Most leaders and teams I work with - name the context - do not keep up with the research indicating that there is no evidence that a negative focus on failure improves performance.
It just feels that way. We have been so schooled in the trance of negativity that it feels right when we expect a negative focus to make things all better. And there is no data to support the idea that it does.
People, teams and things improve because people engage their strengths in new ways. There is actually evidence, and logic, to support that. Nothing gets us more focused on strengths than reverse engineering successes: Whats actually going well and why?
Asking people what's going right and why is a diagnostic inquiry. The more quickly people move in the direction of these questions, the more optimism I have about their ability to improve. It is science, but not rocket science.