How can we develop resiliency and psychological flexibility in the face of increasing demands, chronic stress, complexity and change? The latest research suggests that we do so by embracing our strengths, improving emotional intelligence and leveraging positive psychology techniques to promote well-being.

Leverage Your Strengths

At The Workplace Coach, we suggest taking an assessment such as DISC, StrengthFinder or VIA to identify your “signature strengths.” Once you’ve identified your strengths, pay attention to how you already engage your top three to five strengths, then consider how you might apply those strengths to challenges. For example, if gratitude or love of learning are among your signature strengths, you might reframe a fear of public speaking by bringing these qualities to mind. Such a reframing shifts your focus to your core strengths, giving you the energy and resolve to move forward effectively.

To make positive reframing a habit, choose a top strength and apply it in a new way every day for a week. Continue this until you’ve exercised all the strengths you’ve identified. Research has shown that this will boost work success, health and relationship satisfaction.

Boost Your Emotional Intelligence

The key components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Combined, these elements give us the ability to sense, understand and apply the power and acumen of our emotions to facilitate higher levels of collaboration and productivity. The science says that people with high emotional intelligence not only communicate better, but also reduce their anxiety and stress, which helps them to defuse conflicts, improve their relationships and overcome the challenges of life and work more effectively.

The TriMetrix EQ DISC assessment is an excellent measure of strengths, motivators and emotional intelligence. The goal of this kind of tool is to allow us to identify areas of below-average emotional intelligence, or EQ, so we can work to improve them. For example, an individual who is hyper and over-talkative will likely score low in self-regulation, an indicator that he or she may want to practice mindfulness or employ other tools to control their impulses and learn to think before acting.

Positive Psychology Techniques

Positive psychology is a neo-humanistic study of the strengths that enable individuals, groups and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves and to enhance their experience of love, play and work. Techniques such as gratitude exercises, mindfulness, meditation, savoring, forgiveness and “Best Possible Future Self” have been proven to increase resilience, creativity, psychological flexibility and sense of well-being.

One of the most powerful and studied positive psychology interventions is also one of the simplest: 3-good things. At the end of each day, just before going to sleep, write down three things that went well during the day. Alternatively, ask yourself, When was I at my best today? – again looking for three distinct times. Then ask why: Why did these things go well? Or why was I at my best then? Over time, you’ll notice a mental shift that I like to call, “I’ve got this!” Within about 30 days, most people begin to look for and anticipate good things during their day and to realize that they are in control of creating those good things.

Building Workplace Success

Today workplace expectations for senior leaders and executives are at an all-time high. Learning to leverage your natural strengths, cultivate emotional intelligence and employ positive psychology techniques will give you a distinct advantage –– the ability to maintain a sense of well-being in the face of uncertainty, high-stress and change. Expanding your psychological agility will allow you to remain resilient, reduce the risk of burnout and increase your propensity for success and productivity at work while enjoying your family and personal endeavors more fully.

How can we help you become your best?

• https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/
• http://www.who.int/whr/previous/en/
• https://hbr.org/2016/06/627-building-resilience-ic-5-ways-to-build-your-personal-resilience-at-work
• http://www-935.ibm.com/services/c-suite/study/study/

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Mindfulness meditation when offered in the workplace is generally not tied to specific leadership development challenges. Instead, it is currently employed by executives and high performing professionals to manage stress, maintain focus, enhance emotional intelligence and improve interpersonal relationships. While empirical research confirms these benefits, combining mindfulness with executive coaching’s strategic skill set development focus – to better manage direct reports, communicate more effectively, develop sound tactical plans and implement action plans for success – could vigorously bolster the development of vibrant leaders. Ultimately, the two processes can powerfully reinforce each other and promote enhanced quality of life, work performance and leadership capacity. To be effective, the executive coach must be grounded in mindfulness training or partner with a mindfulness specialist. In the latter situation, both coach and specialist must be willing to collaborate and maintain a healthy, on-going dialogue about the client’s goals and progress in order to be mutually enforcing.

Here’s an example of the process with one of my clients. I’d been coaching Randy, a successful executive in the architect and design industry, who had recently started his own company. After some initial success, he lost several large bids that he felt would parlay him to longer-term recognition and profitability, which caused a spike in stress, anxiety and an obsession with failure. I worked with him to reframe his mindset from one of focusing on problems and roadblocks to a focus on other exciting opportunities and evolving the business model proactively. During meditation and yoga, Randy discovered that he had concerns about his team structure and their work schedule. This helped to inform and deepen the executive coaching and we were able to clarify expectations and ultimately improve work flow with his team, helping prepare the entire group for greater future success. He also implemented the “three things” exercise nightly, which over time, promoted a sense of confidence and self-control, teaching him to look for “good” (opportunities to grow and succeed) verses “bad” (fear around derailing problems and deficiencies). This collective approach, which integrated mindfulness, positive psychology and executive coaching led Randy to a renewed focus and energized approach to business. Today, he has a thriving business with a maturing business model.

