Positive Psychology and the Workplace: A Labor of Love

Positive emotions have been linked with numerous positive outcomes including improved health and wellbeing, longevity, and a greater quality of life (Diener & Chan 2011, Lyubomirsky, King & Diener 2005). On the flip side anger, anxiety, depression, and worry have been shown to be related to poor health outcomes.

However, cultivating and maintaining a state of positivity and happiness is not as easy as it seems. Moreover, people do not always understand what truly lies at the roots of their own happiness.

The good news is our genetics only influences our levels of happiness by around 50% (Lyubomirsky, 2008). Beyond that happiness not a genetic mandate or a product of circumstance.

It is a choice. Your choice.

Positive Psychology and the Workplace

Positive psychology can be used in many different ways to increase happiness and satisfaction within the workforce. Given that we spend on average half of our waking hours at work, many organizations and business leaders are increasingly starting to acknowledge that utilizing psychological techniques and know-how in the workplace is imperative.

As an employee, manager, or CEO you can put these ideas into practice and build on these foundations the building blocks of improved performance, motivation, and engagement.

So, allow me to share the scientific underpinnings of what makes people happy and how we can use this knowledge to live, work, and create happier healthier lives.

Make Connections

Science tells us that the greatest way to influence our happiness is to make new connections with the people around us as well as strengthen old ones (Ryan & Deci 2001, Seligman 2011, Ryff 1989, Huppert 2008). Simply, the more social we are, the happier we become.

Evolution has ensured our survival is tied to our skills to connect with others. Our brains are literally wired to connect. These connections have the power to affect how we feel.

According to the body of research on happiness, our moods are quite literally contagious. This happens because of mirror neurons in our brains (Enticott et al. 2008, Iacoboni et al. 2005, Rizzolatti and Craighero 2004).

If our colleague starts celebrating next to us the cells in our own brain that would fire when we’re engaged in similar behavior light up. We are wired to connect with those around us and to understand their feelings and intentions.

In a recent survey by Virgin almost 40 percent of the respondents named their colleagues as the top reason they enjoy their work (Virgin Pulse 2015). Furthermore, over two thirds of respondents reported that not only did those positive relationships increase their productivity, but it helped mitigate stressful and difficult challenges at work.

The centrality of the relationship between our social connections and our internal happiness cannot be overstated. So get to know the person sitting next to you a little better.

Make an effort to eat lunch in the canteen. Organise a get together with your colleagues after work and get to know the people you are spending so much time with.

One of the hurdles to this of course is our own concerns, embarrassment and levels of comfort with doing this. Scott Crabtree, a renowned and experienced leader at Intel suggests that a Pecha Kucha presentation could help to break the ice,

“In Japanese, Pecha Kucha roughly means chit chat, but it’s a specific format of presentation. Usually, each person brings 20 slides with just pictures on them, and they get 20 seconds to explain each slide…but we made the rule that people could only share things about their lives outside of work. The difference was immediate and significant. We immediately started treating each other less like competitors and more like collaborators.”

Crabtree goes on to say that this is perhaps the best tool be has come across for building trust and understanding in a team quickly.

As a manager or team leader you need to be aware of how contagious positivity and negativity can be. Be aware of the importance of managing morale because one unhappy person can make for an unhappy office.

Help your staff come together and connect by issuing office-wide competitions or team building events that encourage people to work together and build genuine relationships. Place your staff who are high in energy, satisfaction and performance strategically throughout your teams and watch their natural demeanors transform the feel of the office.

Make it clear to staff that socializing is not only tolerated, it is encouraged as long as it doesn’t interfere with performance.

Practice Positivity

One way to practice positivity in the workplace is to learn to express gratitude to our colleagues. Studies by leading gratitude researcher Dr. Robert Emmons have found that those who practice the simple technique of gratitude experience greater joy, pleasure, happiness, and optimism (Emmons 2007).

Gratitude works best when it is genuine and honest. Offer genuine comments about people’s behavior and not sweeping generalizations.

For example, taking the time to express how clear and concise a presentation was to a colleague will be much more effective than simply telling them “that was great!”

Not only will the person receiving the compliment experience enhanced mood and self esteem, the parts of the brain that are more able to deal with complexity and are more creative are activated, as they begin to feel safer and let down their guard within the workplace.

When you are in ´fight or flight mode´ at work, your defense mechanisms are ready to fire at any given moment and your brain is busy processing potential dangers and vulnerabilities, meaning the more creative and productive parts of the brain are shut off.

Positive feedback not only acts to reinforce behavior, it encourages creativity. That said it is not possible or meaningful to work effectively by being positive and grateful all of the time.

