Turning around a negative work atmosphere takes a little creativity. Much of the broader external culture is negative. There is too much emphasis on what is wrong and little emphasis on what is going right. Individual and collective tend to be overlooked.

The following list of community building strategies have been effective in past efforts to address work climate. Pick those that are best suited to your setting.

• Review strengths before new tasks are begun
• Identify positive qualities of situations which had been called negative
• Set achievable short- and long-term goals and celebrate the accomplishment of each
• Brainstorm a list of healthy ways to celebrate the achievement of individual and group goals
• Make a conscious effort to learn from mistakes
• Regularly recognize individual and collective strengths
• Acknowledge "problems" as important opportunities for improvement and growth
• Do not discount achievements by calling attention to weakness in the same sentence (change "buts" to "ands")
• Take advantage of opportunities to include fun

• Seek out win-win or mutually beneficial solutions to perceived tradeoffs. Debunking false-dichotomies is one of the most powerful breakthrough strategies in establishing a positive outlook. To debunk false-dichotomies, first examine the beliefs about tradeoffs in your culture. Then articulate a new vision whereby the success of each group could be enhanced by the success of the other. A classic example of such a false-dichotomy would be "Are you for management or are you for rank and file workers." This approach to debunking false-dichotomies also works when two positive strategies or organizational goals are being mistakenly characterized as tradeoffs. You can solve the puzzle by calling attention to the power and benefit of combining the two strategies or goals for better results.