Positive psychology focuses on helping psychologically healthy people be happier as they go about their daily activities.  One of the fascinating findings in this field is that it is relatively easy to make ourselves feel better by doing some very simple mental exercises.

Here are three exercises you can do:

1.  Three good things in life:  Each day for one week write down three things that have gone well during that day.  Also write down the causes for those things going well.

2.  Gratitude visit:  Write and then deliver in person a letter of gratitude to someone who has been especially kind to you but whom you have never properly thanked.

3.  You at your best:  Write about a time when you were at your best and then reflect on the personal strengths displayed in your story.  Review your story every day for a week and reflect on the strengths you identified.

The research study showed that Exercise #1 had the strongest and longest impact on happiness with Exercise #3 having positive but transient effects.

How can you apply positive psychology to your workplace?

Peter Scontrino

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Researchers at Tulane University and the University of Maryland have developed a model that helps organizations make their work places safer by focusing on a limited number of specific safety behaviors and practices.  Each of these factors and their corresponding work practices can be used for safety training as well as for performance feedback.  The four factors and related behaviors are listed below.

Factor One – Using personal protective equipment.

• Uses the appropriate personal protective equipment as indicated by the site health and safety plan
• Correctly inspects and tests all personal protective equipment
• Dons all personal protective equipment correctly
• Doffs all personal protective equipment correctly
• Correctly stores all personal protective equipment
• Properly performs work while wearing personal protective equipment

Factor Two – Engaging in work practices to reduce risk.

• Makes appropriate decisions about use of monitoring equipment and interpretation of instrument reading
• Correctly uses applicable hazard controls and equipment
• Takes general precautions and meets permit requirements for confined space work
• Properly uses lockout/tagout procedures
• Takes appropriate action to prevent recurrence of near misses

Factor Three – Communicating health and safety information.

• When necessary communicates potential exposure(s) to key personnel responsible for site health and safety
• Appropriately reports incidents, accidents and/or illnesses
• Engages in the appropriate methods to notify workers, supervisors, and/or emergency coordinators of emergency conditions

Factor Four – Exercising employee rights and responsibilities.

• Appropriately uses MSDS and other reference material that may provide additional health and safety information
• When necessary exerts the employees rights and responsibility to access and provide input into altering the site safety plan
• Takes the appropriate steps if prevented from or punished for exercising one’s rights under OSHA policies and procedures

M Peter Scontrino

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Employee involvement refers to those programs and systems that present employees with a structured process to have input and influence decisions that impact their work.  Examples of employee involvement include formal quality of work life programs, quality control circles, labor management problem solving efforts, employee problem solving task forces and teams, continuous improvement teams, and structured suggestion systems.

Employee involvement programs have been in existence for well over seventy-five years.  To be effective these programs demand management time and attention as well as careful program design and implementation.  Training for supervisors and employees is a necessary part of the process.  Senior management sponsorship and interest is crucial.  Employee involvement must be viewed as a systematic process that needs to be managed.

In short employee involvement programs require an investment of time and money.  A reasonable question to ask is, “Do these programs have a positive impact on the organization?”

Researchers at the Applied Research Branch conducted a comprehensive review of articles that addressed the results of employee involvement programs.  These articles clearly demonstrated that employee involvement has a positive impact on workplace productivity and company performance.  They concluded that employee involvement increased performance between 5% and 7%.

What could you do with a 5% to 7% performance improvement?

M Peter Scontrino

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M Peter Scontrino

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Much has been written about employee satisfaction over the years.  We discuss leadership styles that improve employee satisfaction.  We make lists of the best companies to work for.  We have strategies for empowering employees.  We trumpet the importance and value of having satisfied employees.

However a key question remains:  does employee satisfaction make any difference in terms of organizational performance?  Are satisfied employees any more productive?  Do they provide higher levels of customer service?  Do they drive dollars to the bottom line?

Data were collected from over seven thousand business units in thirty-six different organizations.  The data included information on employee satisfaction and business unit outcomes such as:

• profit
• employee turnover
• customer satisfaction
• productivity, and
• accidents

The researchers found that employee satisfaction was significantly related to each of the business unit outcomes mentioned above.  In other words, as employee satisfaction improved, business unit performance improved while employee turnover and accidents decreased.

This research demonstrated clearly that employee satisfaction pays for itself in improved organization performance.

How satisfied are your employees?  When was the last time you used an employee satisfaction survey or focus group?

Peter Scontrino

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We all know that first impressions often become lasting impressions.  This is true in both personal relationships and in relationships with organizations.  How can your organization do a better job of managing its first impressions with newly hired employees?

