Plussing.

The every day art of improving just about everything

all of the time

Sometimes, when you wake up…

…it’s a little tougher than you’d like

You may even find yourself in a meeting…

…that doesn’t quite engage you fully

And you ask yourself: “What have I done”?

“What will my next step be?”

Engage!

• In the words of the famous Dutch philosopher-soccer player Johan Cruijff: “If you want to score, you’ll have to shoot at the goal!”

• Equally philosophical, with a much nicer logo:

Plussing. Here’s how:

• When you get out of bed, thinking: “Argh! This is not going to be my day.”

• Say to yourself: “Wow! At least there’s nothing wrong with my amazing powers of observation!”

Plussing. Here’s how:

• When you’re sitting in a meeting, thinking: “This is definitely not going in the right direction!”

• Say to yourself: “So where does my accurate sense of direction tell me we should go?”

Plussing. Here’s how:

• When you hear yourself thinking: “I’m actually not really enjoying this very much.”

• Realize: “This is probably one of the best moments to go and do something completely different.”

Plussing is…

• Not only thinking “not”

• Also helping yourself think “and”

• Thereby helping yourself move one step out of the place you’re not happy in

• Giving just a little twist to a ‘-’ to turn it into a ‘+’

Plussing. Is that even American?

• Walt Disney thought so!

“Somewhere during the 1940s, Walt coined the term ‘plussing’. (…) To ‘plus’ something is to improve it. ‘Plussing’ means giving your customers more than they paid for, more than they expect, more than you have to give them.”(How to be like Walt, 2004: page 154)

Plussing. Helps me to…

…greet the day with a smile• When people ask “How are you?”, of

course you can say “Great! And you?”

• You can also say: “Really wonderful! I hope you’re also amazingly well!” and grin. Broadly.

Plussing. Helps me to…

…move meetings in the right direction• You can say: “Yes… But…”. You can also

say: “That’s a super idea. We can even make it better by…”

• You can say: “That idea is not going to be particularly effective”. You can also respond with: “That’s 1. We can add to that, by…”

Plussing. Helps me to…

…approach conflicts constructively• You may find yourself having an issue with

someone. An alternative approach could be: “Working through this is making our relationship even better.”

• You might say: “No, that’s really not it!”. You also might say: “I see what you’re trying to say. Indeed, that might help. What could also help is…”

Plussing. Helps me…

…position my buddies better• Normally you introduce someone saying:

“This is so-and-so. She works as xyz for abc.”. How would it sound when you say: “This is so-and-so. Working for abc, she’s done an amazing job on 123. Imagine what she’ll be able to do, when she moves on from being xyz…”

Plussing. It’s simple!

• You can say “but…”. Also “and…”.

• You might say “Well, actually…”. You could also say: “Super!”

• Saying “No.” is always an option. Another one is: “Yes! And perhaps we should also…”

Plussing.

The every day art of improving just about everything

all of the time

Plussing. Also useful…

• When you realize thinking positively gives you space. Engaging constructively results in progress.

• When a determined aiming at a positive outcome is vital for the process.

• By engaging full force for a positive outcome, chances are that you will make it so

Plussing. This is how you do it!

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