Making Positive Psychology Work

Dr. Dan Diamond is passionate about equipping leaders to make a difference, especially when resources are scarce or times are tough. For example, Dan was the director of the medical triage unit at the New Orleans Convention Center following Hurricane Katrina, he led one of the first medical teams into Haiti following their devastating earthquake and he was deployed to the Philippines following Typhoon Yolanda. Dan has packaged all of this experience into his book Beyond Resilience, Trench-Tested Tools to Thrive When Times Are Tough and its ideas have been featured on CNN and many other media outlets around the world. In this episode, we explore how it's possible to adapt and thrive, even under extreme circumstances at work and in life as Dan explains how tow simple questions can move us towards a thriver mindset that renews us, or a victim, bystander or controller mindset that drains us. Connect with Dan Diamond: Website: dandiamondmd.com You'll Learn: [02:20] - Dan explains how power and purpose shape a thriver's mindset and how it can improve our performance and wellbeing at work. [04:23] - Dan shares how our victim, bystander, controller, and thriver mindsets get shaped and how we can free ourselves of mindsets that don't serve us well. [08:56] - Dan offers some practical steps we can take to move towards a thriver mindset more consistently at work. [15:55] - Dan shares tips for how leaders can help their teams cultivate more thriver mindsets when times are tough. [22.32] - Dan explains how we can be intelligent thrivers who don't burn ourselves out in an effort to help others. [24:55] - Dan Completes the Lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Dan!

Heidi Wayment, a social psychology professor at Northern Arizona University and co-author of Transcending Self-Interest, discusses the impact of the ego on workplace dynamics. She explains what a 'quiet ego' is and its importance for well-being and collaboration. Heidi also shares insights on how fear can trigger a noisy ego and the role of self-compassion in quieting it. Fascinatingly, she describes innovative strategies being employed in the US military to help leaders manage their egos effectively, ensuring better team performance and resilience.

Today's Guest: Peggy Kern is a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education in the Center for Positive Psychology. Originally trained in Social-Personality and Development Psychology, Peggy's research examines the question of who flourishes in life physically, mentally and socially, and she's one of the world's leading researchers on the subject of measuring wellbeing, particularly using the PERMA pillars. In this episode, we explore some side-effects of wellbeing measures in workplaces, and how to avoid them. Connect with Peggy Kern: Website: http://peggykern.org You'll Learn: [02:43] - Peggy explains the surprising findings of a new survey on wellbeing across Australian workplaces, and what this might mean for other workplaces. [08:24] - Peggy explores how our current approaches to measuring wellbeing may have unintentionally created more stigma for people who are struggling. [10:58] - Peggy shares her concerns for how wellbeing is being taught in schools and what this could mean for workplaces as well. [12:23] – Peggy suggests workplaces need to embrace wellbeing diversity, just as they are starting embrace neurodiversity. [13:38] - Peggy explains why wellbeing is a not a solo endeavor in workplaces, and how teams and organizations impact people's wellbeing at work. [17:09] - Peggy shares some practical strategies emerging from the research that workplaces can use to help support their people's wellbeing. [20:23] - Peggy explains why workplaces shouldn't be aiming for perfect wellbeing scores, and what they monitor instead to determine the success of their programs. [22:49] - Peggy Completes the Lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Peggy!

Today we're talking to Zach Mercurio, whose research, teaching and consulting on how purpose and meaningfulness can help individuals and organizations unleash human potential to produce tangible results, has been applied to transform Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, schools, and universities around the world. Zach is the best selling author of "The Invisible Leader: Transform Your Life, Work, and Organization with the Power of Authentic Purpose," In this episode, we explore why what's possible when purpose becomes the boss of our choices in workplaces and the practical steps you, your team and your organization can take to genuinely put meaning and purpose at the heart of what you do each day. Connect with Zach: Website: https://www.zachmercurio.com/ You'll Learn: [01:51] - Zach explains why purpose has become a priority in workplaces over the last few years. [03:48] - Zach studies are finding a focus on purpose impacts the bottom-line in workplaces. [06:05] - Zach explains why-washing has become a problem in some workplaces and how we can avoid it. [07:53] - Zach outlines why purpose is a process and the pathway to purpose that workplaces can follow based on his research. [11:38] - Zach explains how leaders can ensure their choices and actions remain aligned to their organization's purpose even in a dynamic, complex and unpredictable world. [13:53] - Zach provides an example of how leaders can keep the purpose of their organization front-of-mind as they make decisions. [17:07] - Zach explains what we can do practically to be more purpose-focused – no matter what our role - if our organization isn't yet clear on its purpose. [19:17] - Zach offers some tips to help us deliver on our organization's purpose more consistently. [24:03] - Zach completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Make Your Job a Calling by Brian J. Dik & Ryan D. Duffy Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Zach!

