I often reflect on my past professional experiences and have realized that what we believe is really what we find. Consider the case of a “problem” employee, someone who doesn’t live up to his or her expectations. Every time you think of that employee, you constantly reinforce, “they’re not up to it, they’re doing a poor job, I wish they’d improve, I wish they’d leave, transfer, etc.” Have you ever considered that, through the law of attraction, your constant focus on your shortcomings could keep you in a suspended state of failing to meet your expectations? It’s not what happens, it’s what we think is happening, expecting it to be a static state of being, and that becomes reality. You could be manifesting what you are thinking.

Even if you are sure of what you are observing, the big change occurs when you let go of the idea that you should focus on reality, assuming that it is a static state of being, even if it is something you do not want. As managers and entrepreneurs, we often think we are forced to focus on “what is.” What good is this, really? Do we have a core belief that says, “if I don’t focus on how this employee needs to improve, he won’t improve.” As much as we judge ourselves, we say, “If I don’t criticize myself for having an undesirable A-quality, I’ll forget to ‘work’ on it.” I believe this mentality is a fallacy. True change always comes from a focus on what we want, rather than “working on” what we don’t want, which sends up more and more resistance. There is no trying, there is no “working on”, that is an imaginary state of being. There is what we want and what we don’t. Constant focus on the problem will not bring the solution.

I would suggest a totally radical approach: write down all the qualities you like about this employee. Read about “The Work” by Byron Katie and answer the four questions, with this situation in mind. Holding high vibration beliefs will completely change your energy around this person and it will also change the way you move around this person. If your boss came to you with positive, kind, high vibration thoughts about you, would you feel that? Conversely, if your boss approached you with negative, outraged thoughts about you, would you feel it? What would communication be like in each scenario? What scenario would bring out the best in you? Can you think of a time when you were able to achieve and maintain a high level of performance when the person you worked for believed you were not good enough? How about achieving and maintaining a high level of performance when you were working for someone who thought you were exceptionally talented?

I look forward to the day when we get over our fear of freely praising employees. Too often, we think that communicating an employee’s strengths and value will make them stop “trying” and “rest on their laurels.” Nothing is further from the truth. Appreciation is a logical managerial move called positive reinforcement. What is reinforced will replicate itself, whether positive or negative.