Have each person acknowledge someone else's achievement in a concrete, sincere way. Done right, this very small question can begin to shift the conversation.
Take two minutes every day to try to catch someone doing the right thing. It is the fastest and most positive way for the people around you to learn when they are getting it right.
The "sincere" part of this is incredibly important. If you don't actually mean it, or if you are of the opinion (even subconsciously) that people shouldn't be praised for the thing you're praising them for, it will come across, and with greater impact than the words themselves. Likewise, if you are surprised that a person has done something positive, this also comes across.
This may be the reason why higher Losada ratios become counterproductive -- when everybody feels the need to be positive, the net sincerity goes way down, and people might end up experiencing more implied negative messages, like "Hey, you did that... (finally)" or "Wow, great job on (thing I think is a stupid waste of time)".
It is quite easily possible to use what is overtly praise in ways that actually lower people's self-esteem, and it probably becomes attractive in an environment where positive expression is required and/or overt negative expression is censored.
Is sincerity isomorphic to raising someone's status?
From the Harvard Business Review, an article entitled: "Can We Reverse The Stanford Prison Experiment?"
By: Greg McKeown
Posted: June 12, 2012
Clicky Link of Awesome! Wheee! Push me!
Summary:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police attempt a program where they hand out "Positive Tickets"
This idea can be applied to Real Life