Today we're talking to Tamra Chandler who is the founder and CEO of PeopleFirm, one of Forbes Magazine's 2018 America's Best Management Consulting firms. A nationally recognized thought leader, author, and speaker, Tamra has spent most of her thirty-year career developing new and effective ways for people and their organizations to perform at their peak. In 2016, she wrote the acclaimed book, "How Performance Management is Killing Performance and What to Do About It." In this episode, we explore how existing performance management practices are often not only ineffective but detrimental in workplaces and why leaders hang on to them. Tamra helps us to explore the alternatives and how focusing on strengths, building our growth mindiset feedback muscles and improving psychological safety with coaching focused development conversations can help people thrive in their roles. Connect with Tamra: Website: http://www.peoplefirm.com/ You'll Learn: [02:23] - Tamra explains why she's found that performance management processes are generally killing performance in workplaces. [05:55] - Tamra shares how performance conversations can help people to develop their strengths and improve psychological safety. [08:46] - Tamra explains why despite all the evidence we have about helping people to thrive at work, organizations continue to persist with performance management approaches that are ineffective. [11:49] - Tamra outlines the steps workplaces and leaders can take to improve their performance management processes. [14:42] - Tamra explains why managers struggle to accurately rate most people's performance at work. [16:05] - Tamra suggests rating how managers feel about their people's future potential is a better way to assess people's talent in workplaces and why these conversations should be transparent. [18:17] - Tamra explains why workplaces need to arm people with the courage and capability to seek more feedback on their own. [20:41] - Tamra provides some tips on what leaders can do to improve people's performance – regardless of their workplace's performance management systems. [23:15] - Tamra completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Tamra!

Today we're talking to Fred Luthans, who is a distinguished professor of management emirates at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and whose research is focused on what he founded and has turned to positive organizational behavior and psychological capital. A former president of the Academy of Management, Fred has received many awards, edited three top journals, authored several well-known books, and over 250 academic articles and chapters, and lectured in most countries around the world. In this episode, we explore how Fred led the creation of the concept of Psychological Capital, the impact of building the psychological resources of hope, optimism, resilience and efficacy, and how this can be achieved in workplaces. Connect with Fred: Website: https://business.unl.edu/people/fluthans [free_product_purchase id="34052"] You'll Learn: [03:14] - Fred explains what psychological capital is and how the concept emerged for improving resilience in workplaces. [08:38] - Fred shares what researchers around the world have been learning about the benefits of building psychological capital in workplaces. [13:18] - Fred shares tips on how psychological capital can be practically developed for people in workplaces. [16:37] - Fred shares how sustainability boosters can help people to build and maintain their levels of psychological capital. [19:47] - Fred explains why PsyCap has been found to have more impact in the United States and in services industries. [23:36] - Fred shares some of the other positive psychological resources that studies have found also impact resilience and wellbeing in the workplace. [25:07] - Fred completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook The Hope Circuit by Martin Seligman Big Potential by Shawn Achors Psychological Capital & Beyong by Fred Luthans Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Fred!

Today we're talking to Peter Bregman who, for the last 30 years, has helped CEO's and senior leaders to develop their leadership skills, build aligned collaborative teams, and overcome obstacles to drive results for their organizations. The host of the acclaimed Bregman Leadership podcast, Peter's a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review and an award-winning, best selling author. His most recent book is Leading with Emotional Courage, How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work. In this episode, we discuss how to build people's emotional courage so they can better navigate all of their emotions at work, willingly hold kind and hard conversations, and create more of the outcomes they want. Connect with Peter: Website: http://bregmanpartners.com/ You'll Learn: [02:06] - Peter explains why leaders need to understand that emotions are the fuel that energizes our focus at work. [06:22] - Peter explores if hard conversations can also be kind conversations at work. [10:48] - Peter shares how to lead into a kind conversation that's hard to have with others. [14:14] - Peter explains why reducing our sense of power can help to build trust in our relationships. [19:28] - Peter outlines why reverting to old behaviors can be the best way to become more of who we want to be at work. [25:03] - Peter completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Peter!

