The skills, attitude and mindset to build
trust, engagement and collaboration at work.

Green Zone Thinking™

Green Zone Thinking focuses on the cultivation of a cooperative mindset which develops through mutually supportive, empathetic relationships. It is trust-based at the deepest level and is rooted in the intention to engage people and build positive connections.

Green Zone Thinking is driven by positive intentions, which manifest through behavioral values that affect how we relate with others. Some examples of Green Zone intentions include:

  • Striving for mutual success
  • Building high trust relationships
  • Creating partnerships
  • Seeking understanding
  • Setting good boundaries
  • Not exploiting or being exploited

When you’re in a Green Zone with others, it’s likely you’ll have a sense of ease, being accepted, and knowing where things stand. This is true even when they don’t agree with your ideas or opinions about things. The Green Zone orientation is toward mutual understanding and creative problem-solving, rather than people proving themselves right and others wrong. Behaviors that are common in the Green Zone include:

  • Openness
  • Candid conversations
  • Standing firm, while open to persuasion
  • Willingness to share viewpoint
  • Sincere listening
  • Asking thoughtful questions
  • No blaming or shaming
  • Self-accountability
  • Directness about issues and concerns
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Sincerely caring about people
  • Willingness to seek feedback
  • Willingness to admit mistakes
  • Ability to self-reflect
  • Capacity to step back and see larger picture
  • Treating others with dignity and respect, even when there is a disagreement

Green Zone energy is perceived as safe and supportive, which triggers a trusting emotional response in others. People tend to relax, open up, and engage with Green Zone Thinkers.

On a biochemical level, there is a positive response to Green Zone Thinkers. The feelings of trust and safety engendered in the Green Zone activate the higher cortex of the brain, enabling more sophisticated mental processes, such as more conscious decision-making, regulating personal defensiveness, and being able to imagine, innovate, create and plan. These responses lead to the positive qualities experienced in relationships with Green Zone Thinkers.

Green Zone Thinking is a pre-condition for building high trust sustainable relationships. Cultivating Green Zone Thinking, Mindset, Attitude and Behaviors, is like downloading a new operating system enabling individuals to gain new insights and capabilities previously outside of their awareness. Green Zone programs offer a simple model for understanding human behavior and motivation and provide practices for transforming theory and ideas into action. We focus on six practices for building Green Zone Cultures.