Positive Psychology In Organizations – Transforming the Workplace

Transforming the Workplace triggered by the pandemic, businesses and their employees have changed the way they think about work. Some commentators believe we are seeing a complete reset of what constitutes work, workers and the workplace on a global scale that has not been revisited in almost a century.

Our state of well-being impacts every aspect of our lives. If we don’t feel good about our life or ourselves this will seep into our work as well. Of course, sometimes we don’t like going to work because of the environment or the culture. This is why recently many organizations have tried to promote a more positive culture at work. They do this by implementing a positive psychology program.

If you are also running a business and need to boost the efficiency of your employees then positive psychology can go a long way. Let’s learn about this in detail so you can understand how to use it to transform your workplace.

What Is Positive Psychology?

This branch of psychology aims to focus on the strengths we have rather than our weaknesses. It studies human emotion, thoughts, and behavior.

The difference between positive and other branches of psychology is that this focuses on enhancing your life positively rather than fixing what is wrong. It focuses on the good to enrich your life even further.

Here are the main tenets of positive psychology:

• Optimism
• Well-being
• Gratitude
• Hope
• Happiness
• Satisfaction
• Compassion
• Confidence
• Strengths

These are the traits that are focused on and cultivated in people through positive experiences and positive institutions (work, school, etc). Positive psychology has done an in-depth analysis of these traits so they can use them to help people live the best version of themselves.

Positive Psychology In The Workplace

Did you know that on average we spend more than half our day at work? This is why having a positive work environment is crucial to our overall well-being. Even organizations have acknowledged this fact and they are starting to implement positive psychology in the workplace to increase employee satisfaction.

Implementing a positive psychology program will be extremely beneficial as it will completely transform the productivity of your staff and your work culture.

You can use this concept to improve a few things in your workplace such as:

• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• Motivation
• Productivity
• Efficiency
• Engagement
• Relationships between employees

The PERMA Model

This model has been designed by Martin Seligman.

It is a model of happiness and can be applied to any aspect of life, even the workplace. PERMA is short for:

• Positive emotion
• Engagement
• Relationships
• Meaning
• Accomplishments

According to Seligman, these are the five core values that every human being needs in life to achieve well-being, happiness, and satisfaction. It will eventually lead you to find your purpose and have a life that provides inner fulfillment.

Let’s look at each value in-depth and its application in the workplace.

Positive Emotions

This is self-explanatory. The more positive emotions you have the happier you will be. When you feel good, you do good. However, this is easier said than done. We can’t be happy all the time as our thoughts sometimes take over.

For example, if you dwell on the past too much or worry about the future you will experience increased negative emotions. While this is normal to experience, it is also important to get out of this state and replace it with positive thought so you can experience positive emotions.

The higher the frequency of your positive emotions the better your well-being will be. Here are a few ways to support yourself so you can incite positive emotions:

• Have eight hours of sleep
• Find a mindfulness activity to practice daily
• Engage in physical activity
• Take time to do things you enjoy

These four steps are crucial to your sense of well-being. Once you practice this it will be easier for you to stay positive in the workplace too. However, if you are an employer then here are a few ways for you to incite positive emotions in your employees:

• Reduce stressors in the workplace
• Promote short breaks
• Encourage collaboration and communication
• Create space that enables self-reflection and sharing
• Create space that promotes a sense of belonging and connectedness for employees

Have a strategy in place to implement these changes and see the positivity it will bring in the workplace. Employees will feel more happy, satisfied, and they will build a community.

Engagement

This is the level of absorption in work or the workplace itself. It refers to how much an individual can get engrossed in a certain activity. Have you ever experienced this level of engagement in any activity you perform?

For example, people get highly engaged when they are doing something creative, reading a book, or listening to music. At that time they are completely absorbed in that and this is known as engagement.

The benefits of a high level of engagement are that it promotes positive emotions, skills, and boosts intelligence. In simple terms, it is about living in the present and being fully immersed with what you are doing. It is also known as being mindful and conscious.

Here are a few ways to support yourself so you can increase your levels of engagement:

• Take every opportunity that sparks your interest
• Establish goal-setting practices
• Find ways to practice your strengths and skills
• Take up a mindful hobby

All of this will help you in feeling connected to everything and everyone around you. It will also provide you with the ability to focus on the task at hand rather than being absent-minded. This will provide you a sense of belonging at work and will give you the focus you need to be efficient.

