Positive Communication Rebel Part Two: The Lifters

Christine Johnson, Cued Forward on
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In my previous blog, I discussed encounters I had with people who took negative situations and used positive communications to see tremendous results in their organizations.  Let’s now focus attention on positive communication rebels who are what I call “The Lifters”.  These are people that you are acquainted with who through their positive interactions raise your or your organization’s positivity level.

Networking Mavericks

Do you have someone in your network who devotes part of their time to helping you make a positive first impression?  These are the people in your network who when they say “I would like to introduce you to some who could add value to you” follow through with a sincere introduction to someone who actually would be a good connection for you.  And the connection also reaps benefits in return. The Networking Maverick has a keen sense of when and how to share resources.

I am proud to say I have several of these mavericks in my network.  See if you can relate to the value of these types of networkers.

Decipherer: The Decipherer is the person you want to know at networking events. This maverick knows you well enough to interpret what you say, not say, and body language and introduce you real time to someone who can positively impact your world.  One of my mavericks knew my desire to work in and give back to the community.  She introduced me to a nonprofit executive director where both of us mutually benefited from the introduction.

Right Place, Right Time (RPRT): Do you know someone who seems to show up when you least expect them only to raise your positivity by the promise of a future introduction? The RPRT maverick sees the timing of your unexpected encounter an opportunity to deepen the connection instead of causally making excuses to leave too soon.

The Thinker: This person does not let you know he is a maverick until after he has thought about your conversation for a period of time.  Then, The Thinker unleashes multiple positive connections.  The Thinker spends extra time considering your situation as well as others in his network before connecting.  This maverick is not about the quantity of connections, but the quality level of the connections.  He focuses on positive relationships that will truly develop over time.  The maverick in my world will often reach out to me a day or two after we have spoken with opportunities.  These introductions from have now grown into deep business and mentor relationships.

Recognition Master

A colleague recently told me that I “raised the bar” for developing a training program in an organization.  Not only did she complement me on the program, but she cited specific examples of how I improved it.  And this was not the first time this Recognition Master had praised work I or others had done. She made it a point to regularly and genuinely recognize those around her.  Her positive feedback is honest, from the heart, and happening in the moment.

Since people are hard-wired to be more negative than positive, sincere positive comments directed towards us make a difference.  The Recognition Master readily shares with others “micro moments of positivity” as described by psychologist Barbara Frederickson.  In Ms. Frederickson’s research, she found that repeated brief moments of positive feelings during the day help buffer feelings of anxiety and depression as well as improve overall health.

Do you have a Recognition Master in your workplace or network?  Some indicators of this positive communication rebel are:

  • Emits positivity from their demeanor. They enter a room and you seem to feel better about yourself.
  • Impeccable timing. Their intuition is spot on when it comes providing positive recognition.
  • Repetitive in a good way. Their feedback is not one and done.  They provide positive comments regularly.  They are known across peer circles that they can take negative situations and make them more positive.
  • Keen observer. They recognize cues from you, your interactions with others, and listen to what people say about your actions when you are not around.  (And keeps these conversations positive as well.)

Wouldn’t be great if our organization’s leaders were all Recognition Masters?  The workplace would be more engaged, more productive, and overall more positive about their work.

The awesome part about these two groups of positive communication rebels is the more you get to know them, work with them, talk with them, the positive impact they have on you continues to increase both personally and professionally.  Their positive communications trickle down through the people they introduce.  The rebel part of them consciously makes these positive communications part of their daily activities and habits without excuses.  How has someone you know boosted your ability to become a positive communication rebel?  Share your stories and kudos.

Photo by Scott Szarapka on Unsplash


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