Business

As a managing director, leadership coach, and parent, I’m always open to advice that can better inform my approach, attitude and style. After all, what might start out as helpful nuggets could easily become the guiding principles in all areas of life. Here are four gems that have made a significant difference to me as a leader over the years.

Prosocial motivation drives taking action with the intention of helping others. We explore the benefits of prosocial motivation at work. Maybe helping others comes to you naturally. Or maybe being prosocially motivated is a new muscle you want to flex. In either case, here are a few things to keep in mind so your helping doesn’t backfire on you.

Last week my husband, our friend and I walked for three days on the Great Ocean Walk track in Victoria, Australia. Long walks make for great conversations. One of our discussions was about what makes a good life. How do we turn work, love, play, and service into good work, good love, good play, and good service?

The Canadian Positive Psychology Association is pleased to announce its second conference will be held this July 16-18 in Ottawa, Canada. In addition to tthe keynote speakers, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Tim Kasser, Michael Steger, and Bob Vallerand, the CPPA is pleased to provide a forum for emerging researchers and practitioners. This preview is about some of the speakers that will address workplace well-being.

In a recent webinar sponsored by Positive Business DC, Jocelyn Davis introduced the audience to the Happiness at Work survey created by Nic Marks. The Happiness at Work survey is freely available online, so you can use it to get a checkup on your own happiness at work compared to other people. Read a quick summary of the presentation by Jocelyn Davis and click through to the recording if you want to know more.

Organizational culture, often described as “the way we do things around here,” is a management challenge begging for positive intervention. Yet it is an asset often taken for granted by traditional companies that believe it is hard to define. So if you are like the 96% of executives who say some change in their culture is needed, read on for some insight in the five behavioral practices leaders must demonstrate in order to positively impact culture.

When they want to feel more loved, valued, respected or connected, most people give away their power. They ask (or want) others to be different, which means someone else’s behavior determines how happy they will be.
What do happier people do?

Many people dread strategic planning sessions. But with a different mindset and framework, strategic planning can be energizing, interesting, and engaging. It could even be joyful. SOAR stands for Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. It is a strengths-based approach to strategic thinking that has many positive impacts. SOAR capacities can also be measured.

New research on perceiving work as a calling suggests that callings are dynamic, changing over time. This post discusses what a calling is, how it develops, and why we shouldn’t worry too much about finding it.

Based both on my PhD research and on my personal experiences publishing a book with Margaret Greenberg, here are my research-based suggestions for taking incremental steps to reach important goals.

When we are dissatisfied with our jobs, often our first instinct is to say, “Get out!” The very next thought is, “I can’t!” Then we feel stuck, and the emotional downward spiral begins. There is something we can do that is more effective than simply enduring the pain while stewing in resentment. In the short term, we can try re-crafting our job until we can create a longer-term solution.

Since most business leaders are immersed in their own negativity bias, there is a distinct competitive advantage for focusing on the positive side of the science. Positive approaches remind us not only to give our attention to our most challenging customers and employees, but also to spend quality time with our best customers and employees. If you are in business, it is likely that your competitors are neglecting some of these opportunities. If you can do them well, you can indeed profit from the positive.

This is a ground-breaking volume of positive psychology research, and the breadth of perspectives is unparalleled. Not only are new and more specialized topics included, but even familiar topics are illustrated with up-to-date research, case studies, and examples. Clearly this is what positive psychology students and teachers need to progress the science, do high quality research, and put it out into the public domain.

There is a lot of compelling evidence across industries, continents, and sectors that positive and virtuous practices pay off. Organizations make more money, are more productive, achieve higher quality, produce higher customer satisfaction, and create higher employee engagement. Moreover, evidence suggests that these relationships are causal. When virtuous practices improve, organizational outcomes improve as well.

An executive with great skill at developing others and forming productive teams worried, “But this is a bit fluffy isn’t it?” Grant and Berg find that employees who are pro-socially motivated take initiative, persist in meaningful tasks, help others, enhance the well-being of others, perform better at work, and have more energy. So why do people think these skills are fluffy?

I learned an important lesson last week: When we relinquish control, we give others the opportunity to flourish. So, the next time you’re charged with designing a highly effective team-building session, imagine what would happen if you just didn’t show up.

Like it or not, your boss is either helping or hindering your health big time. Working with a good boss could be even more important than choosing the ideal doctor.

Adam Grant’s new book, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, dispels the myth that nice guys are underachievers. Grant examines three styles of social interaction: Giving, Taking and Matching. He provides the research to support the positive impact and benefits of giving. Despite our instinct to take or match in competitive atmospheres, the data show that givers rise to the top.

The American Psychological Association’s 2013 Work and Well-Being Conference in Chicago made me wonder. What if there was a way to tip the scales from workplaces being primary sources of stress to workplaces providing knowledge and skills to overcome life stressors, whether the stressors originate in the workplace or elsewhere?

More than 300 educators, psychologists, counselors, students, and administrative heads of learning institutions across the Philippines gathered at the Villa Careres Hotel in Naga City to participate in the First National Convention on Positive Psychology. How did this festive and educational event come about?