As we see with other executives and professionals, meditation helped Randy achieve a state of being where he could think clearly about work related stressors and goals. Then coaching helped him leverage the positive mindset into action. Combined, strategic mindfulness and executive coaching help clients become more self-aware, grounded and effective leaders. Can mindfulness based executive coaching help you achieve results? Our experience along with mounting research suggests that this coordinated approach is both rewarding and powerful. Contact The Workplace Coach to discuss how we can fast track your leadership development.

References

Brendel, D., and E. R. Stammel (2016). How Mindfulness Improves Executive Coaching In Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/01/how-mindfulness-improves-executive-coaching

Parsons, M. (2016). “Positive Psychology Coaching and Its Impact on Midlife Executives.” International Journal of Education and Social Science, Vol 3., No. 5.

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According to recent Gallup research, of the approximately 100 million people in America who hold full-time jobs:

• 30 million (30%) are engaged and inspired at work, having exceptional managers,
• 20 million (20%) are actively disengaged, having managers that make them miserable, and
• 50 million (50%) are not engaged, present or are uninspired by their managers.

Furthermore, in terms of safety and healthcare costs, the research found that the top 25% of teams — those that were best managed — versus the bottom 25% in any workplace — or the worst managed — have nearly 50% fewer accidents and have 41% fewer quality defects. What’s more, teams in the top 25% versus the bottom 25% incur far less in healthcare costs. So having too few engaged employees means our workplaces are less safe, employees have more quality defects, and disengagement.

Engaged workers are the lifeblood of their organizations. They have significantly higher productivity, profitability, and customer ratings, less turnover and absenteeism, and fewer safety incidents than those in the bottom 25%.

Gallup estimates that active disengagement costs the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion per year.

Managers who focus on their employees’ strengths can practically eliminate active disengagement and double the average of U.S. workers who are engaged nationwide.

The generations near the end of their careers tend to be more engaged than those at the beginning of their careers, according to Gallup’s research.

• Millennials are most likely of all generations to say they will leave their jobs in the next 12 months if the job market improves. • Women have slightly higher overall engagement than men.
• Employees with a college degree are not as likely as those with less education to report having a positive, engaging workplace experience.
• Although certain policies such as hours worked, flextime, and vacation time do relate to employee wellbeing, engagement levels in the work environment eclipse corporate policies.
• Only 22% of U.S. employees are engaged and thriving. When employees are engaged and thriving in their overall lives, they are more likely to maintain strong work performance — even during difficult times.
• Only 41% of employees feel that they know what their company stands for and what makes its brand different from its competitors’ brands.
• Engagement levels among service employees — those workers who are often on the front line serving customers — are among the lowest of any occupation Gallup measured and have declined in recent years, while engagement for every other job category increased.

Managers and employees must feel empowered by leadership to make a significant difference in their immediate environment. So what specific steps does a company need to implement to improve employee engagement?

1. Select the right people.
2. Engage your employees.
3. Develop employee strengths.
4. Enhance employee well-being.

Companies must invest in their employees’ greatest talents to optimize their performance. By creating a culture of wellbeing in their workplaces, organizations not only help their employees become more engaged, they also help them thrive. When used with an employee engagement initiative, investing in employee selection, strengths, and well-being has the power to boost the results companies would receive from increasing engagement alone.

Bottom-line: The research by the Gallup is invaluable and confirms what we know and see in our daily work with leaders across the US and beyond. At The Workplace Coach, we are uniquely positioned to help companies manage, and enhance employee engagement and well-being to better control healthcare costs, promote productivity, while attracting and retaining top talent.

Call today to discuss how we can help your organization be more engaged, innovative, and profitable.

–Dr. Rachel Elahee

*Adapted from The State of the American Workplace, Gallup 2013.

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In short the paper provides insights into the lived experiences of senior leaders who participated in positive psychology focuses executive coaching during midlife. Through personal interviews, participants shared detailed descriptions of their experiences in an effort to understand how they benefited personally and professionally while facing challenges typically associated with middle age. There were three major findings:

(1) participating in positive psychology coaching provides focus and confidence that facilitates personal and professional growth during midlife by helping clients overcome challenges while pursuing their goals;

(2) the coaching experience and associated results vary based on participants’ wants, goals and aspirations; and

(3) the client’s perception of coaching’s impact is tied to the length of coaching, the quality of the coach-client relationship and a perceived positive experience. These results support the use of positive psychology interventions as part of executive coaching with midlife clients.

