Psychology@Work

Your social network can have a significant effect on your health – studies have shown that those with stronger social networks enjoy multiple physiological, psychological and long-term health benefits than those who lack social support.

This is particularly important at times of pressure and stress, when a sense of isolation can lead to higher experienced stress levels. And what about at work?

Today, I want to talk about the importance of cultivating a strong support network at work – what kind of people it might be most helpful to have around you and how to go about doing this.

Social networks have been shown to be as closely linked to your chances of dying as smoking, booze, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol. Without a strong social network, raised stress hormones can lead to damage to our immune and cardiovascular systems, as well as reduced motivation to engage in healthy behaviours.

Recovery from illness is prolonged when you don’t have a good support network too.

Why might this be? Some research relates positive health outcomes to reduced chances of inflammation (as we know, the basis of all diseases) when we have people around us who we value; we also know that positive neurotransmitters and hormones like oxytocin kick in when we feel connected, and these hormones can reduce stress levels, which in turn improves immune system function, and that can reduce the chances of you getting ill.

If you’re less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviours with a stronger social network, it all stands to reason that you’re less likely to get ill or die.

https://www.strengthscope.com/building-out-your-support-network/

Why is it that the ‘news’ is pretty much always negative? We live in a world wired towards negativity bias (I podcast on this in Season 1, episode 2).

As humans, we react quickly to potential threats, that is we’re programmed to hear about those things first; in addition, we kind of like to hear about other people’s misfortune so that we feel better about our own situation (so called schadenfreude). And the media has evolved to give us more of what we want…negative stories about bad things happening because study after study has shown that that’s what we want to consume.

Today’s podcast is what to do about that when it all gets too much – how to rebalance all this negativity to get a sense of what’s really going in the world as a whole.

See the trouble is that as humans, negativity bias switches us towards being open to the negative. We place greater emphasis on negative stimuli.

Then another human bias (a psychological shortcut if you like, we humans have loads of these), availability bias means that we’re more likely to remember the negative news that we’ve seen because it’s more current in our memories.

To top it all off, yet another psychological shortcut, confirmation bias means we’ll probably go and look for supportive evidence of anything that’s available to us, which as we’ve learned, is likely to be negative. So we end up in a sea of negative, believing that everything is negative.

Read the full transcript:

https://www.strengthscope.com/its-all-fake-news/

“A resilient individual is not someone who avoids stress but someone who learns how to tame and master it”. And my favourite definition is one that I heard at an event once – that “Resilience isn’t just the ability to bounce back, but to bounce forward”.

So if you want to get the best from yourself and your team during challenging times, what are the four things that you need to do to build resilience?

Read more:

https://www.strengthscope.com/building-resilience-4-things-you-and-your-team-need-to-do/

‘New normal’ seems to be the phrase of the moment (at least it was last month). But in truth, nothing ever really gets a chance to ‘normalise’ these days, so pretty soon, ‘new normal’ will be ‘old world’ and the next wave of new will be on us.

https://www.strengthscope.com/the-future-of-leadership-in-the-new-normal/

So how can leaders - how can anyone at any level for that matter - effectively navigate new after new after new? Today, I want to talk about the future of effective leadership, which to be honest is the now of effective leadership too. So have a listen to my 6 principles for the future of leadership and ask yourself how you’re measuring up.

When I talk about each of my six guiding principles for effective leadership both for now and for future, they’re going to sound simple. But to get the most from these, you’re going to need to be brutally honest about where you’re at right now, and then sufficiently disciplined to get to where you want to be. 

My Big Six are: purpose, strengths, humility, clarity, enabling and evolution. Each of these principles is based on sound research on human psychology and behaviour, as well as leadership research and practice.

Diversity is one of the hottest topics in organisational life and for good reason: it relates to fair treatment of all groups, and all people.

Visit: https://www.strengthscope.com/getting-the-most-from-the-diverse-strengths-of-your-employees/

Taking a positive approach to diversity in organisations can also bring big commercial benefits, as I touched on in my podcast from not so long ago on ‘diversity and inclusion: how strengths can help’, at Season 7, episode 9.

Today’s podcast considers in even more depth the business benefits of diversity and poses the question ‘are you getting the most from the diverse strengths of your employees?’

When organisations plan diversity and inclusion programmes, mostly these focus on observable differences like gender, ethnicity, disability and age differences. This is important to address biases and unfairness and ensure that a workforce is representative of its customers. But it’s also important for organisations to build a culture where differences in thinking and where differences in ways of working are valued and leveraged. A powerful, positive way of building a more diverse workforce is to focus on people’s unique strengths, or the underlying qualities they have that energise them and which they’re great at, or have the potential to become great at.

Uncovering and then utilising people’s unique strengths is still not the default in most organisations. Once someone’s hired, many organisations still focus on people’s weaknesses and what they do wrong rather than helping them find opportunities to play to and develop their unique character strengths.

So I have five top tips which should encourage a more balanced approach and help you supercharge diversity and inclusion in your organisation by bringing in a strengths approach in support.

Today’s podcast relates to diversity and inclusion, the strengths way – how you can help your people identify what makes them truly unique and then support them in bringing that uniqueness to work each day.

