think more innovative or make sound decisions or, you know, think creatively in our career and in our life. And can you summarize today for us? Sure. I would say you can thrive when you experience a three to one ratio individually, which predicts, you know, us thriving at an individual level. And in the workplace, we want to strive more for that six to one ratio to build a high

performing team. You're going to leave us with a power phrase this week. Yes, I choose empowering emotions and a positive perspective today. Good thing to know as we're heading into the workplace. And where can we follow you or find more information about your work? You bet. You can head over to Dr. Sindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. And this conversation today is outlined in my book, Beyond Grit for Business, if you

want to check that out. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe and you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and to join my exclusive community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. See you next week.