How Leaders Can Empower Teams to Flourish and Create Big Change at Work with Gretchen Spreitzer

Work doesn’t have to be a grind. In fact, the smallest acts of care, recognition, and empowerment can spark extraordinary transformation in how people show up and thrive. Yet too many leaders still chase big programs and sweeping changes, overlooking the everyday moments that actually matter most. What if the secret to flourishing at work has been in front of us all along?

In this episode of the Happiness Squad Podcast, Ashish Kothari sits down with Gretchen Spreitzer, Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, to explore how leaders can empower teams to flourish through meaning, competence, autonomy, and impact. Together, they uncover the science of positive organizations and how leaders can create workplaces where people come alive.

Gretchen Spreitzer is a pioneering scholar in the field of positive organizational scholarship. At the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, she has spent decades researching and teaching topics such as thriving at work, leadership development, and empowerment. Her work has shaped how leaders and organizations around the world design conditions for people to flourish and succeed. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to truly unleash your people’s full potential at work and create a positive organization, this conversation will change the way you approach leadership and people empowerment.

Things you will also learn in this episode:

• Why small acts of leadership can have a bigger impact than grand gestures

• The four dimensions of empowerment and how to apply them in your team

• How recognition and authentic feedback can transform workplace culture

• Why managers—not just executives—hold the key to reducing burnout

• The role of empowerment in the age of AI and organizational change

• How to spot and spread the “bright spots” of flourishing inside your company

Tune in now to discover how you can start building a workplace where people flourish—not someday, but today.

✅Resources:

• Center for Positive Organizations: https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/ 

• Reflective Best Self Exercise

• McKinsey: A holistic approach for employees: https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/reframing-employee-health-moving-beyond-burnout-to-holistic-health 

• Conscious Capitalism: https://www.consciouscapitalism.org/

✅Books:

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: https://a.co/d/0HDetDR

• Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman: https://a.co/d/5niWg2c 

• Another Way by Dave Whorton: https://a.co/d/j6GUo1E 

• Hardwired for Happiness by Ashish Kothari: https://a.co/d/1aWVYEx