There is a great deal of exciting research in the area of happiness including findings from positive psychology, brain physiology, appreciative inquiry, and emotional intelligence. You might find further reading in these areas enlightening.
A great deal of my executive coaching with clients is informed by focusing on clients strengths and improving emotional intelligence and social intelligence. Positive psychology and appreciative inquiry focus on what is right with people and organizations leveraging strengths for achieving success. There is a great deal of attention to gratitude and appreciation.
Are you leveraging your strengths?
Elements of Happiness
Several bodies of scientific research have contributed to our understanding of how the science of happiness can create a corporate culture that breeds success:
1. Positive Psychology. This includes the study of strengths, best practices, character and virtue in an organizational setting.
2. Neurosciences. Bio-evolutionary theory provides new insights into why we react as we do under stress. Top-notch leadership can transform human behavior from self-serving to civil, noble and altruistic.
We now know the brain functions with its left and right hemispheres, as well as layers of development — from primitive to modern. We pride ourselves on our sophisticated logic, analytical decisions and judgment capacities. In reality, more often than we’d like to admit, we’re influenced by these primitive instincts for survival.
Our emotions greatly shape our decisions, including those we make for our organizations. Unfortunately, the default reaction to any perceived threat is fear, which shuts down our centers of creativity, problem-solving abilities and ethical decision-making.
3. Appreciative Inquiry. We’ve learned a great deal about the application of appreciative inquiry, a process that delves into the question of what gives life to organizations. Research shows that asking the right questions, framed in positive terms, will lead to more creativity and energy — a superior approach to traditional problem-solving and beat-the-competition thinking.
4. Emotional Intelligence. Among the newer psychological assessments, the Benchmark of Organizational Emotional Intelligence (BOEI) measures an organization’s intrinsic emotional intelligence. Other motivational profiling tools also evaluate how and why people function in organizations, as well as how those with differing motivations can learn to work harmoniously.
5. Cardio-neurology. The coherence generated by positive emotion and thought unleashes creativity and imagination in ways that dramatically improve personal health and corporate productivity. Not only is lowered stress good for the individual’s health, but it’s apparently a success factor for healthy organizations.
Research from all of these disciplines has contributed to a new understanding of what’s required to build a happy organization and why it’s vital to pay attention to staff well-being. The greatest investment a company can make is in assuring its Return on People (ROP).
Are you building a happy organization where people are fully engaged and love to work towards a common vision?
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