Making Positive Psychology Work

Sonja Lyubomirsky, a Professor of Psychology at UC Riverside and bestselling author, discusses the science of happiness. She debunks common myths about what truly makes us happy, emphasizing the significance of personal engagement in our happiness journey. Sonja explores how targeted strategies can enhance well-being, particularly in workplace environments. She also highlights the importance of social interactions and offers insights into balancing positivity with productivity for lasting happiness.

Russ Harris is a renowned therapist and author of "The Happiness Trap," with vast experience in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In this engaging conversation, he discusses embracing acceptance over problem-solving, the importance of self-compassion, and how ACT can transform negativity into growth. He shares insights on introducing ACT into various workplaces and its adaptability in challenging environments. Listeners will learn practical strategies for enhancing resilience through kindness and authentic connection.

Robert Biswas-Diener, a prominent researcher in positive psychology and author of "The Upside of Your Dark Side," discusses the importance of embracing uncomfortable emotions. He emphasizes that feelings like fear are vital signals indicating something needs attention. Instead of avoiding negativity, he encourages labeling emotions to understand their messages and foster constructive action. Robert also explores how emotional resilience is key during workplace changes, advocating for open communication and holistic approaches to well-being.

George Bonanno is professor of clinical psychology, Director of the Lost Trauma and Emotion Lab, and Director of The Resilience Center for Veterans and Families at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. George’s research focuses on resilience in the fact of loss and traumatic events.   Most of us have the natural tools to deal with extreme adversities in our lives. We cope well when extreme things happen to us.  To deal with the world around us, it takes a repertoire of behaviors.  Sometimes, this involves what George calls “coping ugly.”  Sometimes we might need to do something that doesn’t seem pretty but is reasonably effective.   Connect with George Bonanno: Website for Lost Trauma and Emotion Lab You’ll Learn: [01:55] - George will be presenting on loss, trauma, and resilience at the 5th World Congress on Positive Psychology.  He shares what he would like attendees to take home from his presentation.  [03:45] - Media coverage ensures that we are aware of negative events.  The negative psychological consequences can be overcome, and eventually they go away. [05:38] - George believes that resilience is natural and speaks to the fact that organizations are spending money on trying to enhance resilience. [08:50] - George talks about the behaviors that make us cope better.    [11:43] - “Coping ugly” is a phrase that George coined and he talks about what this means.   [12:55] - George talks about how laughter can be an example of coping ugly.   [14:20] - We all know the famous five stages of grief.  George states that these stages have been harmful to many people.   [16:25] - The Lightning Round with George Bonanno Your Resources: 5th World Congress on Positive Psychology The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss - George A. Bonanno Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera 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.   Also, 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 finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free! Special thanks to George for joining me this week. Until next time, take care!

Kim Cameron is one of the top 10 scholars in organizational sciences. Kim recently spoke at the Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology and he talks with us about positive and relational energy. Positive energy and relational energy has a tremendous positive impact on individuals and organizations. So today, I talk with Kim Cameron, a leading scholar on these topics and positive psychology. In this interview, you will hear how the positive impact of positive energy and relational energy are measurable down to the cellular level. Kim also shares that contribution is more powerful than achievement and he provides examples from the University of Michigan. Some employees may perceive positive practices as manipulation and Kim shares why he believes this opposition will not become more common. This interview was produced in partnership with the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and the 3rd Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology. Tune in to hear more! Kim Cameron’s Website: http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/cameronk/?_ga=1.99712030.1617036109.1465915693 You’ll Learn [2:20] - People with positive energy and relational energy are four times more likely to succeed. [5:53] - The characteristics of positively energizing leaders. [7:45] - The heliotropic effect and how to unleash it. [9:22] - Contribution goals trump achievement goals [12:58] - Kim talks about the culture of abundance and its positive impact on organizations. [14:34] - The notion of happiness and well-being can be used as a manipulation. [16:18] - Positive practices show results at the cellular level. [18:31] - The lightning round with Kim Cameron Your Resources: “Practicing Positive Leadership” - Kim Cameron Harvard Business Review article by Kim Cameron on “Proof That Positive Work Cultures Are More Productive” “Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being” - Martin Seligman “Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the Upward Spiral That Will Change Your Life” - Barbara Fredrickson “The Science of Well-Being: The Collected Works of Ed Diener” - Ed Diener   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 the post. Also, please leave an honest review for 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 finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free! Special thanks to Caroline for joining me this week. Until next time, take care!

