Assuming Positive Intent: The Ultimate Productivity Driver
From the interviews I have done with people on getting the most out of life, it’s clear that assuming positive intent is an important contributor to quality of life.
Most people appreciate the dividends such a mindset produces in the realm of relationships. How relationships can flourish when you don’t assume intentions that may or may not be there. And how their partner can become an easier person to be around as a result of such a shift. Less appreciated in the GTD world however is the productivity aspect of this “assume positive intent” perspective.
Most of us are guilty of letting our minds get distracted, our energy sapped, or our harmony compromised by thinking about what others woulda, coulda, shoulda. How we got wronged by someone else. How a friend could have been more respectful. How a family member could have been less selfish.
However, once we evolve to understanding the folly of this mindset, we feel freer and we become more productive professionally due to the minimization of unhelpful, distracting thoughts.
The leap happens when we realize two things: 1) the self serving benefit from giving others the benefit of the doubt, and 2) the logic inherent in the assumption that others either have many things going on in their lives paving the way for misunderstandings.
(Needless to say, this mindset does not mean that we ought to not confront people that are creating havoc in our world. There are times when we need to call someone out for inflicting harm in our personal lives or the lives of others.)
Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of Pepsi, says it best in an interview with Fortune magazine earlier last year:
My father was an absolutely wonderful human being. From ecent emailhim I learned to always assume positive intent. Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, you’re angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response. You don’t get defensive. You don’t scream. You are trying to understand and listen because at your basic core you are saying, ‘Maybe they are saying something to me that I’m not hearing.’ So ‘assume positive intent’ has been a huge piece of advice for me.
In business, sometimes in the heat of the moment, people say things. You can either misconstrue what they’re saying and assume they are trying to put you down, or you can say, ‘Wait a minute. Let me really get behind what they are saying to understand whether they’re reacting because they’re hurt, upset, confused, or they don’t understand what it is I’ve asked them to do.’ If you react from a negative perspective – because you didn’t like the way they reacted – then it just becomes two negatives fighting each other. But when you assume positive intent, I think often what happens is the other person says, ‘Hey, wait a minute, maybe I’m wrong in reacting the way I do because this person is really making an effort.
“Assume positive intent” is definitely a top quality of life best practice among the people I have interviewed for my book. The reasons are obvious. It will make you feel better, your relationships will thrive and it’s an approach more greatly aligned with reality. But less understood is how such a shift in mindset brings your professional game to a different level.
Not only does such a shift make you more likable to your colleagues, but it also unleashes your talents further through a more focused, less distracted mind.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Kit Cooper
Kit serves as executive director for the Quality of Life Project. The website shares quality of life best practices discovered from in-person interviews with well known types like Richard Branson and Tom Skerritt to lesser known but equally interesting individuals. Kit also writes at the Quality of Life Project's blog.
ARTICLES BY THIS WRITER »
Tags: 
Get your own Avatars at 
Loading ...
Comments
Shanel Yang says on March 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
Benefit of the doubt is great, especially in personal relationships. However, where work is concerned, it’s a big dangerous to your career if you assume anything — good or bad of your colleagues if you have to rely on them to come through for you. Better to just make it all clear if you suspect there’s been any kind of misunderstanding regarding deadlines, mutual responsibilities, etc. Sadly, there’s just too much backstabbing going on at work. But, I totally agree that for personal relationships, assuming the best is the best policy. (Besides, to some nasty individuals, this unnerves them to no end!) : )
Catherine Cantieri, Sorted says on March 2nd, 2009 at 11:38 am
I think this idea is like many other wise principles: it sounds really good and makes a lot of sense, but putting it into practice takes some work. Still, I think the rewards would be worth it.
Anne Holmes says on March 2nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I love the concept of assuming positive intent. In my 30 decades in the workforce, I have found that people – employers, employees and clients – will live up or down to my expectations.
Once I discovered that, it was easy to take the next step and start assuming the positive.
These days, when we are worried that this recession we’re in may well last longer and dig deeper than any since the Great Depression, I am taking action- and salving my wounds – with goal-setting, positive thinking and positive actions.
As I see it, that’s the only way I’ll ever live long enough to complete my “bucket list!”