Findings build on earlier research illustrating that positive psychology provides a viable framework for executive coaching at midlife. In fact, positive interventions employed during the executive coaching engagement facilitate both professional and personal growth as well as a sense of confidence and enhanced focus during a time of physiological, psychological, and social change. This is an important consideration for current practitioners of coaching and coaching psychology as well as for their training institutions, in addition to corporate partners in human resources, talent development professionals, and others interested in empowering leaders at midlife.

In light of the findings, we believe that coach accrediting organizations such as the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE) should consider promulgating positive psychology education as part of their coach training requirements. Furthermore, corporate consumers of coaching should strongly consider engaging executive coaches with training and expertise in the areas of positive assessment and positive psychology intervention in order to inspire midlife executives and promote individual (both professional and personal) and organizational growth. Additionally, it is critical to consider elements such as time, quality of relationships, specific goals, and future aspirations in addition to coaching frameworks, tools, and tactics. Therefore, in addition to making sure executive coaching goals align with corporate objectives, corporate consumers of coaching should also ensure a good client-coach match, perhaps by allowing the client to choose from several qualified coaches, and give them sufficient time to establish a trusting and synergistic partnership. Finally, coaches should be skilled in both the hard skills of coaching practice and soft skills of rapport and relationship building to maximize results.

If you’d like to learn more about positive psychology focused coaching as well as well as other coaching tools and interventions contact us at www.theworkplacecoach.com.

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How can we avoid or effectively navigate this situation? In a word: communication. When leaders lose touch, communication is both a key indicator of the problem and a critical component for resolution. Our experiences, as executive coaches, tell us that the first step to being an in-touch leader is to regularly dialogue with and seek feedback from others. This feedback should come from a variety of sources such as rank-and-file employees, human resources professionals, executive coaches and other shareholders, as well as periodic assessments and surveys. To ensure success and begin establishing a culture that engages in honest feedback start by clarifying and sharing expectations with staff. Here it is important to discuss the purpose of feedback session (e.g., to generate ideas, drive growth, anticipate change, promote collaboration and to keep you grounded and informed about what is going on up/down and across the organization) as well as the process (e.g., frequent, specific feedback will be given during weekly huddle meetings as well as immediately when it involves a critical customer initiative).

In addition to helping leaders stay current, feedback sessions can also be used to develop employees. Regular conversations with direct reports affords us the opportunity to coach, give constructive feedback and praise our people when they need it most. It also helps us to be actively involved in performance management by monitoring and encouraging growth throughout the year and not only during the annual review or quarterly scorecard check-in.

To reinforce the commitment to being an in-touch leader, tell your staff members what they can expect of you. At a minimum this should include the following three assurances: (1) Let them know that you will work to communicate clearly, which includes letting them know the direction the organization is going and why. (2) Ensure your availability and pledge to give them frequent, specific and timely feedback around their goals and achievements. And, (3) agree to be candid, direct and honest, rather than beating around the bush or being overly diplomatic when delivering news – good or bad. This also implies that we will not punish employees for delivering bad news to us!

Research clearly shows that establishing and maintaining strong communication up, down and across the organization is paramount to developing trusting relationships, promoting teamwork and inspiring excellence. This level of connection also provides leaders with much needed insights for better decision-making. In short, employing feedback sessions is a cost effective, powerful way to begin improving organizational dynamics and motivating employee performance. Our experience says it can also help to create a more innovative culture over time, leading to greater engagement and profitability, which is clearly a win-win proposition.

My challenge to you is this: spend the next three months actively fostering an environment of open and honest communication with your employees and watch what happens. I think you will find yourself and your employees reaching for greater heights and doing so with a renewed commitment to being the best! Be sure to send me a note and let me know what happens.

