KateNasser.com

Is your leadership message to others stay motivated or stay positive? Despite what many think, there is a difference. To some that you lead, stay motivated is a far stronger motto. They see the stay positive message as fake and unattainable. After all, employees do have bad days. The true question is whether they can stay motivated (even on a bad day) to work through the struggles and reach the end goals.

Stay Motivated vs. Stay Positive: Which is better leadership message?
Image by James Marvin Phelps via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Image by James Marvin Phelps via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Stay Motivated vs. Stay Positive: Different?

If you think this is worthless wordplay, consider that those you lead hear your messages differently. For driver personality types and analytic types, stay positive is often an unimportant message. They even find it annoying as they picture people pretending to feel good when they don’t. For amiable personality types, staying positive is essential. “How can you stay motivated if you aren’t positive?”

Great leaders inspire those they lead through knowing what messages connect and motivate. Consider the slight word changes noted below and then ask if your current words are hitting the mark!

1. Positive can-do attitude vs. a motivated can-do attitude

2. No complaints vs. ideas & solutions

3. Be positive culture vs. be motivated culture

Aha Moment!

Admittedly, there are organizations and teams succeeding with the stay positive message. However, they have closely connected it to actions like teamwork, learning, and asking for help/support. If your organization is one of these, bravo. Yet, if the majority of employees are grousing at the idea of staying positive, dig further and see if a stay motivated message will sustain their morale.

Related Post:
10 Ways to Ignite Greatness Without Leaving Scars

©2025 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Tags: communication, employee engagement, inspiration, Leadership Development, leading morale, motivation, people skills, stay motivated, stay positive, staying power