It’s natural for everyone to want their work to be engaging and interesting. Yet statistics show that 80% of the working population is plagued by job dissatisfaction, and the entire corporate sector is reeling under a high job migration rate.
The issue is that positive psychology in the workplace is a DIY activity that many do not understand or invest in seriously. So, if you are a busy executive, you must have spared a thought on making your job life easier and more rewarding. The concept of positive psychology will teach you not only to make your job engagement levels high and optimize your performance but also to make work a more rewarding experience for your teams.
what is positive psychology in the workplace, and how does it work?
Simply put, positive psychology explores the scientific pillars behind positive emotions and tries to analyze the ABC model behind it (antecedent-behavior-consequence) logically. What is it that makes people happy or unhappy at work? What behavior patterns encourage people to feel more invested in their workplaces? How to make Mondays exciting? These are questions that positive psychology tries to answer.
Since the average working professional spends 70% of his/ her working hours at the office, it’s critical to implement positive psychology at work. There has been a lot of established research on the advantages of harnessing positive psychology in the workplace. The key findings suggest that this process can optimize performance levels, motivation quotient, engagement levels, and creative thinking. Findings also suggest that conflict resolution and job satisfaction also improve, ultimately leading to higher employee retention.
insert some perma into your team!
PERMA can be translated into positive emotions, engagement levels, relationship optimization, meaning fulfillment, and accomplishment. It was a famous psychiatrist and workplace development professional Martin Seligman who pioneered the PERMA positive psychology model, and since then, thousands of organizations have benefited from it. As a top business executive, you can understand and imbibe PERMA before implementing this model in your workplace for tremendous positive outcomes.
The first step is recognizing that people do better work more proactively when they are happier. Experiencing positive emotions reduces fatigue and stress levels and boosts the cooperative and problem resolution traits. One great way of building positivity is to be vocal about employee appreciation and encourage others to share appreciation vocally.
The second step is maximizing staff engagement by optimizing the usage and recognition of collective strengths. This step also requires the focus to be turned on the optimization of strength rather than on weaknesses.
The third step is to optimize relationships by having shared discussions, feedback models, and open-door system and staff engagement activities. Workplace relationships that add value to the lives of employees have more chances of lasting longer. If you feel emotionally invested with your work team, chances are you will enjoy working more.
The fourth step is a sense of fulfillment and the creation of a shared purpose. As a top business executive, you need to see a meaning to your work that goes beyond materialistic benefits and financial remuneration. Ensure that your team understands how they are contributing to a larger goal when they serve their job roles well.
The fifth step is an accomplishment that relates to achieving realistic goals through specific actions. You need to be able to identify which talents and strengths you used to achieve your accomplishments, as this creates a powerful feeling of empowerment and self-driven ambition.
positive psychology and leadership
Positive psychology is about celebrating people’s strengths based on the valid assumption that every person desires to be the best version of themselves. As a business executive, when you mold your management style according to this approach, you will be able to harness people’s collective power and transform the way your team performs.
Opportunities for new learnings and growth, leveraging strengths, and establishing a shared purpose are just three of the ways by which a positive mindset can be established. When you learn to align your personal fulfillment goals with the organization’s broader goals in a tangible way, you will get engaged in the enterprise in a significant pattern. It is then that your work role takes on a deeper meaning than just a set of assorted tasks and responsibilities. Positive psychology may seem a disruptive approach at first, but once it is aligned to your work role, the benefits are incremental and transformational, not just to you but for your entire organization.