Key Concepts
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Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a theory and practice for approaching change from a holistic framework. It was developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in 1986. The AI approach focuses on identifying what is working well, analysing why it is working well and then doing more of it. The basic tenet of AI is that an organisation will grow in whichever direction that people in the organization focus their attention. In paying attention to problems, what is broken or wrong, we emphasise and amplify them. If all the attention is focused on problems (a traditional approach to change management), then identifying problems, and dealing with them is what the organization will do best.
If all the attention is focused on strengths, however, then identifying strengths and building on those strengths is what the organization will do best. Appreciative Inquiry is based on the simple assumption - that everyone and everything has something that works well - that instead of the problem-focus, we look for what works, whether at individual or organisational level.
The process of Appreciative Inquiry requires a particular way of asking guided questions that encourage positive thinking and employee-to-employee interaction. The questions focus on four key areas: discover, imagine, design and deliver (DIDD).
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Discover questions facilitate the identification of processes in the organization that work well.
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Imagine questions facilitate analysis of why a particular process works well and help brainstorm ways to apply that knowledge elsewhere.
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Design questions facilitate the creation of an action plan
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Deliver questions facilitate the creation of criteria for success and a way to determine whether or not the action plan was successful.
The goal of the process is to help an organisation build upon what they do best in a positive manner.
The tangible result of the inquiry process is clearly defined statements that describe where the person or organisation wants to be, based on the high moments of where they have been. Because the statements are grounded in real experience and history, they are much more likely to result in a success outcome - people know how to repeat their success.
Authentic Leadership
A relatively new theory of leadership focuses on leaders dealing in a straightforward and honest way with followers. A prominent theory of authentic leadership views it as composed of four distinct components.
1. Self-Awareness (“Know Thyself”). A prerequisite for being an authentic leader is knowing your own strengths, limitations, and values. Knowing what you stand for and what you value is critical. Moreover, self-awareness is needed in order to develop the other components of authentic leadership.
2. Relational Transparency (“Be Genuine”). This involves being honest and straightforward in dealing with others. An authentic leader does not play games or have a hidden agenda. You know where you stand with an authentic leader.
3. Balanced Processing (“Be Fair-Minded”). An effective authentic leader solicits opposing viewpoints and considers all options before choosing a course of action. There is no impulsive action or “hidden agendas”–plans are well thought out and openly discussed.
4. Internalized Moral Perspective (“Do the Right Thing”). An authentic leader has an ethical core. She or he knows the right thing to do and is driven by a concern for ethics and fairness.
The roots of authentic leadership come from ancient Greek philosophy that focuses on the development of core, or cardinal, virtues. These virtues are Prudence (fair-mindedness, wisdom, seeing all possible courses of action), Temperance (being emotionally balanced and in control), Justice (being fair in dealings with others), and Fortitude (courage to do the right thing).
Becoming an authentic leader is not easy. It takes a great deal of self-reflection (getting to know oneself), and the courage to do the right thing. It involves a degree of selflessness. In today's challenging and often toxic world, authentic leadership theory has become popular as people search for the “good” leaders.
Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions
The broaden-and-build theory is an exploration of the evolved function of positive emotions. It was developed by Barbara Fredrickson starting around 1998 and is a key pillar of positive psychology. Positive emotions broaden people's awareness and repertoires of psychological resources. They help broaden ways of thinking and responding beyond the usual pattern. That broadening allows people to discover and learn new things. It fuels self-transformation and allows people become more self-aware and make new connection with other people. And so, through broadening, people build their personal resources: friendship, styles of connecting with people, knowledge of their own abilities, or even physical health, strength and skills. They build a wide range of different resources that, in the long run, end up functioning as reserves that help people cope, survive and ultimately thrive.
Studies show that people who experience positive emotions show heightened levels of creativity, inventiveness, and "big picture" perceptual focus. This is in contrast to negative emotions, which prompt narrow, immediate survival-oriented behaviours. For example, the negative emotion of anxiety leads to the specific fight-or-flight response for immediate survival.
Capital
Traditional economic capital can be stated as "what you have" (finances, tangible assets); human capital as “what you know” (knowledge, skills, ideas, experience, education); social capital as “who you know"(relationships, network of contacts, friends); and psychological capital as "who you are" confidence, hope, optimism and resilience.
See additional Social Capital and Psychological Capital.
Eustress
Eu is Greek for 'well' or 'good'. Eustress is a term coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye. Prolonged exposure to bad stress - Distress - leads to chronic stress which leads to burnout.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) is the ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour. Studies have shown that people with high EI have greater mental health, exemplary job performance, and more potent leadership skills.