However, if you are an employer then here are a few ways for you to increase the level of engagement in the workplace:

• Promote leadership practices
• Involve everyone in decision making so they can engage in the direction the team wants to head towards
• Create space where open dialogue is encouraged
• Implement a solution-focused approach
• Help employees build on their communication
• Create an environment where everyone is equally involved and committed to the workplace

These are important practices to increase the level of engagement. Many individuals don’t like their jobs because they don’t feel a sense of belonging or an attachment to their work. They see their work as a means to an end.

You can change this mindset by encouraging these practices so that employees look forward to coming to the workplace every day.

Relationships

It is human nature to want to feel connected to others around you. We all actively seek out relationships with other people in any capacity to feel connected. Your sense of well-being will also dictate how positive your relationships are with other people.

We want to belong to a group, an organization, or a circle and this is why we tie our identity to either institutions or religions. It is natural and without this interaction it would be difficult for humans to survive.

This is why people need to create positive and healthy relationships with others such as family, friends, and co-workers. This provides them with a sense of belonging and comfort even when things are not going right in life.

Here are a few ways to support yourself so you can form positive relationships:

• Take the opportunity to communicate with other people
• Make time to meet people you connect with at least once a week
• Even at work, you should try to have lunch with your peers to increase your sense of belonging there
• Avoid people that make you feel bad

All of this will promote positive relationships in your life. You will find it easier to connect and in the long run, this will help you feel connected and supported by others.

However, as an employer, here are a few ways you can promote healthy professional relationships in the workplace:

• Hold meetings where the employees can connect
• Appreciate your employees and positive partnerships in the workplace
• Find a way to promote teamwork in the workplace to increase collaboration
• Let your employees know that you will be there if they need support at work

If the relationships between people in the workplace are not healthy, it can create a toxic environment. In such an environment it is highly unlikely that anyone will thrive.

This is why you must promote collaboration and encourage teamwork and partnerships within the office. Such a practice builds community and increases the level of trust amongst team members. If your employees are happy and thriving then your work will see a positive result too.

Meaning

A life without meaning or purpose is inherently empty. If you don’t have something to look forward to every day you will not want to live for much longer. This sense of purpose provides meaning to existence and makes it worth living.

In the same way, if people who are working together share a sense of purpose then they will find satisfaction in the work they do. If you feel that you have no sense of purpose then stop and consider your role in the workplace and how you add value to it.

This will provide you with a sense of meaning because you will know that what you are doing is not going in vain. It has a purpose and you are contributing towards something much bigger.

Here are a few ways you can support yourself to find meaning in every aspect of life:

• Regularly reflect on how you add value to everything around you
• Ask yourself how your work connects to the greater whole and what difference are you making?
• Reflect on the progress and changes you have made till now in your life
• Find out what drives you to make a difference
• Connect with nature often

Even if you haven’t found meaning yet or pondered upon it before, this will help you reflect on your purpose in life. This will help you in feeling connected and valued with something higher than yourself (your purpose).

As an employer, here is how you can support your employees to find meaning in the workplace so they can find satisfaction in the work they do:

• Provide opportunities to reflect in meetings
• Ask your employees the difference they are making at work and how they know that
• Establish clear objectives and priorities in every meeting
• Challenge employees so they can always strive to do better

Implementing these strategies will bring about a long term change where your employees will feel satisfied. This is because they will find meaning in the work that they do. They will feel that their work is of value and they are not indulging in something meaningless. This will increase their sense of meaning in the work environment.

Accomplishments

Every one of us has taken pride in the things we have accomplished. For example, getting top grades in your class helps you to feel good because you know that your hard work has been paid off.

This improves our confidence, self-esteem, and gives us the boost we need to push our boundaries. Even as young children the smallest accomplishments have a great impact on us where we want to do more of it.

In the same way, having accomplishments at work can help you to strive even further to achieve your goals. Here are a few ways you can support yourself to find accomplishments in every area of life:

• Develop goals for yourself
• Find ways to achieve those goals
• Review your progress after every while
• Keep yourself accountable

This will help you have a clear path and what you need to do to go through that path. Set both bigger and smaller goals to help you on your way to success.

