I often hear people complain that they are miserable at work, no longer challenged or growing in their current positions. In many cases, they are skilled at what they do, but believe that they have a lot more to offer and feel undervalued and underutilized by their boss. However, with such high unemployment in today’s economic environment, they are reluctant to leave their current positions. Helpless to be able to make changes in the current situation, they just feel stuck. As a consequence, the organization does not get the most out of its people. So employees learn to keep their heads low and their mouths shut, and do whatever it takes to get by.
In Martin Seligman’s recent book, Flourish, he identifies the five elements of well-being needed to thrive in life: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Seligman describes how these five elements have been applied in a variety of education and health care settings, as well as in the U.S. Army, to create more resilient people who perform at a higher level and produce better outcomes. So how can we apply these five elements to our own organizations so that our people can thrive and our business can prosper?
Positive Emotion—Are people generally optimistic at work or highly critical? Do managers talk about what went well or just what went wrong? Do performance reviews highlight an employee’s strengths or focus primarily on his/her weaknesses? If something goes wrong, do we look for someone to blame or discuss what we can learn so that it doesn’t happen again? This is not to say that managers need to adopt a ‘pollyanna’ approach. Rather, we can increase the number of positive statements in the conversations that we have—acknowledging the contributions of others, recognizing their strengths, and celebrating their successes. Try it and watch the mood change!
Engagement—When people are engaged, they immerse themselves freely in the work, time flies, and they exhibit much more energy and enthusiasm. Do we engage others by soliciting their thoughts and ideas? Or keep all of the important business discussions to a select few? Do we communicate openly about new initiatives, future changes, and potential business opportunities to enlist the support and buy-in of our workforce? Or do we limit the information on a need-to-know basis only and keep everyone in the dark until the final decisions are announced? Do we challenge our employees to stretch and do more, or make assumptions about their limited capacity?
In his book, Seligman talks about learned helplessness—that is, nothing you do or say matters or can alter the outcome of an event—whereby people learn to be passive. Through greater engagement, learned optimism can occur, helping people to become empowered, energized, and more productive at work.
Relationships—Much has been written about us being ‘social animals.’ Research has shown that having positive relationships at work is a key element of our well-being and makes a big difference in how we perform. Employees who feel alone, isolated, and at odds with others, do not perform at their best, often leading to dysfunction in the organization. The well-researched Gallup employee engagement survey measures responses to the item, “I have a best friend at work.” Do we provide opportunities for employees to interact on a daily basis in an informal, positive way? Do they feel that someone truly cares about them as a person and not just as a ‘worker bee’?
Meaning—If we believe that what we’re doing has meaning and purpose, then we bring more passion and energy to the job. Do employees see the big picture of what they do at work? Do they believe that what they’re doing is valuable and worthwhile? As managers, we can increase organizational well-being by emphasizing the value of each person’s contributions and how together these efforts achieve a greater good.
Accomplishment—We’ve often heard the adage, “Success breeds success.” People become more confident and competent through their accomplishments. With each victory, they believe that they can achieve even more. As managers, do we make our folks feel like winners? Do we recognize even small accomplishments along the way, or do we place a big bulls-eye on the back of someone who screwed up?
As a former executive, part of my role was to help people feel ‘whole’ after a boss criticized them in front of others, or they were passed over for promotion, or their employment was just terminated. Their feelings of shame, embarrassment, guilt, and anger were real. When we spoke, I didn’t debate the merits of the act or decision. I just listened to their feelings and concerns, and let them know that they were still ‘good’ and ‘complete’ and deserving of our respect. While it may not be possible or appropriate to reach every unhappy employee, we can do a lot to create a healthy, productive work environment… and promote organizational well-being!
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