Kali, You can initiate optimism at work by having an office lunch at least once a week. Either go out to a local restaurant or bring lunch and share your lives over a meal. You don’t have to be Oprah to begin a book club that meets for thirty minutes once a week in the office break room. An office study group can create a deeper sense of trust, hope, and optimism in our companies. Your office surroundings can ground your company in optimism. Make sure your colors are bright and inspiring and there is lots of light in your offices. Research tells us music reduces stress and creates a sense of well-being. Play soothing, upbeat music at your office.
Design a community bulletin board where the staff can put up notes to list items they need or people who have goods they don’t need can offer them to others. Someone may need baby furniture that another family has outgrown, and another person may have an extra computer they don’t need any more that someone else can use.
These initiatives can be fostered from the top down or bottom up. An infectious sense of hope, caring, and optimism springs from such acts for all to share and witness. We’re in the same boat, and we all can lend a hand paddling.