My guest today is David Cooperrider, renowned for his research in appreciative inquiry, a strength-based approach to creating change. In this interview, you will hear how appreciative inquiry is being used to build a better world. David explains how organizations can align strengths in ways that make the system’s weaknesses irrelevant. He also shares how individuals and organizations can use this life-centric approach to go through the steps of his new P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E change model. This interview was produced in partnership with the Canadian Positive Psychology Association and the 3rd Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology. Tune in to hear more! Connect with Wayne Baker:  Website: www.davidcooperrider.com Twitter: @Dlc6David You’ll Learn [2:25] - David explains the basics of appreciative inquiry [4:52] - What you and your organization can gain from this positive change approach [5:27] - Rethinking our approach to change. [7:05] - Step P - Positive re-framing [9:30] - Step O - Omni search and bringing in all of the strengths at every level [10:50] - Step S - Strengthen the strengths [12:28] - Step I - Imagining our future [14:40] - Steps T & I - Translate and improvise [16:30] - Step V - Valuing progress moments [18:02] - Step E - Embedding the change and reversing our mindset on change [20:50] - The lightning round with David Cooperrider Your Resources: DavidCooperrider.com The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram Canadian Conference On Positive Psychology 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 of 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 David!

Dr. Wayne Baker is a professor of business administration and professor of management and organizations at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and faculty director of the Centre for Positive Organizations. The author of the forthcoming book, 'All You Have to Do Is Ask', as well as five other books and many scholarly articles. Wayne's research focuses on social capital, social networks, generosity, and positive organizations. He's also the co-founder and board member of Give and Take, Inc. who are developers of collaboration technologies based on the principles in All You Have to Do Is Ask. In this week’s podcast, we learn why being able to ask to help is one of the keys to workplace success, and the simple steps you can take to ask in ways that make it easy for people to say yes! Connect with Wayne Baker:  https://allyouhavetodoisask.com/ You’ll Learn: [03:15] - Wayne explains why being a good giver-requester at work shapes our success and wellbeing in workplaces. [04:29] - Wayne outlines how his research on giver-requesters intersects with the research of Professor Adam Grant on being successful self-protective givers. [06:07] - Wayne shares what the research is finding on how gender influences our ability to ask for help at work. [06:57] - Wayne offers insights on how age and power influence our ability to ask for help at work. [08:39] - Wayne outlines how psychological safety in our workplaces influences our ability to ask for help at work and what we can do to improve this [10:34] - Wayne outlines the SMART criteria to make it easier to ask for help at work and for people to say yes. [13:12] - Wayne shares his free assessment tool to measure your ability to ask for help and shares the findings surfacing from this new research. [14:54] - Wayne shares the barriers that make it difficult for most people to ask for help at work and how we can overcome these. [18:01] - Wayne shares why researchers are finding that you should ask people more than once for help. [19:06] - Wayne provides some plug and play routines that workplaces can use to help make asking for help easier. [20:34] - Wayne shares how we can map the energy for asking and giving within our teams to measure what is unfolding. [21:23] - Wayne explains how mini-games can be used to playfully incentivize a group to ask for help to solve a problem together. [23:22] - Wayne offers some tips to help recruit and rewards leaders who are chief help seekers. [24:50] - Wayne offers two cautions about asking for help at work. [26:28] - Wayne completes the Lightning Round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook The Economics of Higher Purpose by Robert Quinn 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 of 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 Wayne!

