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If you're in a leadership role, you probably feel constant pressure to grow your business, increase collaboration, and improve productivity. But how do you do that when resources are limited? It's an age-old challenge.
One way is to transform the way you and your team think, act, and approach business, using new science from the field of positive psychology.
Now, some people might be rolling their eyes a bit at this. You may think that positive psychology is little more than working with your head in the clouds, visualizing success, and ignoring negativity and risk.
It's important to note that positive psychology is not the same as positive thinking. According to the authors, positive psychology is the study of what makes us perform with excellence. It covers productivity, resilience, motivation, emotions, strengths, and team dynamics.
"Profit From the Positive" is heavily based on the most recent research in the field of positive psychology. The authors' goal was to take this research and make it practical for busy managers, leaders, coaches, and HR professionals. There are dozens of tools and strategies throughout the book to help you put these theories and ideas into action with your team.
There are also several case studies from companies like Amazon, Zappos, and Google, all of whom rely on positive psychology to better manage their teams and grow their business.
Margaret Greenberg is the founder of The Greenberg Group, an executive coaching firm that caters to Fortune 500 executives. She holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Senia Maymin is an executive coach to entrepreneurs and CEOs. She's the founder and editor-in-chief of the research news site, positivepsychologynews.com. She holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA and PhD in organizational behavior from Stanford.
So, keep listening to find out just how much your mood affects your team, why changing the way you react to bad news can increase productivity, and how you can fire up the underperformers on your team.
"Profit From the Positive" is divided into three parts. Part one looks at leaders as individuals, and the four mindsets they have to develop to lead other people successfully. Part two looks at how to apply the latest research in positive psychology to your team and business practices. And part three is a quick wrap up of the book's main ideas and tools.
Let's start with part one. The four chapters in this section are all based on a simple concept. You can't lead others until you first know how to lead yourself. This section is a fascinating read because every tool and suggestion the authors present here is backed up by the latest science and research.
One concept we particularly liked in part one is called the "Achoo Effect."
If you've ever worked for a toxic boss, then you'll know how quickly negative emotions can spread at work. Psychologists call this "social contagion," which the authors renamed the Achoo Effect.
Research shows that human beings are hardwired to mimic the facial expressions and moods of the people around them. A professor at the Wharton School of Business studied the ripple effect of our moods. He found that it only takes one person in a group of five to "infect" the rest of the group with a positive or negative mood.
The Achoo Effect is amplified depending on how high up the corporate ladder you work. Researchers found that a leader's mood can be transmitted in as little as seven minutes, and it can impact a team's performance just as quickly.
The point here is that if you want to boost your team's morale and performance, learn how to manage your emotions. If you feel grouchy, make sure you don't show it – and definitely don't take your bad mood out on your team. Think positive, and try to show up to work feeling excited and passionate about what you're doing. Your team will notice, and may emulate your positive mood.
The authors also suggest you become a strengths-based leader – an idea that's explored in chapter four.
Strengths-based leaders spend the majority of their time on what's going right, not what's going wrong. They focus their attention on what their people do well, not on what they don't do so well.
At first, this might sound like a "stick your head in the clouds" technique. But it's actually a way of countering what scientists call the "negativity bias," which can slow down productivity. The negativity bias is when we instinctively emphasize loss more than gain, and it's very common. For example, we react more strongly to losing a twenty dollar bill out of our wallet than we do to finding a twenty dollar bill in the street. We spend more time dwelling on a criticism from a friend than we do on a compliment.
Most people focus on the negative far more than they focus on something positive. And leaders are no different. They focus on what's going wrong, and try to fix it. But strengths-based leaders do the opposite. They focus on what's going right, and try to replicate it.
To become a strengths-based leader, start by asking the right kinds of questions. For example, where is this change or process being implemented well, and what can we learn that we could apply to other areas? What is it about this employee that makes her successful in this role? Or, why does this team or location consistently exceed expectations?
All of these questions force you to look at what you or someone else is doing well. Your goal is to find what's working, and spread that idea, technique, or strength to other people, tasks, or projects. This doesn't mean you should ignore the negatives – they still need to be addressed. But when you actually seek out the positives and encourage others to follow suit, the results can be remarkable.
One of the most compelling insights in this chapter has to do with how you react to bad news, and how your reactions affect your team. This links back to the Achoo Effect we heard about earlier.
