We recently attended an interesting event that introduced the principles Positive Psychology – we wrote here about some of our impressions and key learning points.

For this post we asked the conference host, Sukh Pabial, to look at simple ways that these principles could be incorporated in the workplace…

“In the corporate world, there are a growing number of ways to have discussions on the best way to engage staff. Broadly what they’re all aiming to do is have an engaged workforce where people are willing to increase the amount of discretionary effort they make at work – that is, putting in extra effort at work because you want to, with no expectation of extra gain. It’s the Holy Grail for many organisations.

There’s a good many ways this can be achieved. But few offer authentic ways of actually trusting your staff. At its core, this is what we want our people to believe – that they are trusted to do a good job. Positive Psychology offers us a way to create this level of trust.

Firstly it’s important to debunk a myth that positive thinking and positive psychology are the same – they are not. Positive thinking is useful for maintaining an optimistic outlook on life and not being dragged down by negative thinking. Positive Psychology helps us to identify behaviours that when changed will create long lasting effects of feeling good and happiness. Imagine being happy at work. Some workplaces achieve this well, others are striving to get there.

Here are three things that organisations can do to make this possible:

Suspend annual leave policies

Sounds crazy doesn’t it. I mean how would that even work? And wouldn’t people just take full advantage and take leave whenever they felt like it? The research has shown that in companies where this has happened, people will be very willing to do the work they have to in order to take the leave they want to. It’s a great way of showing how much you trust your people. There are logistics around making it work, yet it’s very possible to make a reality.

Recognise the ambitions of your people

One of the most common ways people progress in a company is to promote them into positions of responsibility and authority. Well those are two different things, so why not have people fulfilling both? There are those for whom line management is the desired next step and they’ll be good at doing that. There are others for whom being an expert in their domain is important, and they’ll excel at that. Play to your people’s strengths and they’ll deliver the results.

Create internal communities of practice Continue reading “3 Ways to Use Positive Psychology in the Workplace” »

Last week we attended Positive Psychology in Application, a combined seminar and workshop that introduced a number of willing attendees to the concepts and principles of positive psychology.

The session was run by Sukh Pabial, a Learning & Development practitioner and keen Positive Psychology enthusiast, who has previously guest blogged for us on the subject of using positive language in interviews.

There was a real buzz at the session – the event had only been marketed through Twitter and personal blogs, so there was a connection between all the attendees, with many meeting in person for the first time after having built an online relationship.

The introduction drew the differences between positive thinking and positive psychology – in a nutshell the former is about changing how you think so instead of being negative you think positively, whilst the latter looks at the behaviours that can increase a person’s sense of wellbeing to a positive and vibrant state. In the workplace this is about creating work environments that are conducive to not just a healthy place to work, but also a vibrant place to work – allowing people to carry out tasks without fear of blame or backlash for mistakes.

There are a number of interventions in positive psychology that can help produce lasting effects of feeling good, many of which were discussed during the course of the seminar. These are the four that made the biggest impression on us:

3 Good Things

This is one of the simplest exercises for creating a feeling of happiness. At the end of the day take time to reflect and list 3 good things that have happened during the day. Try to keep a record of them in a diary or blog. Sukh explained ‘initially the things you write tend to be things like ‘the sun came out today’, or ‘had a good meal’. As you become more committed to it, you’ll find you write other things such as ‘helped a colleague solve a work problem’ or ‘had a good workout’ or ‘kept my anger in check today’. The important thing isn’t how deep or profound the good thing is; just that it provides a focus for thinking about good events rather than hanging on bad things’

Gratitude Visits Continue reading “Introduction to Positive Psychology” »