Positivity Increases Employee Engagement

Positive employees are engaged in their work and their organizations.  When people experience positive emotions they are energetic, confident, and optimistic.  As a result, they are internally motivated to pursue challenging goals.

Energy

Positive people have more energy and see their lives as more purpose driven than negative people.  Most of us can relate to this.  When you wake up in the morning feeing depressed what do you want to do?  Nothing, right?  In fact, one of the signs of depression is not wanting to get out of bed.  Now think of how you feel when you wake up on a Saturday morning in a really good mood.  You probably feel like doing a lot of different things.  Maybe you will have some coffee and read the paper.  Then you might decide to clean out the garage.  If it is a pretty day you might go for a long afternoon bike ride and later take the kids to see a movie.  The same thing happens to employees at work if they are in a positive mood.  They feel energized and driven to work toward their goals.

Self-confidence

Another way that positivity increases employee engagement is that it makes people feel good about themselves.  Positive people have higher self-esteem and a higher sense of mastery and control.  This self-confidence leads them to set higher goals and to persist in the face of difficulties.  People who believe they are capable of doing something don’t give up.  They keep trying until they succeed.

Optimism

In addition to feeling energized and self-confident, positive people are more optimistic.  They believe that good things will happen, that they will accomplish their goals.  This optimism gives positive people hope that things will turn out well, so they not only set high goals, but they also generate multiple pathways for meeting their goals, which increases the likelihood that they will achieve them.

Are the employees in your company engaged?  Can you think of someone who is energetic, confident, and optimistic?  Could positivity have anything to do with it?  I’d love to hear of a time when you’ve seen a connection between positivity and internal motivation!