The model introduced by Daniel Goleman focuses on EI as a wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. Goleman's model outlines five main EI constructs:
Self-awareness – the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions.
Self-regulation – involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
Social skill – managing relationships to move people in the desired direction
Empathy - considering other people's feelings especially when making decision
Motivation - being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement.
Goleman includes a set of emotional competencies within each construct of EI. Emotional competencies are not innate talents, but rather learned capabilities that must be worked on and can be developed to achieve outstanding performance. Goleman posits that individuals are born with a general emotional intelligence that determines their potential for learning emotional competencies.
Flourishing
The essence of flourishing is "mentally healthy adults: having high levels of emotional well-being; being happy and satisfied; tending to see their lives as having a purpose; feeling some degree of mastery and accepting all parts of themselves; they have a sense of personal growth in the sense that they are always growing, evolving, and changing; finally, they have a sense of autonomy and an internal locus of control, they chose their fate in life instead of being victims of fate." Corey Keyes
Flow
In positive psychology 'flow', named by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, and also known as zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate experience in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channelled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task - a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.
Health
WHO defines health as "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease". Many comment this is now an incomplete definition.
We like to refer to the following:
"health” means not just the physical well-being of an individual but refers to the social, emotional and cultural well-being of the whole Community in which each individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being thereby bringing about the total well-being of their Community. NACCHO
Learned Optimism
Learned optimism was defined by Martin Seligman and published in his 1990 book, Learned Optimism. it is the idea in positive psychology that a talent for joy, like any other, can be cultivated. It is contrasted with learned helplessness. Optimism is not about 'whistling happy tunes' to ourselves when life gets challenging. It’s about disciplining our minds to create more empowering explanations of what’s going on and by consciously challenging negative self talk.
Whether we take an optimistic or pessimistic outlook comes down to what he calls our "explanatory styles"—how we explain what’s happening in our world. Specifically, in this model, it comes down to three P’s: Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalisation.
Permanence: Optimistic people believe bad events to be more temporary than permanent and bounce back quickly from failure, whereas others may take longer periods to recover or may never recover. They also believe good things happen for reasons that are permanent, rather than seeing the transient nature of positive events. Optimists point to specific temporary causes for negative events; pessimists point to permanent causes.
Pervasiveness: Optimistic people compartmentalise helplessness, whereas pessimistic people assume that failure in one area of life means failure in life as a whole. Optimistic people also allow good events to brighten every area of their lives rather than just the particular area in which the event occurred.
Personalisation: Optimists blame bad events on causes outside of themselves, whereas pessimists blame themselves for events that occur. Optimists are therefore generally more confident. Optimists also quickly internalise positive events while pessimists externalise them.
Meaning : PURE model
Increasingly, positive psychology demonstrates that personal meaning plays an important role in well-being and quality of life. They point to personal meaning as a socially and individually constructed system, which endows life with personal significance. Key scholars in this field define personal meaning as the “cognisance of order, coherence and purpose in one’s existence, the pursuit and attainment of worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfilment”.
A comprehensive way to define meaning is in terms of the PURE model (Wong, 2010, 2011), which emphasises the four essential components:
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Purpose: having clear goals, directions, a sense of pursuing what matters. Includes grit. Consistent with values and beliefs
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Understanding: a sense of coherence and clarity about self and others. Does your life make sense to you? Does your job make sense?
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Responsible Action: choosing the right thing to do, assuming responsibility for consequences
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Enjoying meaningful life OR Evaluating life anew. If you feel good, fine. But negative feelings are an important part of a self-repairing system. There is something amiss that needs adjustment.
Wellbeing Model - PERMA
The PERMA Model was developed by renowned positive psychologist, Martin Seligman
"PERMA" stands for the five essential elements that should be in place for us to experience lasting well-being. These are:
1. Positive Emotion (P)
For us to experience well-being, we need positive emotion in our lives. Any positive emotion such as peace, gratitude, satisfaction, pleasure, inspiration, hope, curiosity, or love falls into this category – and the message is that it's really important to enjoy yourself in the here and now, just as long as the other elements of PERMA are in place.
2. Engagement (E)
When we're truly engaged in a situation, task, or project, we experience a state of flow : time seems to stop, we lose our sense of self, and we concentrate intensely on the present.
This feels really good! The more we experience this type of engagement, the more likely we are to experience well-being.
3. Positive Relationships (R)
As humans, we are "social beings," and good relationships are core to our well-being. Time and again, we see that people who have meaningful, positive relationships with others are happier than those who do not. Relationships really do matter!