Diversity and Inclusion strategies are seen as a technical necessity in organisations focused on fulfilling their legal requirements and stakeholder expectations.

https://www.strengthscope.com/diversity-and-inclusion-how-strengths-can-help/

But this misses one of the greatest opportunities in people management today: discovering and encouraging the unique contribution that can be made by each and every employee that works for you.

Why should we be concerned about bringing more diversity into the workplace. A Boston Consulting Group study found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues as a result of being more innovative. An American Sociological Association study found that for every 1% rise in the rate of gender diversity and ethnic diversity in a workforce, there is a 3% and 9% rise in sales revenues, respectively.

According to most of the research on the topic of diversity, including the Boston Consulting Group work, this improvement in business performance due to increased diversity is largely attributed to an increased capacity for creativity and innovation, in itself resulting from the inclusion of a wider range of perspectives and sets of experiences, which is more possible in a more diverse workforce.

Thus, if you encourage greater diversity, you’re going to create more innovation, more capacity for creative thought and as a result, better decision making, from top to bottom.

Which sounds amazing in theory....

In a recent study cited by the Mental Health Foundation, there were just over 8 million cases of anxiety reported per year in the UK and the global figures country-by-country are similar.

https://www.strengthscope.com/managing-anxiety-through-your-strengths/

During extraordinary times, particularly during times of crisis, economic or otherwise, people’s anxiety levels can increase significantly, as can other mental health outcomes, such as a depression and stress. And those 8 million were just the reported cases, which will represent only a fraction of the total number.

Anxiety affects an awful lot of people from time to time and for some people, for much of the time. In today’s podcast, I’m going to focus on different methods for managing anxiety if you are experiencing it, including taking a strengths-focused approach.

How should we define anxiety and what does it look like? Most mental health professionals will tell you that anxiety-related disorders come in various forms, including generalised anxiety, panic, social anxiety, phobias and post-traumatic stress. In their diagnosed forms, each of these can be called disorders, but for many people, elements of one or more of these disorders can be experienced at different times, without it actually ever being diagnosed.

What then can you do to get on the front foot if you find yourself experiencing anxiety? I have 6 top tips: 1. use your strengths, 2. breathing/meditation/mindfulness, 3. exercise/sleep, 4. challenging your thoughts, 5. talking to someone, and 6. accepting what you can’t control. 

#anxiety #anxietyhelp #managinganxiety #strengths

#anxiety #depression #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #selfcare #love #stress #selflove #therapy #mentalhealthmatters #health #anxietyrelief #wellness #mindfulness #recovery #motivation #life#psychology #meditation #growthmindset #lifecoach #selfdoubt

Something we tend to forget as adults as we take on more responsibility, more life baggage, more ‘shoulds’ and ‘musts’, is how to reconnect with the child that is still there in all of us. A particular child as well, our ‘free child’, the child who did things for the sheer joy, the enjoyment, the fun, the feeling.

https://www.strengthscope.com/find-your-joy/

As we grow, it’s easy to lose that connection with the younger freer us and all too soon, the opportunities, and responsibilities, that we so craved as children moving into adulthood, can feel more like a burden at times and can keep us distant from the inner free spirit that was the child us.

Today’s podcast is about finding your joy as an adult – what makes you feel good just for you and getting back to that. This podcast is best listened to as a follow on to ‘How to change the habits of a lifetime’, which is at Season 6, episode 8

Wherever your team are located right now – remotely or physically, some together, some apart, research shows us that when people play to their strengths, they are more likely to perform well.

https://www.strengthscope.com/empowering-your-team-with-strengths/

The business case therefore for bringing strengths into everyday management performance conversations with employees include:

• Higher levels of well-being, motivation and self-confidence at the individual level
• More effective teamworking, problem-solving and improved relationships at the team level
• Focusing on strengths during performance management conversations has a significant impact on employee performance, improving performance by over 36% on average.

Today’s podcast focuses on how to empower your team using strengths in your one-to-one conversations as a manager.

It's a quick introduction and reminder to empowering and enabling your team with strengths.

When these discussions become part of day to day conversations with your direct reports, you will see their confidence grow, a greater sense of ownership and engagement with tasks and ultimately an increase in performance – as I mentioned, this can go up by 36% on average when used in performance management conversations.

#strengths #humanresourcesmanagement #managers #management #projectmanagement #talentmanagement #managementteam #skillsmanagement #teammanagement #leadershipmatters #humanresource

During the course of each day, you’re likely to experience some emotions that are uncomfortable, difficult, distracting or we might even label them as negative or unwanted. These emotions can be brought on by a whole range of triggers – work, relationships, memories, pressure, stress, the weather, our general mindset and so on – humans are complex creatures.

The power of discomfort – managing your emotions well

These uncomfortable emotions can be distracting and can sometimes lead us to a place of what feels like ‘stuckness’ because we don’t notice or can’t pinpoint what we’re feeling so we just find ourselves getting irritable and tetchy. That then causes a negative response in others which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy ("see, I was right to be feeling a bit rubbish today, looks like everyone’s feeling pretty low"), leading to even more stuckness.

Today’s podcast focuses in on uncomfortable emotions and helping you to manage them by noticing them, describing them and then choosing whether, and when, to act on them.