Among the numerous studies I have seen about workplace satisfaction, about 50 to 70% of employees are overly stressed, dissatisfied or even disengaged. Thanks to positive psychology, turning some of its attention to the workplace, research in that field is revealing and pointing the way to practical suggestions that can richly enhance its culture while also augmenting productivity and engagement. At the University of Michigan, for example, the business school specializes in studying positivity in the workplace; it’s called Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship. Here are 3 simple ways to help transform a workplace culture towards more positivity, more kindness, generosity, empathy and communication:
– Give more FRE – Frequent Recognition and Encouragement. In Profit from the Positive, authors Margaret Greenberg and Senia Maymin affirm that most employees do not receive the recognition and encouragement they deserve. But when they do receive it frequently, productivity can rise by as much as 40% while engagement is enhanced and the quality of the culture improves.
– Start meetings with each person having about 1 minute to share something he/she celebrates that week. It could be a marathon ran in the previous week-end, a first grand-child being born, a big or small work-related goal reached, whatever. This uplifts everyone as the focus goes on good things and it also renders the workplace more human while helping employees to get to know each other a little better.
– Next time you have a meeting with colleagues, explain the results of a research by Marcial Losada that involved 60 business teams in strategic planning meetings. The highest performing teams had a ratio of about 3 to 1 – 3 positive emotions expressed as comments for every negative emotion. In contrast to this, when there is fewer than 3 positives for every negative, people begin to feel criticized, on edge. If the ratio is reversed or worse, – much more negatives than positives – the atmosphere will likely feel toxic and conducive to disengagement. In order to assess where your team is at, split a page in the middle between positive and negative and make a check mark in the appropriate side as each person contributes a comment. Some comments may seem to be simply neutral but depending on how they are said, they may belong on the positive or negative side. At the end of the meeting, the ratio could be discovered for the team to make better efforts on the positive side or to appreciate and continue as they do if the ratio seems to fall around that 3 to 1 mark.
