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How Can Positive Psychology Help You Be A Better Leader?

by | Aug 3, 2018 | Business, change, Coaching, Leadership, Managers, organizational leadership, positive psychology, strengths, Success

You may have heard about Positive Psychology. But, you may not know “What it is? Why does it matter to you? How can it help you or your team?”

Here are some quick answers and 5 riveting videos for you to share.

1. Let’s start with “What is Positive Psychology?”

In simple terms, it is the art and science of well-being. Think of you “at your best.” Maximizing your strengths. Asking, “What would make my life more meaningful” or “How can my team flourish?”

2. Why does it matter to you?

Here are some of the benefits of Positive Psychology:

  • Enhanced individual and organization learning
  • Improved social relationships
  • Better workplace performance and productivity
  • Enhanced problem solving and creativity
  • Increased job satisfaction

(Fredrickson, 1998E; Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005)

3. Now, how can it help you or your team?

Positive Psychology is a vast science with countless applications. The most inclusive model to describe well-being is called PERMA.

PERMA Model

The PERMA Model was developed by my favorite psychologist, Martin Seligman. (We have met twice and discussed my research on positive psychology coaching.) I strongly recommend his seminal 2011 book, “Flourish”.

“PERMA” stands for the five essential elements that contribute to individual or team 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 gratitude, satisfaction, hope, curiosity, or love falls into this category. We each have subjective experiences of positive emotions.
I made a short video on Positive Emotion (P) for you. You can watch it here.

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. We concentrate intensely on the present. We excel at challenging tasks. You can increase engagement for yourself and your team.
I made a short video on Engagement (E). You can watch it here.

3. Positive Relationships (R)
Humans are social beings and good relationships are core to our well-being. You can develop meaningful, positive relationships with others. We can measure fMRI images that describe the quality of your relationships. We can develop better relationships and accelerate behavioral or performance outcomes. (That was my dissertation research.) Curious about the details?
I made a short video on Positive Relationships (R). You can watch it here.

4. Meaning (M)
Meaning results when we serve a cause bigger than ourselves. Your meaningful outcome may be quantitative (e.g., earn $100k/year or give away 15% of earnings per year). Your meaningful outcome may be qualitative (e.g., care for your loved ones or serve humanity in some way.) We all need meaning in our lives to develop well-being.
I made a short video on Meaning (M) for you. You can watch it here.

5. Accomplishment/Achievement (A)
Many of us strive to master a skill, achieve a goal, or win some competitive event. Achievement defines us. Or not. Accomplishment is another element that contributes to our ability to flourish.
For specific details, I made a short video on Accomplishment/Achievement (A). You can watch it here.

Now that you understand the PERMA model, I hope you will use it to increase your well-being and help your teams flourish.

P.S. Let me know how you are flourishing?

P.P.S. Let me know if you like this long-form email or if you prefer the shorter ones?

Action leads to learning.  What are you waiting for?

To contact Doug Gray, CEO, PCC, call 615.236.1892 or contact us here.  Today.

What Is More Important For A Leader – Identity or Reputation?

by | Aug 3, 2018 | Business, change, Coaching, executive presence, Leadership, Leadership Coach Nashville, leadership workshop, Managers, organizational leadership

Before you answer my question, let’s define both “identity” and “reputation”.

Identity: is how you see yourself.
Reputation: is how others see you.

Now, back to the question: What do you think is more important for a leader – Identity or Reputation?

Pick one before you read ahead or watch this video clip.

Here are some interesting facts regarding identity and reputation:

Identity:

  • Self-awareness is inflated and inaccurate.
  • Self-ratings of performance underestimate our capabilities.
  • Less predictive of career success than feedback from others.

Reputation:

  • Other-awareness is variable and biased.
  • Based on what others think I do or say.
  • More predictive of future performance than self-ratings.

So, what’s more important? The answer to my opening question is Reputation.

That may seem counterintuitive. Executive presence is defined by reputation, NOT self-identity. Let me explain this with a short video.

