If you’ve been a long-time reader of my blog, you know that my work on positive organizations is also inspired by Charles Eisenstein. He’s a thought leader on the big questions of our time, talking about economics, climate crisis, and humanity. He’s looking for an antidote for the scientific narrative that we are separate from the world. It makes people …
Shut Up or Speak Up – Part 2
By Graham Williams & Justin Kennedy Welcome to part 2 of this article on Psychological safety, based on extensive research (in the areas of neuroscience, psychology, behavioral economics and business science) and practical experience in consulting to workplaces around the world. Here’s our coverage of a complex and important topic in a way that is devoid of flowery, ‘impressive’ language. …
Shut Up or Speak Up – Part 1
By Graham Williams & Justin Kennedy Some workplaces are caring, fair and reliable. Employees know that they are appreciated, belong and are free to express themselves. They can safely engage and contribute their views and concerns without any fear of adverse consequences or of being ignored. They find satisfaction and meaning in what they do. Psychological Safety When employees feel …
Behavior drives Change
How do you manage the constant change projects going on in your organization or with clients? If you’re like most leaders, consultants, and organizations, you focus on change as a single project, on tools and templates, and you rely on scattered data to measure if the change works. The view that I promote and practice is the holistic, behavioral view. …
Happiness for Calvinists
The Dutch professor Ruut Veenhoven of the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization has been researching happiness for decades. His research is exciting and aligns with the positive leadership research. Let’s take a look at why happiness matters and how you can have more of it…! Veenhoven defines happiness as long-term satisfaction with your life as a whole – as opposed …
The Healing Organization
Would you like to work at a healing organization that alleviates suffering and elevates joy? Raj Sisodia’s latest book describes a positive culture, with positive leadership – and offers organizations a calling: to contribute to healing. But should organizations heal – and what, who, and how? Aren’t organizations meant to make money, instead of healing employees, society, and the environment? …
Powers of Organizations
Being aware of your power and how power alters your own and others’ reactions helps to handle power well. This is important for everyone that wants to develop a positive culture at work. If you want to look at your personal power: check my first post about power. In this post (based on my experiences in a workshop by Julie …
Power cannot be Positive, or can it?
Power doesn’t only alter our own judgment, it also changes how people perceive and relate to us. Power has a bad name, especially for those aspiring to be positive leaders. In a positive, productive culture we don’t want to emphasize power and we like to keep the power distance small. We value equality and mutual respect. However, trivializing power doesn’t …
Positive Self Leadership: Progress, not Perfection
What’s keeping you from developing positive (self-)leadership? The list of advantages is compelling. Positive leaders are authentic, open, transparent, trustworthy. They coach and support self and others, they see what is working well and try to amplify that. They give people feedback to keep going and to improve. They’re not on people’s back when the goal is clear. They value …
Recharging and Reading Over the Summer
If you have some time to spare over the summer (or the winter, if you’re in the southern hemisphere), how do you recharge? Reading is a great way to both relax and recharge: great novels help you escape from the daily grind while non-fiction helps you learn new ideas and return to work inspired. I asked my network, clients, and …
Manage Positive Energy To Enhance Performance
Do you manage energy? Most of us don’t, at least not consciously. Leaders tend to manage information and influence within their network. Traditionally, leadership is associated with influencing people to do things. However, energy is a crucial resource within organizations. The fascinating thing with energy is that when you spend energy on relationships it increases. Energy is the source of …
Gratitude, Contribution, and an Abundance Culture
Let’s look at some more positivity research and a real positive case. Thanks to Kim Cameron for inspiring us with positive leadership research and practices – here are more things that you can do, too! Gratitude Research with Positive Practices shows that they increase our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. For instance: Two groups were asked to journal every day. …