Psychology@Work

Start off 2021 on the good foot! 

In the first podcast of 2021, I look at several areas that will help you shape the next 12 months in a positive way:

• How did you cope with the life changes brought on by 2020, and what did you learn about yourself through that? How can you use what you learned to take control of 2021 and make it as fulfilling, as energising and as 'you-shaped' as possible?
• How will you use your strengths to drive value in the year ahead? Which strengths will define your year and specifically how will you use them, while avoiding the biggest risks tripping you up?
• What's the best way to manage your energy? How can you find your joy and build resilience to do this?

2021 is just starting, let's get set up to make it a year which is stronger than ever.

2020 has been challenging and damaging in so many ways. For many people, it has been completely life-changing. We have all experienced a sense of loss this year, but for some of us that has been loss of health, of loved ones, of livelihoods and of futures.

There’s not much positive to be had in any of that. At least not on the face of it. And yet, somehow, even while the world has in large part been hibernating and grieving, there have been good things happening. 

Today’s podcast is all about gratitude. Finding gratitude, sometimes starting that process through gritted teeth, but nonetheless feeling gratitude for what we have been able to do, what we have been able to learn, what we have been able to enjoy this year.

What are some of the psychological and emotional benefits of gratitude and of being grateful on a regular basis? 

How can you get those benefits? 

What things can you do, in terms of gratitude, that will make the greatest difference to your mental, emotional and physical well-being?

Read more:

https://www.strengthscope.com/the-benefits-of-gratitude-giving-thanks/

During this global pandemic, most people have needed to adapt significantly to new ways of working and new ways of living that we haven’t had much choice over.

Working from home, for millions of people, is just one of those adaptations. So now, many months on from the start of the pandemic, what have we learned about working from home well?

About giving ourselves the best chance of bringing our best selves to our homeworking lives?

This episode gives you my top tips for getting the best from homeworking as we head into (well, at least for now), more of the same.

Read more:

https://www.strengthscope.com/working-from-home-well/

Building trust is more difficult virtually than it is when you’re in the same place as other people. You miss out on all the ‘in between’ bits – the micro gestures, the informal chats, the side conversations after meetings.

Read more here:

https://www.strengthscope.com/building-trust-in-virtual-teams/

All of that information can help us to build up a picture as to whether or not we can trust someone. And in the world of the virtual team, a world that so many of us now live in, that effect is magnified. In my podcast on how we can build trust as individuals, the world was a very different place, but of course there’s a lot that’s just the same as it always was. 

In this podcast, I want to focus on how best to build trust in virtual teams. I tell you what not to do and give you 11 tips for building trust in virtual tips. With this list you'll be able to get your team to a place of safety and trust. 

Enjoy it! It’s great when you get there and the journey is pretty fulfilling too

Team health is at a premium these days. As in wellbeing as well as performance for individuals in a team and for the team overall. 

This year has been unprecedented in its demands on teams to flex and bend into all sorts of shapes they’re not used to. People leaving, joining, objectives changing, changing again, and for many teams, all in the context of zero physical in-person contact. 

Checking-in on team health virtually is definitely trickier than in person but it remains more important than ever, given today’s uncertain climate, so that everyone in the team can really truly see each other and listen to and hear each other. 

So, if you’re in a team, if you’re a team leader or if you’re working with a team, then this podcast is for you. The topic is disarmingly simple - how to do team check-ins well. 

Read more:

https://www.strengthscope.com/how-to-do-team-check-ins/

https://www.strengthscope.com/blog/

A series of real talk weekly podcasts covering topics to inspire, educate and well, maybe even transform. Occupational psychologist Dr Paul Brewerton takes you inside some of the stuff that can help you get the most from work and from life, every day. Get ready.

The term ‘dysfunctional team’ sends a shudder through many of us, bringing up visions of a team that is infighting, politicking, game-playing, back-stabbing, bullying and emotionally outbursting.

So today’s podcast focuses on what to do when you are asked to support a dysfunctional team or if you feel you might be part of a dysfunctional team.

https://www.strengthscope.com/top-tips-for-dealing-with-a-dysfunctional-team/

Team development is squarely and firmly back on the agenda in most organisations. Now more than ever, teams are working virtually, so organisations need a route map for building successful virtual teams.

It would be easy to say that building virtual teams is just the same as building teams that are co-located, and to some extent that’s true, but there are definite differences. 

In this podcast, I discuss five key areas to consider when building effective virtual teams. - how to build virtual teams using the strengths approach and how to make them work successfully.

https://www.strengthscope.com/building-effective-virtual-teams-the-strengths-way/

As our new world of working continues to reveal itself, virtual teamworking is fast becoming a standard in many organisations.

With more teams working fully virtually and others at least working partly on a virtual basis, there is a growing need for virtual teams not used to working in this way to get some tips on how to get the best from themselves and their members in the new normal. In today’s blog, I want to give you some tips on how to improve communication in a team, specifically in a virtual context, right now.

Virtual team communication challenges, magnified in the new world of work, are what I want to focus in on now. So here are my 9 top tips on how to improve virtual team communication, harvested just for you from our collective new world of work team experiences at Strengthscope.

Last time, part 1 introduced the topic of career wellbeing and took you through the first 3 of the 7 elements:

• Your career progression
• your relationships at work
• your relationship with the organisation

(If you missed it, you can catch up here: https://www.strengthscope.com/improve-your-career-wellbeing-part-1/)

Part 2 of our ‘improve your career wellbeing’ series looks at the final 4 elements that will help put your career on the soundest footing. They are:

• maximising your work performance
• finding your sense of purpose
• using the 70:20:10 model to develop your strengths and
• developing the right work-life blend

So, firstly, ask yourself this: do you actually like what you do each day?