Employee Wellbeing: What you laughing at? get back to work!
Telling your staff to stop laughing and get back to work? perhaps not a great place to start with employee wellbeing This is just one of the topics covered in my podcast with Justin Pagotto from Corporate Spend, a social enterprise that creates and optimises CSR programs at no cost for Australian organisations. You can't miss the humorous anecdote on how one client realised he often tells his employees to stop laughing and get back to work For a 19 minute podcast we covered a lot of ground, below is an overview of what we discussed. How I found business success from focusing on the success and wellbeing of other people Key objections I face from critics when introducing happiness as a productivity enabler. However, it’s not all doom and gloom the majority agree that happy people are more productive. A humorous anecdote on how [...]
How to Manage Stress in the Workplace
Addressing employee stress is critical for a healthy workplace. Positive Scenario has been a partner to many organisations, helping them manage stress in the workplace. We focus on four key areas: Recognise happiness of employees is an advantage and prioritise it in business strategy, culture, and processes Consider the emotional state of the teams and individuals completing work processes and routines when designing, redesigning, and executing them Create a social script that identifies business happiness as an expectation and provides an environment to continually nurture and support a positive attitude Cultivate a mindset of rational optimism, which validates the likelihood of challenges but also disseminates the belief that thoughts and actions can resolve them We bring the science of positive psychology and apply it to the workplace. Positive psychology is a proven influencer on productivity and optimism. Our approach has helped many Australian organisations effectively handle workplace stress. [...]
Women with these job titles are the happiest at work
Women With These 20 Job Titles Are The Happiest At Work Article originally from Forbes. These days it can be hard not to feel a bit of envy when it comes to other people's jobs. With the proliferation of career advice and professional profiles of happy, successful role models, you may find yourself enviously looking at what colleagues or friends do for a living and wondering if the grass is indeed greener on the other side. You may even become convinced that if you only had another job, you would be so much happier. But is that really the case? At Fairygodboss, we are obsessed with understanding how women feel about their work and jobs. We have been collecting job satisfaction information from every member of our community for over a year, and just a few days ago, we analyzed that data for patterns across job titles. What [...]
How can you maintain a positive attitude at work?
Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard, we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. If we can just win that next promotion, get the big raise, beat the competition, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backwards: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. Psychologist and best-selling author Shawn Achor has made a career studying the science of happiness. Rewire your brain to make yourself happy by practising simple happiness exercises. And within 30 days, those habits change the neuropathways of our brains and turn us into lifelong optimists. These six daily happiness exercises are proven to make anyone, from a 4-year old to an 84-year old, happy, or simply happier, Achor says. Gratitude Exercises. Write down three things you’re grateful for that occurred over the last 24 [...]
8 tips for making a presentation that dazzles your boss with creativity
As if the pressure to develop and deliver a presentation that excites your audience weren’t enough, trying to impress your boss with that presentation is a whole other set of concerns. In most cases, if you plan with your organization’s goals in mind, you shouldn’t have a problem delivering a presentation that your boss will respond positively to. John Boitnott, Entrepreneur As if the pressure to develop and deliver a presentation that excites your audience weren’t enough, trying to impress your boss with that presentation is a whole other set of concerns. In most cases, if you plan with your organization’s goals in mind, you shouldn’t have a problem delivering a presentation that your boss will respond positively to. However, if you really want to impress your boss and your team, and keep them from yawning, give these eight tactics a try. 1. USE METAPHORS. Including metaphors in your [...]
Forbes: Think you can’t change others or increase their happiness? You can …
A happy outlook and even a wonderfully joyful day can be darkened in just a few minutes by being in close proximity to someone who is negative, critical and pessimistic. Kathy Caprino, Forbes In my years as a therapist, I could see clearly in my interactions with clients that how I approached them and their challenges could either make or break their day and their therapeutic progress. If we focused on all that was going wrong for them, they’d leave my office even more deflated and hopeless than when they came in. But if we focused instead on exploring and expanding their strengths – in short, highlighting what they had been doing right in their lives and relationships, and how they’d overcome deep challenges in the past — they’d leave positively changed, with a more enlivened, uplifted and empowered mindset and mood. I’d venture a guess that virtually every one of us on [...]
Simple gestures that’ll make you feel happier every day
According to Shawn Achor, bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, when we focus first on increasing our happiness, we inherently increase our chances of educational, career, and financial success. Saying thanks nowadays feels somewhat robotic. You say it in passing when someone opens the door for you, or picks up a pen you dropped, or points out a piece of lettuce on your shirt. Because it’s become so overused and overdone, one could argue it’s starting to lose its significance. And yet, it’s still one of the most powerful phrases out there, no matter what form it’s in — out loud, in writing, over email. In fact, science says just saying it daily can make you more successful. Let me explain. According to Shawn Achor, bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology [...]
6 Daily Exercises For A Positive Mind
Psychologist and best-selling author Shawn Achor has made a career studying the science of happiness. "Scientifically, happiness is a choice," Achor says. He explains that research has shown you can rewire your brain to make yourself happy by practising simple happiness exercises every day for three weeks. Texas-born Achor's books include The Happiness Advantage and Before Happiness. Achor says in just 21 days, the exercises can transform a pessimist into an optimist. And within 30 days, those habits change the neuropathways of our brains and turn us into lifelong optimists. These six daily happiness exercises are proven to make anyone, from a 4-year old to an 84-year old, happy, or simply happier, Achor says. Gratitude Exercises. Write down three things you're grateful for that occurred over the last 24 hours. They don't have to be profound. It could be a really good cup of coffee or the warmth of a sunny day. The Doubler. Take one [...]
The Happiest School Principle
Happiness is the top initiative for this school leader. Participation in happiness initiatives can have a positive effect on student performance. When Aaron Sadoff walks down the hallways at the North Fond du Luc schools, he’s often looking for a hug or a high-five. And teachers and students alike are happy to comply. And it’s not just because Aaron—a big man with a booming voice—is the superintendent. “He’s very positive and enthusiastic,” says art teacher Alice Tzakais, adding that his enthusiasm has been contagious in the school district. “He’s always encouraging us to come up with new ideas and go for it. He invites you to jump on board.” Since taking the top post at North Fond du Lac school district eight years ago (he was a principal for three years before that), Aaron has made it his mission to bring happiness back to the schools. With a [...]
How not to be miserable at work
Try this exercise: Turn a piece of paper horizontally, and on the left hand side write down a task you’re forced to perform at work that feels devoid of meaning. Then ask yourself: What is the purpose of this task? What will it accomplish? Draw an arrow to the right and write this answer down. If what you wrote still seems unimportant, ask yourself again: What does this result lead to? Draw another arrow and write this down. Keep going until you get to a result that is meaningful to you. In this way, you can connect every small thing you do to the larger picture, to a goal that keeps you motivated and energized. If you’re a law professor and you hate administrative work, draw your arrow until you can connect it to something you do care about, such as providing a new generation of young lawyers [...]