References:

• AMA Survey (2014) http://www.amanet.org/news/10076.aspx
• Talent Management (2015) http://www.talentmgt.com/articles/7589-burst-that-bubble-engaging-out-of-touch-leaders
• HBR (2016) What Your Leader Expects of You https://hbr.org/2007/04/what-your-leader-expects-of-you

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While there are a variety of mentoring prototypes, Metros and Yang (2006), outlines a popular four-phase model that includes: identify, negotiate, facilitate and graduate. During the identify phase, the goal is to identify a mentor and establish goals for the mentorship as well as core competencies needed for effectiveness in the mentee’s present job and prospective future positions. Here it is important to have a clear understanding of the mentor’s motivation for becoming a mentor and the mentee’s motivation for wanting to be mentored. Mentors should mentor based on a realistic assessment of their skills and leadership experience, while mentees should select a mentor based on relevance to their career goals. In addition to the formal mentoring programs offered by larger organizations, mentors may be found externally through associations and personal referrals via family, friends and colleagues. Additionally, it is common for previous educators, professional coaches, and peer groups to serve as mentors.

During the negotiate phase, mentoring partners work to identify and agree upon goals, desired outcomes, ground rules and logistics that will guide their work together. A formal contract or memorandum of understanding may be established during this phase or a simple dialogue about expectations as the mentor and mentee work to build trust and create shared understanding. Here it is important for both parties to clearly communicate their expectations and be realistic about the commitment to oversee the relationship (mentor) and to make time for field tasks, homework and self-reflection (mentee). An exit strategy should also be co-designed during this phase, so both parties are clear about how and when the mentoring relationship ends.

The mentoring plan is implemented during the facilitation phase. While mentors advise based on their knowledge and experience, they also refer to others when they do not have sufficient expertise on a particular topic. They also provide relevant examples and exercises to help mentee’s manage weaknesses and build on their strengths. This happens through feedback and constructive criticism and periodic evaluations of progress. Mentees actively participate through listening and engaging in the mentoring conversations, by accessing resources and doing their homework, acknowledging weaknesses and working to build on their strengths and of course, accepting feedback and constructive criticism as a path toward development. Both mentor and mentee work to celebrate successes as a part of the mentoring process.

The final phase is graduate. Ending a mentoring relationship typically happens once the initial goals of the partnership have been successfully attained. However, sometimes the mentoring relationship ends due to a mismatch of personality, expertise or values, or other irreconcilable differences. Regardless of why the relationship is ends, it is important to be sensitive to and acknowledge when the relationship has run its course. When ending a mentoring relationship, both mentor and mentee should provide a summation of the experience to one another. Mentee’s should also thank their mentor for their time and knowledge. Often it is also appropriate to keep in touch with mentors and discuss career progress over the years. In fact, many mentoring relationships evolve into long-term professional friendships.

As a leader, are you interested in and willing to mentor others? How can you find some extra time to spend with mentees on a regular basis? Make sure you understand the payoff to them, you and the organization before beginning each mentoring assignment.

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The higher up you go in an organization, the more you tend to deal with relational and psychological issues. That’s why successful CEO leadership requires perceptive insight about what makes people “tick.” In other words, we need to have relationship competencies that center around self-awareness, so we can understand the personal drivers and self-interests of others in order to lead in a way that fosters an innovative and energized organization. This is where coaching is key – self-knowledge creates clarity and fosters understanding of one’s own values, aspirations and personality traits as well as those of others. Ultimately, honest self-awareness moves coaching away from remediation and toward maturing the executive mind. This level of coaching helps leaders balance power with compassion, while at the same time facilitating growth beyond pubic persona and personal vulnerabilities that culminates in a vision focused thought-leader capable of becoming a force for success and good in the world.

One approach that helps grow an executive’s skills and effectiveness is positive psychology coaching. Positive psychology has an emphasis on the scientific study of strengths and virtues that empower people, their organizations and communities to thrive. According to psychologists and researchers, such as Dr. Martin Seligman and Robert Biswas-Diener, people who integrate positive psychology principles into their work and daily lives benefit greatly through enhanced self-awareness, and sense of well-being that comes from active engagement in the process of developing themselves and others.

Positive psychology coaching differs subtly from other forms of coaching because of its keen focus on strengths. It may be framed as having five basic tenets: 1) people have an innate drive to grow, change and overcome; 2) focusing on strengths is as powerful, if not more powerful than focusing on weaknesses in the achievement of success; 3) positivity in the form of hope or emotion is a powerful resource for facilitating change and achievement; 4) attention must be paid to both positive and negative aspects of life in order to address the complete person; and 5) scientifically derived knowledge and assessments provide unique ways of understanding clients and the coaching process. Combined these principles provide for a thought-provoking and creative coaching process to inspire C-Suite level executives as they work to maximize their psychological flexibility and personal and professional potential.

For more information check out:

• Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching: Assessments, Activities and Strategies for Success by Robert Biswas-Diener
• Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being by Martin Seligman
• Or contact us to schedule a complimentary conversation about your aspirations and how coaching may help – mickey@theworkplacecoach.com

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Questions discussed in the guide include:

· Why use a 360˚ survey?

