Negativity is contagious. It’s all too easy to complain about everything that goes wrong and this can quickly spread to others. Fortunately there is a simple trick that can be used to eliminate negativity; simply don’t say negative words. Aiming for positive remarks helps people to get energised. Rather than looking for blame, seek opportunities to improve and progress forward.

Here are some examples of negative statements that people commonly use:

• Don’t do that
• We can’t do it
• It can’t be done
• We don’t do such thing
• It is against our policy
• We have never done this before
• It has never been done
• No one knows how to do this
• You don’t know how this works
• The management is clueless
• The staff are clueless
• They sit there all day and do nothing
• No one cares

These statements do not help and are sometime stated as a reflex reaction rather than with an appropriate thought. Sometimes they become a habit and it is important to eliminate them as bad habits.

This simple two stage exercise helps to increase the awareness of delegates about this issue and helps them to address it. It is ideal for delegates who work closely together or are part of the same team.

This exercise is ideal for sales staff in a particular organisation. Rather than telling staff what to do, the aim is to get them to come up with the general goal of their department and its role. The idea is that if they formulate a goal for their department, they are more committed to follow it than if a manager tells them. They can also understand the goal better since they make it themselves.

This is a simple yet powerful exercise in getting people to share their perception about others. Sometimes seeing the world from another person’s point of view can have a significant benefit for us. This exercise facilitates this process and is most ideal for delegates who know each other so you can use this as part of a team building course.

This exercise helps delegates to become more aware of what they have and therefor appreciate where they are and how they are living. In our quest to become better and grow, we sometimes forget what we have or what we have achieved that we didn’t have before. Thinking of them periodically helps us to monitor our progress, become more confidence, happy and energetic. This is not a group exercise. Delegates can do this on their own.

This activity allows people to help each other anonymously. Sometimes we may feel stuck or wonder what we could do to improve our behaviour or skills. We may however not feel comfortable to directly ask others about them. This exercise sets the scene for people to open up and help each without fear of being wrong or obvious.

Use this creativity exercise for team building. It is an ideal exercise for a group of people who are already working together or are about to start working together. Groups should work together to create flags that represent their teams, philosophy and their view of how they work together presented symbolically. They can then hang this flag in their environment and more importantly explain it to others to reinforce their thoughts and identity both for themselves and for others.

This exercise is suitable for delegates who are going through change or there has been significant change at work. Can be used as part of a change management course as well.

Knowing how we feel is part of our self-awareness. The more we are aware of our feelings, the better we can control our behaviours and understand those of others. This exercise helps delegates to become more aware of their emotions and learn to describe them. It also encourages them to think of ways to get to a target emotion, such as happiness.

In this exercise, delegates get to define their group or personality and formulate their mission statement. Groups get to design a “coat of arms” which represents their value and mission. They can then use this deign much like a logo to remind themselves of what they want and what they stand for. They can decorate their environment with this and show their “coat of arms” to visitors as a way to show what they stand for and commit themselves as much they can to it. Continuously seeing the mission statement can have a significant psychological effect on the team and motivate them to choose wisely when making decisions so they can fulfil their mission.

You can run this exercise for teams who work closely together or get individuals to create a “coat of arms” for themselves.

Being a good person or a leader requires a good vision, persistence, definite plans and an ability to reflect on your current state so you can see what you need to do next to get there. This exercise helps delegates to think about themselves from a point of view placed in the future so they can better see what they want to get and if they are going in a wrong direction.

Research shows that people with specific and defined goals are more likely to succeed in life than those without. One of the great ways to find these goals is to get inspired by your favourite heroes and personalities in history. This exercise systematically helps delegates to formulate their goals using this approach.

This exercise has several parts though you don’t have to go through all of them. Pick and choose based on your objective, your time and your delegates.

A leader’s performance is defined by how he or she leads others. For others to follow a leader, it is critical for them to know that they are valued. The sense of significance and knowing that what they do has a benefit to the overall objective is a significant motivation. Hence, leaders must actively and routinely take steps to show that they value their team members and that team members’ effort are well appreciated.

This exercise helps delegates to learn how to achieve this as leaders. It encourages specific actions on their behalf as opposed to vague strategies, so that they know precisely what to do for each member of their team.

Self-awareness and self-motivation are critical competencies within emotional intelligence. Everyone must actively take steps to become better in these areas. A great way to achieve this is by systematically reviewing your own performance and thinking of what you are good at. This positive thinking can reinforce your confidence and boost your motivation. This simple, yet powerful exercise helps you to achieve this.

Remember, admiring yourself is not about being arrogant or feeding your ego. It is about knowing and appreciating what you are good at so you can inspire others around you and help them to grow as you grow further. This is particularly important in leadership roles.

You can provide this exercise during training or provide it as a pre or post-course assignment so delegates have more time to spend and reflect on their life and behaviour. If you run this as a pre-course assignment, you can ask them to bring their responses and then initiate a group discussion and encourage delegates to get inspired by each other.