Today we're talking to Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business whose research explores social cognition, and how people think about other people, to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. His research has appeared in more than two dozen empirical journals, has been featured by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal among many other media outlets and he's the author of Mindwise, How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel and Want. In this episode, we discuss how your brain's ability to understand what others think, believe, feel and want helps you to connect with others. Nick also explains how this often goes wrong at work due to over-confidence that results in interpersonal misunderstandings and what you can do to improve your ability to mind read when it comes to your relationships. Connect with Nick: Website: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/nicholas.epley/ You'll Learn: [01:57] - Nick explains how we all have a sixth sense that can help us to read each other's minds. [03:28] - Nick shares why our ability to read the minds of others is vital for our ability to thrive in the world. [05:08] - Nick explains how our ability to read each other's minds can often go wrong at work. [07:48] - Nick shares what his research has found about how our tendencies for social interpersonal misunderstandings can shape our relationships and our actions at work. [09:57] - Nick explains why interpreting people's intent in our relationships can be so challenging. [11:31] - Nick explores how our ability to mind read at work could impact people's levels of psychological safety. [13:15] - Nick shares what his research has found can help us to mind read more effectively. [18:09] - Nick explores how staying out of judgment, and sitting in curiosity might help us to get perspective and be better mindreaders. [19:33] - Nick outlines the findings from his recent research on why people are often reluctant to express gratitude to each other. [23:53] - Nick completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Nudge by Richard H. Thaler The Wisest One in the Room by Tom Gilovitch Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Nick!

Today we're talking to Robyn Stratton-Berkessel, who's an adjunct professor in the School of Management at Champlain College, where she teaches online in the positive organizational development MBA programme. She's the author of Appreciative Inquiry for Collaborative Solutions, hosts the popular Positivity Strategist Podcast, and is an advisor on various appreciative inquiry initiatives, for organizations all over the world. In this episode, we explore how positivity is improved in workplaces when people are given a voice using participative approaches like Appreciative Inquiry and how leaders can learn to feel confident about these generative approaches. Connect with Robyn: Website: positivitystrategist.com You'll Learn: [02:18] - Robyn explains the characteristics of a positive workplace. [04:45] - Robyn shares how we can help leaders feel more confident about the benefits of giving people a voice when it comes to improving positivity in workplaces. [07:37] - Robyn shares an example of how Appreciative Inquiry can be used to help cynics with diverse views find a meaningful way forward together. [10:56] - Robyn explains how we can craft generative questions that help people to see old things in new ways. [13:50] - Robyn explains why appreciative inquiry is more than simply always talking about the positive. [16:24] - Robyn shares how workplaces can harness the opportunity and power of self-organization as one of the outcomes of an Appreciative Inquiry experience. [18:34] - Robyn offers some caveats and cautions about when an Appreciative Inquiry approach might now work so well. [20:07] - Robyn talks about the importance of not using an Appreciative Inquiry approach to gloss over difficult or painful conversations in workplaces. [23:02] - Robyn completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Robyn's Ted Talk Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Robyn!

Today we're talking to Dan Cable, a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School and whose research and teaching focuses on employee engagement, change, organizational culture, leadership mindset, and the linkage between brands and employee behaviors. An award-winning researcher, Dan has published more than 50 articles in scientific journals, been extensively featured in business publications around the world, and the author of several books, the latest being 'Alive at Work'. Dan's clients include Deloitte, McDonald's, Twitter, and many more. In this episode, we explore how workplaces can harness people's neurological seeking system to help them bring their best selves to work each day and why self-expression, serious play and purpose can help us to achieve what we're truly capable of doing while looking after our wellbeing. Connect with Dan: Website: dan-cable.com You'll Learn: [02:33] - Dan explains why researchers continue to find why many employees still feel like they can't really be their best selves at work each day, even after almost 20 years of positive psychology research and applications in workplaces. [05:25] - Dan shares why finding ways to harness our brains seeking systems is one of the keys to helping people bring their best selves to work each day. [10:24] - Dan outlines how we can help leaders better understand the impact of fear on people's behaviors and their ability to bring their best selves to work. [14:44] - Dan explains the importance of encouraging playfulness in workplaces in order to trigger our seeking systems and bring our best selves to work. [17:51] - Dan shares his tips on how to help leaders and teams leverage storytelling to make their work more purposeful. [20:31] - Dan shares his evidence-based interventions for helping people to bring their best selves to work more often. [23:14] - Dan offers some important cautions about helping people to bring their best selves to work in a way that is good for them and good for others. [27:41] - Dan completes the lightning round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Redirect by Timonthy D. Wilson Give & Take by Adam Grant Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post. Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free! You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing. Until next time, take care! Thank you Dan!