· Is it better to outsource or build the survey in-house?

· Who should participate?

· How should the results be used?

· What’s the best way to deliver sensitive feedback?

A useful 360-degree glossary is included, which helps take some of the mystique out of this highly effective evaluation process.

Download the free guide and let us know if we can be of help in providing 360’s Teamability or DISC assessments, debriefs or workshops!

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• 83% of surveyed EA professionals now offer coaching services,
• 89% have sought out coach specific training,
• And, a majority of EA professionals view coaching as a process grounded in education, consultation and psychology (positive and cognitive-behavioral).

What can coaching do for you and your organization? Click the Journal image to read the entire article.

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In his 2005 book entitled “Winning,” Jack Welch says that even at his best, he only hired right about 80% of the time. Personally, I think for most of us it is more like 50/50: a simple toss of the coin, despite our best efforts. As a student of human behavior and someone who has been managing people for almost 25 years, I consider myself a good judge of people. And yet, like most, I’ve hired people because I immediately felt a connection or ‘liked’ them or because they reminded me of myself in some way, thinking they could ‘grow into’ the job even if it wasn’t a good match at the moment. About half the time I got lucky, the rest resulted in struggle, high costs and ultimately termination.

Enter Dr. Janice Presser and Teamability^®. When I discovered Teamability^® through recruiter friends of mine a few years ago I thought, ‘what a terrific way to help people minimize the cost and frustration of putting people in the wrong job.’ I wanted to help my client companies (and myself) build stronger, high performing teams that are more agile, personally rewarding and corporately profitable. So, I went through the initial training and started spreading the word about this exciting new technology.

Then I gave it to someone on my team. And the report came back.

It’s one thing to read a report about someone you don’t know. When it’s someone you think you know, it’s an entirely different matter. Especially when right there, in front of your eyes, it gives you some cautionary statements about how that person will interact with others.

Besides, I’d already read the reports from typical personality tests and they seemed fine, even complimentary. And of course there was that magnificent resume.

Teamability^® answers the question, “What really happens when people ‘team’ together?” Twenty-five years of research and testing, including nine years of software development, produced a technology engineered to identify and organize the ways in which people interact in teams. This completely new ‘technology of teaming’ is not derived from personality or IQ testing, from EQ, strengths, or engagement surveys, or from any other familiar tools or methods. During the course of its development, Dr. Presser and her colleague Dr. Gerber discovered some very useful – and practical – metrics of ‘teaming.’ They include:

• Role: a person’s affinity for specific modes of service to the needs of a team
• Coherence: expressed as positive, flexible, constructive teaming behaviors
• Teaming Characteristics: individual styles of responding and relating to others, subject to situational context
• Role-respect: the unique manner in which people of different Roles experience appreciation and respect
• Role-pairing: known, replicable synergies between specific Roles

So when I read the report, I wasn’t thinking about what the job actually required in terms of interaction. Pretty good for a professional coach, right? Hold on to your hat…it got worse.

At the time, there were things in the report that I did not want to hear about one of my team members. Therefore, I chose to ignore them and even questioned the validity. But hindsight being 20/20, I should have paid attention. And I found that I wasn’t alone.

With time and opportunity, I continued to discuss the technology with my corporate clients as a possible option for designing new teams and bolstering existing ones. I also encouraged HR departments to consider it for employment screening. What I found was resistance. Just like me, these smart, hardworking business owners, leaders and executives were afraid of what they might find; if, after all, some of their suspicions were validated, what would they do about it? Ignore the results as I had or face the potential daunting task of reorganization to get the ‘right people in the right seats on the bus’? As we know, troubles ignored always lead to more distress and demand more resources than they would if we had taken more immediate action.

What are your ineffective leaders, managers and employees costing you? Ultimately, I was fortunate that my employee only cost me the temporary loss of one major account. How tremendous would it be to know in advance how our partners and employees would naturally team at work and avoid such costly mistakes? As leaders, we must be proactive and use what we have at our disposal to build coherent teams…the infrastructure of successful businesses, because at the end of the day, business is all about people. The alternative is too costly in both fiscal and non-monetary terms.

I have come to believe that Teamability^® gives us the power to build a more innovative, collaborative (and even happier) workforce. Yes, you might want to move a few people into positions that better match their Roles; you may even want to escort some to new organizations. But the eventual result will be the gift of greater productivity and success for everyone.

I just wish I’d followed my own advice!

Ask our executive coaches for more information about Teamability^® for your team, or to help you as you’re looking for a new opportunity.

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