As an employer, here are a few ways you can promote a sense of accomplishment in the workplace:

• Acknowledge and appreciate when someone does a good job
• If your employees are stuck then help them in coming up with solutions
• Make your employees feel valued and respected
• Celebrate the success of employees
• Establish clear goals with your team and review them regularly

These may look like simple practices but they have a significant impact on the way your employees will feel in the workplace. Identify your collective targets and devise a way to meet those targets. During this journey, you should encourage employees to support each other.

This will add value to the work your employees will be doing and it will help create positive change that will stay for decades.

How Positive Psychology Will Impact The Organization

Once you have implemented these practices or have found a positive psychology program to implement it for you then you will slowly start seeing changes.

Here are the many benefits you will reap from implementing positive psychology in your organization:

#1. Boost In Productivity

Happy employees are productive employees. The happier they are the better their work will be. One study showed that implementing positive psychology approaches in the workplace leads to a 43% increase in productivity.

This is a significant boost and if you think that employee productivity is low in your organization then this is a great approach to implement if you want results.

It is an approach that will yield long-term results for your employees and overall business. You can even get a positive psychology certificate if you want to practice it in the best way.

#2. Lower Employee Turnover

High staff turnover is not good for the reputation of your organization. It means you are doing something wrong and you need to take steps to fix it. The main reason employees leave jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated and they don’t see career growth.

The second reason is that they are not getting paid enough. If your employee turnover keeps on increasing every year then you need to find a way to make people and implementing a positive psychology approach is the best way.

A study done on the implications of positive psychology in the workplace showed that employee turnover can reduce by 51%. This is a drastic change and one you need if your employees are constantly leaving.

The more positive the work environment is the lower chances of your employees leaving.

#3. Lower Burnout

Life has become extremely fast-paced these days and many people can’t seem to find the right work/life balance. This leads to them feeling easily burned out as it becomes hard to keep up with everything that is happening.

You need to guarantee as an employer that your employees have enough leisure time to improve their mental health. This is why you must set some rules to make sure that everyone is achieving that work/life balance.

This means not having employees stay extremely long work hours as this will cause them to feel easily burnt out. If some work requires urgency then during those times it is okay but most of the time employees should be operating under normal work hours.

Apart from that, applying positive psychology practices has a drastic impact on burnout. Research has shown that organizations that implement such practices experience 25% less burnout of employees than those who don’t!

These numbers speak for themselves. Imagine the amount of pressure you will be taking off employees with these practices that lead to a drastic drop in burnout levels.

A sign of burnout is less efficiency and productivity at work. If you notice your employees procrastinating or unable to meet deadlines then there is a high chance they feel burnt out and demotivated. Apply positive psychology practices to improve this.

#4. Increase In Profits

The better your employees are doing the better your company will be doing. This means an increase in revenue for your business. If employees are productive and producing efficient work then this will automatically optimize the workflow.

It will make everything in the workplace collaborative, communicative, and integrated. The result of this will be high profits for you because your employees will be producing high-quality work.

Research has shown that positive psychology practices increase profitability in the workplace by 33%. If you want to see higher profits in the long run then make this practice a part of your organization.

#5. Boost In Innovation

When you are happy and have a sense of well-being you are more creative. This is because positive thoughts and emotions improve the cognitive functions of your brain.

The result of this is that you will become more creative and innovative. You will find solutions to problems in a way you never did before and this will show in your work too as you will perform much better.

You will be more solution-oriented and creative. Positive psychology is all about enriching the mind and your life through good practices. This will keep your brain healthy in the long run.

This is why if you want your organization to be forward-thinking and innovative then you must use positive psychology. Research has shown that organizations that implement it see a 300% increase in innovation.

All organizations that are ahead and progressive promote innovation and creativity through the help of positive psychology. If you also want to see this, then you can take this course to take your organization to the next level.

#6. Decrease In Sick Leave

Many times employees are not even sick. They just take this leave because they are not motivated enough to come to work. This is a direct result of an environment at work that doesn’t keep them motivated or positive.