A recent article in the Journal of Applied Psychology studied the impact of various orientation procedures on employee job satisfaction, employee intent to remain with the organization, individual performance, and employee turnover.

Data were collected from over twelve thousand employees during their first week of employment and again after an average of six months of employment.

The researchers found that there were three specific actions that made a major difference during orientation and the first few weeks on the job:

1.  Introduce the new hire to his or her coworkers.

2.  Assign a “mentor” to the new hire to touch base with the employee a couple of times a day during their first week on the job.

3.  Give the employee a written list of specific expectations for their job.

This research demonstrated clearly that employee orientation pays for itself in enhanced employee job satisfaction, reduced turnover, and higher levels of individual employee performance.

How effective is your new hire orientation process?

Peter Scontrino

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There is no question that an employee’s immediate supervisor plays a major role in the employee’s overall job satisfaction with the organization.  Some studies suggest that satisfaction with one’s supervisor is the strongest predictor of overall employee job satisfaction.

A recent article in the Journal of Applied Psychology studied the importance of supervisors feeling supported by their organization.  The authors believed that supervisors who felt supported by their organization would have more positive interactions with their employees and would see better performance from their employees.

Data were collected from full time employees who worked for a chain of large discount electronics and appliance stores.   All of the responses were treated confidentially.

The researchers found that their suspicions were correct.  Supervisors who believed that their organizations supported them:

1. Felt a stronger obligation to help the organization reach its objectives.
2. Had more positive relationships with their subordinates.
3. Had higher performing work units.

This research demonstrated clearly organizational attention and support to first line supervisors pays for itself in enhanced employee supervisor satisfaction, better supervisor-employee relations, and higher levels employee and unit performance.

What are you doing to make your supervisors feel valued and supported?

Peter Scontrino

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Do civil behaviors in the workplace make a difference?  Recently a group of researchers studied the impact of workplace incivility on both work and personal health outcomes.

They defined workplace incivility as:

• low intensity deviant behavior
  
• with an ambiguous intent to harm the target
  
• in violation of workplace norms for mutual respect.

Uncivil behaviors are characteristically rude and discourteous; they display a lack of respect for others.  Examples include sarcasm, disparaging tones, disparaging remarks, hostile stares, and the silent treatment.

The authors of the study found a direct link between the degree of incivility experienced at work and the following important outcomes:

• satisfaction with work
• satisfaction with supervisors
• intent to quit
• overall mental health

There is obviously a payoff to the organization and to its employees for being civil.

What is your organization doing to assure that civil behaviors are the norm and not the exception?

Peter Scontrino

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Most managers have experienced the frustration of coaching, counseling, and providing feedback to an employee who needs to improve their performance yet who ignores feedback.  The result is no change in performance, and if the performance deficit is serious enough the employee may lose their job.  The cost to the organization, and the manager, is the high cost of turnover.  The cost to the employee is all the negative consequences of losing their job.

The authors of this study reviewed results from over 7,000 instances where feedback was given to improve performance.  They found that the following factors need to be present for feedback to have it’s desired effect:

1. Feedback must indicate that change is necessary
2. The employee must see that there is a need to change their behavior
3. The employees must have a positive orientation to receiving feedback
4. The employee must react positively to the feedback
5. The employee must believe that change is feasible
6. The employee must set appropriate goals to regulate their behavior
7. The employee must take actions that lead to skill and performance improvement.

Feedback in and of itself is not enough.  The manager needs to prepare the employee to receive feedback and to engage the employee in the behavior change process.  The payoff for this process is improved employee performance.

What are you and your organization doing to assure that employees are prepared to receive feedback?

Peter Scontrino

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In most organizations today teamwork is a way of life with numerous task forces, project teams, work teams, and other forms of people collaborating in groups.

The authors of this research report studied project teams to determine which factors resulted in higher levels of team performance.

They found that the more successful teams spent time at the beginning of their project to create a team charter which could be used to guide their work.  The topics addressed on a team charter included:

1.  What is the name of our team?

2.  What is our goal?

3.  What are our key objectives?

4.  What are the boundaries of our work?

• Must include:
• Must stay away from:

5.  What resources do we have?

• People
• Time
• Money
• Other

6.  What is each member’s role?

7.  How will we make decisions?

8.  How will we give each other feedback?

9.  How will we assess our performance?

10.  Who must we coordinate with?

11.  Who must we keep informed?

12.  Who has to approve our work?

13.  Who is the project leader?

Taking the time to answer these questions in your organization will result in better team performance.

How structured are your project teams and task forces?

Peter Scontrino

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