We live in a very negative and divided world, made worse by social media and cable news. Many employees can’t help but bring some of that negativity with them to work. They don’t trust their colleagues and they hesitate to collaborate. Only 41% of team members believe trusting relationships exist with their peers. As a result, employee engagement suffers, trust is diminished, and well being is jeopardized.

When someone appears to be doing something wrong, questionable or unexplainable, our default setting is to assume negative intent: they must have a hidden agenda, or they are mean or are certainly incompetent. This negativity creates a cycle of mistrust, reduces collaboration and most importantly reduces our wellbeing and happiness. Contrary to popular belief, the road to hell is paved with bad intentions, not good intentions.

When leaders Assume Positive Intent (API), they change their mindset, replaced judgment with curiosity, give the benefit of the doubt and start with the assumption that others may have a valid reason for acting that way. They’re better off starting with the positive, until they have a good reason not to.

The idea is to start with the assumption that their colleagues are trustworthy and they share their desires for a positive outcome for the team and to expect them to behave in a positive way, even if they’re not sure. That is the starting point, and then they check with them.

API leads to improved engagement, trust and collaboration. And it is makes everyone so much happier. When we give others the benefit of the doubt, we give ourselves the benefit of low blood pressure!

API is not a naïve approach to work and live. Giving others the benefit of the doubt does not replace conflict management or having difficult conversations- it enhances it! The best leaders are those that “API and verify.”

Yes, there are many jerks out there who have very negative intentions. Leaders need to make peace with the fact that they will occasionally be taken advantage of and cheated. It’s a small price to pay for the benefit of long-term trusting relationships.

What can Leaders do?

When leaders assume positive intent, they model giving others the benefit of the doubt. This creates a ripple effect in their teams and across their organizations. The default setting in the culture changes from assuming negative intentions to assuming positive ones, and API becomes a core organizational principle that generates cycles of trust and collaboration at all levels.

Here are some specific take-home behaviors for leaders:

Realistic optimism:

• Think about others’ mistakes as short-term, specific, and impersonal
• Dispute your own beliefs by looking for evidence, checking for alternatives, examining possible implications, and questioning the usefulness of the beliefs.

Empathy:

• Humanize others and think of them as people with valid fears and concerns.
• Ask yourself: “Why would a reasonable, decent person act this way?”
• Ask yourself: “What if the other person is trying their best?”
• Ask yourself: “Have I ever done something similar to what the other person did?”

Humility

• Replace blind certainty with curiosity about other people.
• Ask open-ended questions that can help reframe situations.
• Overcome confirmation bias by disputing your own assumptions.

Reality Testing:

• Check your assumptions by talking with others who are close to the situation, and talk with the person in question.
• Ask clear questions and listen to understand, not to reply.
• Consider the other person’s track record before judging them harshly.

Forgiveness:

• Don’t take things personally.
• Don’t blame the other person for how you feel.
• Don’t create a grievance story.
• Beware of trying to enforce unenforceable rules.

In future articles, I will be elaborating on each one of these behaviors and offering specific examples and applications.

This article is based on my latest book: “The Positive Intent Mindset: Exceptional Leadership through Trust & Accountability”.

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Dr. Amer Kaissi is a Workplace Culture Keynote Speaker