Research has shown that positive psychology practices can reduce sick leave by 66%. This means your employees will be motivated to come into work almost every day and this will reflect in their work as well.

They will be more efficient, productive, and find meaning in their work. This is why to reduce sick leave you need to focus on the meaning aspect from the PERMA model.

Having a sense of purpose will give them the drive to get out of bed every day and come to work.

Practical Ways To Implement Positive Psychology In Your Organization

Knowing how to implement this amazing approach in your organization is the best way to make most of it. It will provide you with a clear path to follow when it comes to making your employees happy.

Do remember that this is not a one-time solution. These practical steps are habits you need to build into your work culture. They should be implemented regularly to ensure a positive environment at all times.

Once you start practicing these ways, they will flow naturally and make your organization much better. Here are a few practical ways you can utilize to implement this approach in your organization:

Make Gratitude A Part Of Your Practice

Martin Seligman emphasized the practice of gratitude in his PERMA model. This is because gratitude promotes positive thoughts and feelings. It helps you focus on your organization’s strengths rather than its weaknesses.

This helps in building strengths even further. You can make gratitude an important part of your organization by expressing gratitude to your employees.

When you show them that you are thankful for their contribution, it promotes a positive connection between a manager/employer and employee.

This should be done at the start of meetings to set a positive tone for the entire meeting. It will also show employees that you value and appreciate the work that they do.

You can incorporate gratitude into meetings by asking your employees the highlight of their work in that week. Or you can encourage gratitude by helping them be thankful towards their co-workers.|

In fact, peer to peer gratitude practices should be encouraged at all times. This creates positivity in the workplace and promotes a culture where everyone is collaborative and thankful to each other for their contribution.

Promote Learning Through Constructive Feedback

While encouraging positive emotions is one of the building blocks of a positive environment, it is also important to regulate negative emotions. This way they can be processed healthily and can be turned into something positive.

Giving and receiving feedback in the workplace can be tricky. If employees don’t have a growth mindset then they can take feedback as personal. This can create negative emotions in them and they may become demotivated,

To overcome this problem, practitioners of positive psychology recommend that the ratio of positive to negative emotions in the workplace should be 3:1.

This is the perfect ratio to achieve a balance where trust is built and connections are fostered. For this reason, feedback should be given constructively, and here is how:

• Start with a positive note and appreciate something about the person you are providing feedback to
• Provide it in a way that the employees can use this feedback to put to practical use
• Feedback should be future and solution-focused
• Provide recognition at the moment

For example, your employee gave a well-spoken presentation but they failed to connect with the audience. Instead of telling them that they did a bad job, you can tell them to connect with the audience and give them a few tips to help them achieve this connection.

This will provide them with a sense that you value their work and want to help them improve in their work. It will create a drive in them where they will want to do better. This is why you must phrase your feedback positively.

Focus On Strengths

The research that has been done on positive psychology has shown that when individuals focus on their strengths they are more focused on the work that they do.

It is all about having a mindset where you focus on what you have rather than what you lack. This way you can find creative ways to work on your strengths even further.

In the workplace, you should help your employees focus on their individual strengths as well as the strengths of the collective teams. You can do this by providing them with a strength-based assessment.

This will help them to reflect on their strengths and come up with ways they can use this strength to meet the aims of the business. Once their review is done you can also help them find ways to build on those strengths.

Apart from that, you need to create an environment where both the strengths and weaknesses of your organization are discussed openly. This will encourage individuals to seek help from each other. They will actively seek out co-workers that can help them with their weakness.

Such an approach will encourage co-workers to help each other out.

Build Connections

One trait that we increasingly need in this world is empathy. If more and more people foster empathy then we can all build great connections. Empathy is one of the traits that positive psychology emphasizes greatly.

This is because when we can put ourselves in the shoes of other people we can relate to them and their experiences. Out of this sensitivity to their experience, we can help them do better.

The same concept can be applied in the workplace to help employees flourish and thrive. As a leader, you should display empathy towards your employees by accepting them and reassuring them.

You can utilize cues such as body language and tone to understand the kind of mindset your employee is in at that time. This is because according to research we do 80% of our communication non-verbally.

So, it is not just about what employees say but how they are saying it and their body l