Welcome to the World of Organizational Positivity
Positive psychology
In 1998 when Martin Seligman was the president of the American Psychological Association he pointed out that the field of psychology was overly focused on human problems and how to solve them. He called for more research to be done on positive emotions, positive traits, and positive institutions in order to correct this imbalance. Since then a significant amount of research has been dedicated to exploring positive aspects of individuals and of organizations. The results of this research are positively thrilling!
The benefits of positivity
We now have a great deal of scientific evidence showing the benefits of positivity. Experiencing frequent positive emotions leads to better health and longevity, stronger social relationships, more effective coping skills in times of difficulty, and improved performance in multiple life domains.
Positivity in the workplace
As an organizational psychologist, I have spent my career doing research to identify ways of increasing desirable employee behaviors and attitudes. What are the drivers of satisfaction, motivation, commitment, and productivity? Based on the research that has been done in positive psychology, I am convinced that the key to employee engagement and effectiveness is organizational positivity!
Positive employees make better decisions, are more creative and more productive, and have better interpersonal skills. Because of this, positivity in the workplace leads to higher levels of employee engagement, cooperation and job performance and to lower levels of burnout, counterproductive behaviors and intention to quit.
Blogging about organizational positivity
I have created this blog to share the power of positivity with others. Positivity can do wonders for your personal life and you will find ideas here to help increase your positivity ratio. However, my real aim is to offer information and strategies that can be used by companies big and small to reap the amazing benefits of organizational positivity.
I’d love to hear your stories about positivity in the workplace! Please share them in the Comments or send them to me at: beth@cabrerainsights.com.
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I have enjoyed tooling around your website for information and ideas. I am a part time employee at a community college and would love to be able to secretly imbed this place with positivity. I am in a position to interact with a lot of people throughout the day but in no position to lead a change in outlook. I will keep looking for ideas but if anyone has something…please share!
Hi Georgia, thanks for your comment. I think if you are interacting with people throughout the day you can influence their outlook. Your positivity can be contagious. Things like expressing gratitude, showing optimism, and being supportive of others can increase their positivity as well. That being said, in order for others to really make an effort to increase organizational positivity, they have to be motivated to do so. You can help to motivate them by talking about the benefits of positivity or maybe even telling them about this blog you’ve been reading that they might want to check out. I would also love to hear ideas that anyone out there can offer for increasing organizational positivity. Anyone?