4. Meaning (M)
Meaning comes from serving a cause bigger than ourselves. Whether this is a specific deity or religion, or a cause that helps humanity in some way, we all need meaning in our lives to have a sense of well-being.
5. Accomplishment/Achievement (A)
Many of us strive to better ourselves in some way, whether we're seeking to master a skill, achieve a valuable goal, or win in some competitive event. As such, accomplishment is another important thing that contributes to our ability to flourish.
By focusing on all five of these elements, we can flourish in life, and find the happiness we want. As such, PERMA gives us the starting point for living a great life.
Psychological Capital
Positive psychological capital (PPC) was introduced as a construct by Luthans (2004). An interest in the Positive Psychology movement got Dr. Luthans thinking about positive organisational behaviour. Further research led him to a breakthrough: Hope, confidence, optimism, and resiliency make workers more productive. This may seem like common sense to every great manager. However, Dr. Luthans' research takes it further than conventional wisdom. He's found that these attributes can be embedded, developed, measured, and trained to create sustainable, predictable, measurable increases over time.
Psychological capital lies beyond human and social capital and basically consists of “who you are” rather than 'what you are' (human capital) or 'who you know' (social capital). Luthans defines psychological capital, or "PsyCap", as an individual's positive psychological state of development that is characterised by four things: confidence, optimism, hope, and resiliency. Confidence means being able to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks.
Optimism is making a positive attribution about succeeding now and in the future. Hope is persevering toward goals, and when necessary, redirecting paths to goals in order to succeed. Resiliency means the ability to sustain and bounce back from problems and adversity to attain success. Drawn from positive psychology and, more recently, what is termed “positive organisational behaviour,” or POB, such capacities are measurable, open to development, and can be managed for improved, more effective work performance - such as higher productivity, better customer service, reduced accidents and sick leave - and more employee retention. Like human and social capital, positive psychological capital can be invested in and managed. Unlike traditional financial capital and tangible assets, this can be done at relatively little monetary cost. Because the positive psychological capacities outlined above are states
(rather than fixed traits), they are open to development and all have proven guidelines for their enhancement.
Social Capital
Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society's or organisation's social interactions. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion is critical to prospering economically and for development to be sustainable. Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society – it is the glue that holds them together. It is a multi-layered and dynamic concept that takes time to build. In the work context, high social capital means you have shared values, goals, aims and aspirations which in turn lead to common ways of thinking, understanding and acting. Its existence is evidenced by good working relationships - when individuals are willing to take a risk within a group, commit to that group's members and rely on each other for mutual support.
SCARF model
The SCARF model (Rock, 2008) is a summary of important discoveries from neuroscience about the way people interact socially.
In layman's terms, the findings show that our brains react to perceived “threats” and “rewards” in the social environment in the same way and with the same intensity with which it reacts to physical threats (e.g. a predator, pain) and rewards (e.g. food, money). So when your brain perceives a social “reward” (e.g. receiving recognition) an automated positive “engage” circuitry is activated. On the other hand, when you are humiliated (a perceived “threat”), the same neural circuitry is activated as when you are confronted by a gang of thugs or a dangerous predator. When a threat response is activated the brain allocates fewer resources to the prefrontal cortex (where most conscious thought takes place, hence making us a little ‘dumber’ for a while) as these resources are needed to activate and sustain other areas of the brain where automated “fight or flight” reactions are managed. Ability to perform simple routine actions are disrupted and performance breaks down.
The SCARF model involves five domains of human social experience:
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Status is about relative importance to others.
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Certainty concerns being able to predict the future.
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Autonomy provides a sense of control over events.
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Relatedness is a sense of safety with others - of friend rather than foe.
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Fairness is a perception of fair exchanges between people.
These five domains activate either the 'primary reward' or 'primary threat' circuitry (and associated networks) of the brain. For example, a perceived threat to one's status activates similar brain networks to a threat to one's life. In the same way, a perceived increase in fairness activates the same reward circuitry as receiving a monetary reward.
The model enables people to more easily remember, recognize, and potentially modify the core social domains that drive human behaviour. Understanding that the human brain is primarily a social organ which needs to be led in a way that complies with its social needs and that the brain perceives the workplace as a social environment can help leaders manage and facilitate these needs to the benefit of the individual and team.
Achieving Potential
Potential is defined as 'having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future, latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness'. Achieving it is a constructive progression to fulfilling or realising these qualities or abilities - it is a journey and not an end-destination. The Work Wellbeing Way apply positive psychology principles and tools to provide a roadmap and navigation system to get the most from this epic travel.
Strengths
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