One of the authors conducted a research study with a colleague at the University of Pennsylvania. They asked over 80 IT employees how their manager reacts when a problem comes up. The participants had to agree with certain statements, like, "My project manager is able to put it in perspective for me," or, "My project manager is able to help me come up with solutions."
Their responses to the various statements were compared with the performance of the projects they worked on. The author and her colleagues found that managers who scored in the top quartile for brainstorming solutions with their employees, while keeping their cool, saw a 39 percent increase in project performance compared to those managers who flew off the handle.
Leaders who get upset at bad news discourage their employees from coming to them in the first place. And, this can make a bad problem worse.
Instead of getting upset at bad news, encourage your team to communicate by asking questions like, "Without placing any blame, how do you think we got here?" or, "Let's brainstorm some solutions. What are some short- and long-term possibilities?"
We loved that the authors included this insight in the book. Changing the way you react to bad news is an easy and powerful way to enhance the productivity and morale of your team, and you can start doing it right now. When bad news does come up, don't point the finger of blame. Instead, stay calm and focus on finding a solution.
Part two looks at how you can use positive psychology with your team. One chapter we particularly liked here was chapter six, which focuses on employee engagement.
You've probably heard that making sure that employees are engaged may be the single best thing you can do for your business. And research bears this out. The Gallup Organization has now studied over seventeen million employees worldwide. And they've found that the higher the engagement is, the more productive, customer-focused, and safety conscious an employee is. Engagement also makes it less likely an employee will leave your company for a competitor.
Over the years, Gallup has discovered that there are many factors that lead to employee engagement. One of the biggest is when an employee has a chance to use his or her strengths on a regular basis. When this happens, Gallup found that employees are six times more likely to be engaged in their work, and three times more likely to report that they have an excellent quality of life.
Another study found that organizations that encourage employees to use their strengths had 44 percent higher customer loyalty and employee retention than organizations that don't.
The statistics prove what you probably already know deep down. One of the best things you can do for your employees is to help them discover their strengths, and give them the freedom and opportunity to apply those strengths in their role.
Start by finding out where they really excel. You can ask questions like, "Tell me the kind of work that really energizes you," or "How could you use your strengths in a new way at work?"
There's some great advice in this chapter on how to turn strengths into a team sport. We like this approach because it helps team members recognize the strengths of the people they work with, as well as acknowledge their own. Don't miss this chapter if you want to learn a unique way to build your team and encourage them to use their strengths more.
Of course, most leaders wish they had a team full of fired up, engaged employees. But the reality is that there will probably be a few poor performers in the group. So what do you do with them? Fire them, or fire them up?
The authors say it's much more economical to fire up underperformers because you've already invested time and money in these people.
Use the flow chart the authors include in this chapter to have a frank talk with your underperformer. If they're not performing the way they should be, chances are they're doing work that's too complex for their strengths and skill level, or not complex enough. When a task strikes just the right balance between complexity and aptitude, many people slip into a state a flow. They enjoy their work more and they get more done.
Next, go through this team member's tasks and identify which ones sap his energy, and which tasks do the opposite. Let him know that the tasks that sap his energy will still have to get done. So he needs to put more focus, energy, and discipline into accomplishing these tasks. The tasks that play to his strengths are going to be much easier; they're fun, challenging, and enjoyable to work on.
This conversation shows your team member that you're interested in the work he's doing, and how he feels about it. By working together, you can reignite his interest in work.
Sometimes, though, even this won't work. If your team member is still disengaged, it might be time to suggest he find another position in the company that will better play to his strengths.
The last section of the book is very short, and it covers how you can pull all the tools and strategies together to become a positive, effective leader.
The appendices in the back of the book are a real goldmine of information and resources. One appendix is a rundown on each of the 31 tools featured in the book. Another is a self-assessment quiz to help you figure out if a strengths-based leadership approach is right for you.
So, what's our last word on "Profit From the Positive?"
In the Introduction, the authors say they wrote this book with busy leaders in mind. And you can tell from the first page that they didn't forget this goal. The book is short, but chock full of useful advice and tips that are clear, practical and actionable. Each chapter is chunky and easy to skim over, with all the important points summarized at the end.
This is the kind of book you can open at any page and quickly learn something useful that you can implement right away. The authors make sure their advice was easy to digest, and easy to roll out.
They also did an excellent job citing every research paper and journal article they used in the book. It's obvious they did their homework, and their research adds credibility and power to the tools and suggestions made in the book.
"Profit From the Positive," by Margaret Greenberg and Senia Maymin, is published by McGraw-Hill.
That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Click here to buy the book from Amazon.
