Flourish: Post#1 - Overview

Overview: A vaunted professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Martin Seligman is the architect of positive psychology—which studies how to make people not just less depressed, anxious, or angry but also happier and flourishing. I believe that Flourish, Seligman’s latest book, will stand as a classic text for psychologists and lay people alike who are interested in finding out how to live a better, happier, more productive and meaningful life. His research boils down to a theory of well-being constructed by seeking P-E-R-M-A: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships (positive), Meaning, and Accomplishment. His theory of well-being evolves from his original work on Authentic Happiness. He spends much of his book discussing each of the PERMA critical elements of what gives us well-being, not just smiley-faced, self-absorbed happiness. A self-proclaimed depressive (read that as being a hard-nosed realist), Seligman makes a true distinction between a kind of insufferable (and often insincere) smiling giddiness and well-being, which leads to true flourishing. Moreover, he describes how to craft programs for leaders, teachers, and even the Army that can make the world a better place. Talk about a mission and a legacy! In particular, the work he’s doing on post-traumatic stress is remarkable and something I wish had been around when I was a young Marine.
Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being by Martin Seligman, Ph.D. (Free Press, 2011), reviewed by Steve Gladis, Ph.D.

Jobs War: Post #7--Workers

Workers
a. Disengaged workers make for unhappy customers, who stop buying the product, which causes layoffs or company failures. It’s that simple—that disturbing.
b. Gallup has been researching engagement and found that around 20% of the 100 million U.S. workers are disengaged. That’s 20 million workers who are slowly but surely destroying our nation’s companies. Consider that economic impact. It’s like a form of terrorism, only worse!
c. Gallup stats: 28% of the American workforce is engaged; 53% is not engaged; and, 19% is actively disengaged. Engaged employees have the following stats working for them: 12% higher customer metrics; 18% more productivity, 16% more profitability, 37% lower absenteeism, 25%-49% lower turnover, 27% less theft, and 60% fewer quality defects.
d. Gallup Path: 1. Identify a worker’s strengths; 2. Right fit them into a job that takes advantage of those strengths; 3. Provide a manager/leader who cares about the employee; 4. You’ll get an engaged worker; 5. Engaged workers who produce happy, engaged customers; 6. All this leading to sustainable growth and profitability.
e. Managers are Job #1: Managers are the most important choice in a company. Why? The level of engagement of employees depends on their manager. There is, on average, 1 manager to 10 employees, and 1 in 5 managers stink. That means such sub-par managers turn off 20% of employees. That’s staggering when you review the stats that disengaged employees produce.
f. Leaders have to understand what motivates people (behavioral economics) if we are to continue to prosper and lead the world. And not doing so sets up a negative dynamic—a movie with an ending none of us wants to see.

Strengths: Post #1 - Overview

Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie (Gallup Press, 2008) reviewed by Steve Gladis, Ph.D.,

Overview: The Gallup folks have used their ability to research and analyze data to produce a book worthy of any team or organization reading it. The basic premises: People perform best when working in their strengths areas, and teams perform best when the team itself has a balanced, complementary set of strengths. The research behind this book is prodigious. Gallup conducted over 20,000 in-depth interviews, studied over one million work teams, considered over 50 years of data on the world’s most admired leaders, and studied over 10,000 followers for insights into leaders. Here’s what that data revealed. First, the most effective leaders are always investing in strengths. Employees who do not work in strengths areas are only 9% engaged in their jobs vs. 74% engagement levels for people who do work in their strengths. Further, engagement has been proven to substantially increase productivity for the company. Second, the most effective leaders surround themselves with the right people and then maximize their team. By nature we all have talents that can be developed into strengths. We also have definite weaknesses. And while no leader is perfectly well-rounded, effective teams must be. Gallup research has developed four domains of leadership strength: Execution (making things happen); Influence (selling ideas inside and out of the organization); Relationship Building (being the glue that holds teams together); and Strategic Thinking (focusing on the big picture and the future). Third, the most effective leaders understand their followers’ needs. The four needs of followers are: Trust (honesty, respect and integrity); Compassion (caring, friendship, happiness and love); Stability (security, strength, support and peace); and Hope (direction, faith and guidance). This book is a team “must-read.” The StrengthsFinder alone is high value; combine that with the research on teams and you have a bible for team development.

The Effect of Praise and Recognition at Work

The latest research of 10,000 business units in 30 industries conducted by Gallup as reported in How Full is Your Bucket? reveals that people who receive regular praise and recognition have increased productivity, engagement in their companies, a greater chance of staying with the company or organization, are liked and seen as loyal by their customers, and even have higher safety records than others on the job.