Criticism and correction are of course both necessary and helpful. Given how many organizations view exceeding expectations as a basic requirement or where the focus is on problems and challenges which need to be solved, the lack of positivity can create a dent in productivity.

Whilst there are many advantages to being one of life’s “positive people”, it is not something you can just decide to be and it changes overnight. It is a skill that needs to be honed and worked on much like you would work on a group of muscles at the gym.

Some people however are simply more naturally positive in their outlook and disposition than others. These people are extremely valuable to organizations, especially when there is a general atmosphere of demotivation, demoralization and mistrust.

The trick is to seek out these people. Find them, cherish them, and most importantly spend time with them. Place them strategically in teams that could benefit from their sunnier disposition.

Stretch Beyond Your Goals

Regularly setting goals at both an individual, team and organizational level is critical for productivity and happiness. Goals can provide us with an intrinsic sense of engagement, motivation and connection.

But in order to achieve happiness we cannot rely on goal achievement alone. The sustainable source of happiness is enjoying each step that propels you towards the finish line.

Research shows that whilst goal achievement creates an initial boost in positivity, the effects do not last long. The trick lies in learning to enjoy each aspect of the journey towards your goals.

To apply this, first structure your goals to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant to your interests, and time-bound). Second, stretch beyond being smart and make your goals meaningful.

Try to connect your goals with your values and strengths, as you are more likely to feel happier and perform better. As a manger keep this in mind when assigning projects to your staff.

If you can find the intersection between skills, interest, values and strengths, you are likely to build a team with internal motivation, engagement, and connection, as they thrive on their own motivations and energy.

Play to Your Strengths

Most of us are striving to better ourselves in one way or another, and yet we can often find that we are caught up in our failings, focusing on trying to “fix” parts of ourselves and neglecting those parts of us that are flourishing.

Martin Seligman and other researchers in the field have noted that when we are engaging in work, which uses our strengths in new and innovative ways, we experience higher levels of happiness and lower levels of depression (Forest et al. 2012, Seligman et al. 2005, Seligman 2004). Another influential study suggests that up to 70 percent of professionals who actively utilize their strengths on a daily basis reported feeling more engaged and energized by their work (VIA Institute on Character & McQuaid 2015).

Given that countless scientific studies have highlighted the fact that we are at our best when engaging in our strengths, it seems counterproductive to be liberal with the criticism yet sparing with the praise (Linley et al. 2010, Proyer et al. 2013, Bao & Lyubomirsky 2013, Lavy, Littman-Ovadia, & Bareli 2014, Niemiec 2014, ).

Start meetings with an opportunity to share success stories – big and small. Give people the opportunity to share their successes, achievements and accomplishment with you, as well as sharing your own.

Don’t assume that everyone knows their own strengths or that they are the same as yours. Recognize and let go of the assumption that simply because you find something easy everyone else should, and it will help you to better understand your colleagues and work together more productively.

Playing to your staff’s strengths rather than their weaknesses not only impacts their intrinsic motivation, but also the company and organization at large.

Reward Yourself

Our ability to celebrate our own accomplishments, as well as those of our colleagues, is another important element that enables us to flourish in the workplace.

Rewards activate the pleasure pathways in our brain, even when they are self-induced (Bradburry & Greaves 2009). Effective rewards do not have to be anything big or expensive or even financial, but can be as simple as taking a break, going for a short walk, or enjoying a snack.

A number of studies have found that small rewards can make people more generous, friendly, and happy, as well as more productive and accurate in their work (Smith & Irvine 2009, Barsky, Frame & McDougal 2004). At Google, employee satisfaction rose an impressive 37% when a small rewards scheme was put in place, suggesting that financial rewards are not the only thing happy, productive employees are looking for (Revesencio 2015).

So take note…whilst working hard is important, never allowing yourself to take a break is detrimental to your happiness. Refresh your focus and step away from the screen for a few minutes.

As a company you can offer your staff a thoughtful reward program that might offer incentives, such as flexible working hours to show that you genuinely care about their needs. But make sure that the rewards you are offering is in line with what your staff wants.

It might be helpful to issue a company-wide survey or put together an employee committee to get feedback about what benefits and resources would most help your staff to feel cared for and considered, both in their work and personal lives.

Whilst these strategies and ideas may sound like common sense in many ways they are too rarely acknowledged or practiced in today’s workplaces. By offering positivity, engagement, connection, meaning and acknowledgement you can create an inspired and motivated workforce that are not only happy to be at work but are excited to contribute to the company at large.

In the words of Richard Branson,

“Take care of your employees. They’ll take care of your business.”

References

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