Stephen Carter is the founder of one of Australia's fastest-growing, privately-owned recruitment firms, Sharp and Carter, who have five offices and more than 120 staff around the country. In this week’s podcast, we explore how putting people first by using positive leadership approaches has helped one workplace grow their revenue by 55% per annum for the last five years. Connect with Stephen Carter:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephencarter1/ You’ll Learn: [02:13] - Carts explains how putting people first has helped his organization grow 55% per annum for the past five years. [04:35] - Carts shares why their leadership team felt confident to put people before profit. [07:03] - Carts outlines how the shift to putting people first was explained to employees and what they did to overcome people’s cynicism about this approach. [09:30] - Carts share the cultural pillars that emerged as a result of putting people first and how these are used to guide people’s day to day behaviors in the business. [13:24] - Carts outlines how positive leadership practices have been scaled and embedded across their organization – even when trust gets broken. [18:15] - Carts explains how they try to support people who are really struggling when it comes to their wellbeing at work. [21:07] - Carts offers some tips for how leaders can look after their own wellbeing as they try to put people first in their organization. [24:31] - Carts completes the Lightning Round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Simon Sinek on Amazon 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 of 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 Stephen!

Dr. BJ Fogg teaches good people how behavior works, so they can create products and services that benefit everyday people around the world. A behavioral scientist with deep experience in innovation and teaching, BJ runs a research lab at Stanford University, and trains innovators to use his work, so they can create solutions that influence behavior in health, financial well-being, learning, productivity, and more. He's personally coached over 40,000 people informing new habits using his breakthrough method called Tiny Habits. And, his forthcoming book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything is scheduled for publication in early 2020. In this week's episode, we learn the simple recipe for creating tiny habits and how to deal with our motivation monkeys and surface the golden behaviors that improve our wellbeing. Connect with BJ Fogg:  https://www.bjfogg.com/ You’ll Learn: [02:39] - BJ explains why most of us find changing our behaviors challenging because we approach change in the wrong way. [04:16] - BJ outlines the three variables his research has found that can make changing our behavior easier. [08:17] - BJ explains why our motivations for changing our behavior is often unreliable and how we can tame our motivation monkeys. [09:49] - BJ shares some tips on managing motivation conflicts and motivation waves when it comes to changing our behaviors. [13:12] - BJ shares his tips for how we can surface golden behaviors to create more of the changes we’re wanting. [15:43] - BJ helps us understand the important difference between our aspirations, our goals, and our behaviors when it comes to surfacing our golden behaviors. [17:32] - BJ shares the recipe for turning golden behaviors into tiny habits. [20:22] - BJ explains why we need to celebrate the completion of our habits and the role mood plays in helping us to create behavior changes. [25:46] - BJ outlines how an ability chain model can help us troubleshoot our tiny habits when the changes we want to create become stuck. [27:41] - BJ completes the Lightning Round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani 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 of 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 BJ!

Dr. Timothy R. Clark is the founder and managing partner at LeadFactor and a highly sought after advisor, coach, and facilitator to CEOs and senior leadership teams around the world. He's the author of four books with his newest, The Four Stages of Psychological Safety due out in early 2020, and he's written more than 150 articles on leadership, change, strategy, human capital, culture, and employee engagement. In this week’s podcast, we explore the four stages of psychological safety and how we can shape our wellbeing and performance at work. Connect with Dr. Timothy R. Clark:  http://leaderfactor.com/ You’ll Learn: [02:19] - Tim explains what psychological safety is and why it recently became a hot topic of conversations in many workplaces when it comes to helping people thrive at work. [03:44] - Tim shares some of the research-based findings on the potential benefits for leaders who invest in psychological safety. [07:16] - Tim explains why improving diversity and inclusion successfully depends on also heightening psychological safety. [09:39] - Tim explains what studies are finding out about the link between psychological safety and people’s levels of wellbeing at work. [11:31] - Tim offers two practical recommendations based on what researchers are finding right now can help to improve psychological safety in workplaces. [15:30] - Tim outlines the four stages of psychological safety that can help organizations understand where they’re people are at practically and how it can be heightened. [21:24] -Tim challenges us to think about when leaders push the fear buttons in workplaces and what impact does this have on psychological safety for ourselves and others. [24:56] - Tim completes the Lightning Round. Your Resources: MPPW Podcast on Facebook Oscar Munoz - 'Learn to Listen' Podcast Episode 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 of 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 Tim!