Mike Stankavich says on March 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Kit, thank you for sharing reasons to be OK with choosing to believe that other people have positive intent. Some think I’m naive or a sucker for thinking that way, but I’m OK with that.
That doesn’t mean that I roll over every time I get into a confrontational situation because I believe the other party is “doing the right thing” and I’m not. But I do assume that said other party has good intentions from their perspective, and attempt to find some common ground for understanding based on that assumption.
Yes, But Still... says on March 3rd, 2009 at 3:56 am
I like this approach, and I’m looking forward to testing it in my daily life!
Kit Cooper says on March 3rd, 2009 at 11:32 am
Thanks everyone for your comments.
As far as the necessity of putting it into practice. I agree with this for many important principles and I think this is not a negative. However, for this one, shifting mindsets to assuming more positive intent from others, may not be all that hard. Could be one of those “light bulb” situations where once you decide to make the shift doesn’t require as much work as other development stuff.
Re: the first comment above, I tried to caveat and address the dichotomy of this principle in both work and personal. That there are times when it is applicable to give the benefit of the doubt and necessary to call someone out, or even write someone off if their values are proven to be way out of what you accept.
michael kastler says on March 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Great article, and great comments too. I’d like to add my .02 to this …
First, I think that there is a difference and a necessity between internally accepting a ‘assume positive intent’ (API) attitude and enforcing this externally.
The benefits of internally accepting and acting on API are that it informs your attitude and affects not only your mental, emotional and spiritual state, but also more subtly affects others. This is clear by the way you respond to people and how they respond to you when you are working from the internal stance of API.
Enforcing and externalizing API is also a powerful method, and to answer other commenters is a very practical action i have used. When in a discussion or argument with someone where you feel they are being intentionally obtuse, misleading, or just downright nasty, I have found it very useful to restate what you think their positive intent goal is, and ask how you can achieve it together.
An example – if a coworker is throwing out negative comments in a meeting about a project you have been working on for some time, instead of responding to the perceived insults, first internalize API and then respond with “I can tell from your passion on this subject that you want this project to be a great success, just as we do. How can we make that happen, given the items you have just identified?”
I have consciously used API to achieve very positive results for myself and my organization.
Jason Peatz says on March 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Essentially the greatest struggle that anyone would have with API is putting it into practice.
This is because, as you know, how we perceive people or situations is habitual. So for us to break the old habit of assuming that the person is against us and start the new habit of detaching our ego from the situation we must find our own triggers that occur when we begin to assume.
So the challenge that I take from this is to find those triggers in myself.
THJ says on March 7th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Finally! something to show people when they tell me ‘you’re just weird, you like everybody’
It’s right on the nose though – I actually picked up this habit from a fridge magnet at some random person’s house that said ‘life is 10% what happens, and 90% how you react to it’ (it was much catchier than my paraphrasing here).
Gary says on March 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I remember being 16 or 17 years old (now 48) and realizing that everybody comes from a positive intent when you take the time to look from their personal perspective, however, that does not mean it will be necessarily positive from any other persons perspective. This applies to both business and personal relationship situations. The old proverb “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” illustrates that perfectly. Even Hitler had positive intent – His was trying to create what he called “the perfect human race” generally described as a 6’, blond, blue eyed person (and, yes, take over the world…sadly perceived to be very positive by him and his followers at one point). Take any politician…one gets elected and there is a throng of voices in opposition…that party loses the next election and the other side gets elected and again there is a throng of voices in opposition…go figure lol. Even though we are all made of the same stuff, the complexities of the human mind are enormous, what an interesting paradox!! From my perspective…once we realize that the latter isn’t really any different than the former, this will be a much more co-operative place to live.
G
re: THJ – Original quote you spoke of I believe is from Charles R. Swindoll: “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.”
Kare Anderson says on March 16th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Years ago, when I was a reporter and interviewed many people in times of stress and high stakes for them, I came up with a saying for myself – to get the most out of the interview – doggedly sometimes – but in a way I could hold to an ethical purpose:
Look to their positive intent, especially when it appears they may have none.
In other words, keep asking question, respectfully and to the point of the story. Inflamatory language or tone never helps get the story – or bring out the best in others. Great post (again) Kit + kudos on your foundation and upcoming book