- reshaping how employee relationships are created and
- nurturing & satisfying the needs of existing employees
However, it is becoming more commonplace for new and innovative companies to draw upon the principles of positive psychology to help create that framework and “bridge the gap”. When psychology is applied positively in the workplace this can directly fuel and facilitate positive relationships, innovation and can successfully engage your employees.
While implementation and effective use of talent management systems helps drive employee engagement and empowerment, they are only tools. To fully realize their results, they should be accompanied by a methodology. Companies around the world, across industries and of all shapes and sizes, are utilising positive psychology in unconventional and thoughtful ways. The results are unprecedented.
Positive psych in the workplace can be broken down into four equally important methods of delivery:
The Four S’s of Positive Psych in the Office
1. Staff-oriented applications of positive psych focus on providing work and challenges that employees will find engaging and entertaining. One prevalent example of staff-oriented engagement is the integration of community gardens into corporate workplaces. This contemporary agrarian hobby, while not aimed directly at practicality, does deliver positive effects for employees and their work. Providing employees with a constructive hobby that they alone are responsible for fulfilling promotes strong inter-employee relationships and fosters collaborative behaviour as well as offering an outlet for work stress.
2. Supervisor-oriented applications primarily characterise and focus on the employee/manager relationship. This is arguably the most tricky to execute. While being a likable and approachable boss is a step in the right direction, it may fall short in today’s workplace. Just as employees must feel the physical workplace enhances their abilities to do their jobs, progressive organisations are empowering supervisors to deliver tangible evidence of the company’s commitment to its employees.
3. Social-oriented applications focus on challenging employees’ abilities for the benefit of one another. Social-oriented applications of positive psychology are perhaps the oldest, though definitely not the most exhausted employer resource. The simple truth is, employees enjoy company events. They form associations between work and fun. Variations of these activities can range anywhere from the traditional holiday office party to participation in a team sporting event such as bike races and other fitness competitions.
4. Strategy-oriented applications of positive psych are meant to change the way in which employees face challenges while strengthening their autonomy and confidence. Strategy-oriented positive psych is simply the balanced compilation of the other three S’s. It works. But how can you get it started? Ask yourself three questions.
1. What do employees expect of me?
2. What kind of culture am I trying to create?
3. How would I implement this day-to-day?
Then call your staff together and brainstorm. Experiment. Pilot. Find the balance that delivers the results you’re looking for.
Striving for excellence in any or all of these groups, in one way or another, companies can achieve a critical equilibrium resulting in vastly improved employee/employer relationships, with the potential for more profitable business outcomes as a by-product. These categories can serve as a road map to success that many companies are already following. The key to utilising them correctly is understanding what each implies and how they are interwoven with one another. Managing the interrelationship between each is paramount.
Remember perceptions of places to work have been reshaped as workers openly share their experiences on social media. Both good and bad always have the potential to go viral. “Company culture,” is an immensely popular search term for job seekers, and the resultant threads may be the only lens through which they view your company before that all-important first touch.
Whether it’s the “4 S’s”, a branded cultural initiative or some other methodology for creating that desirable workplace, perhaps the most important thing is to make it visible inside and outside.
Because like it or not, the best employees you have today and those you hope to hire in the future will be watching.