Video Link - What do you think is more important for a leader - Identity or Reputation?

P.S. What do you think is more important for a leader – Identity or Reputation? Reply to this email. I would love to know your thoughts on it.

Action leads to learning.  What are you waiting for?

To contact Doug Gray, CEO, PCC, call 615.236.1892 or contact us here.  Today.

What I Learned Last Week From A Fortune 100 CEO

by | Aug 3, 2018 | action learning process, Leadership, Managers

In my 20+ years of coaching leaders, I have learned more from them than I can fully describe. Here is a nugget that I learned last week. You may like it…

FACT: Great managers and leaders demonstrate outcome-based results. They measure actions. They can demonstrate the ROI of any initiative.

Successful coaches also demonstrate ROI, as explained in this 2-minute video rant that I recently created – ROI of your coaching service.

It doesn’t matter whether your client is a Fortune 100 CEO or a Small Business Owner. Everyone who buys my products and services has only one question in mind:

If I pay for your service, what will I get in return?

We pay for outcome-based results. Let’s say you are hiring a fitness trainer to lose some weight. You would ask:

  • How much weight will I lose in 3 months?
  • Does this person understand my personal situation?
  • Has this person helped other people lose weight?
  • Does this person have a tremendous reputation?

Some people spend more time assessing a personal trainer than a physician or a lawyer or a professional coach. Be smart.

Professional coaches need to demonstrate the ROI of your service. Your clients need to know the outcomes they can expect from your service.

If you don’t know how to show ROI, then you will lose clients and money.

And, I don’t want you to lose clients. So, I prepared a short exclusive video for you.

After watching this exclusive 2-minute video, you will:

  • Know how to quantify the ROI of your coaching.
  • Have a clear way to explain the ROI of your coaching to potential clients.
  • Start focusing on results which actually matter to your clients.

ROI of your coaching service

P.S. If you find it valuable, please forward this email to 2-3 friends of yours. We all need a little coaching at times.

Action leads to learning.  What are you waiting for?

To contact Doug Gray, CEO, PCC, call 615.236.1892 or contact us here.  Today.

Mindfulness or Mindlessness? Some good links…

by | Oct 3, 2017 | Coaching, exercise, Leadership, Managers, positive psychology, Resources, Success, talent, video

mindfullness

My friend Steve, in Charlotte, NC, is very intentional about his daily practice of mindful-ness.  As an executive coach and yoga master, he has achieved a state of awareness that others cannot imagine.  Yes, this is his car…

Steve would ask, “What daily practice do you adopt to increase mindfulness?”

Prayer? Meditation?  Random acts of kindness?  Daily expressions of gratitude?  Generosity?

Throughout 4,500 years of recorded history, humans have sought insight from such daily practices.

Yoga teaches the value of breathing and moving.   Just like any hard physical activity.   Gardening.  Running ultra marathons.  Doing 10-day expedition adventure races.

 

Now we have social media triggers such as this clip from Alan Watts to take us on a virtual adventure…

 

 

Alternately, for those who need a provocative clip from Alan Watts, consider this:

 

 

More importantly, a coaching question is “What daily practice do you adopt to increase mindfulness?”

 

 

Invitation to join the Positive Organizational Leadership Project

by | Oct 2, 2017 | action learning process, change, Coaching, Leadership, Leadership Coach Nashville, Managers, organizational leadership, positive psychology, Resources, Sales, strengths, Success, talent, talent assessment

TO:  Positive Psychology practitioners/ leaders/ consultants

FR:  Doug Gray, doug@action-learning.com   

RE:  The Positive Organizational Leadership Project (POLP)

Goal:

Invite practitioners/ leaders/ consultants to share digital stories of HOW they are applying Positive Psychology individually and organizationally.

Assumptions:

  1. Leaders practice leadership.  We can all be better leaders.
  2. We can leverage technology and our communities.
  3. Relationships matter.  When we model relationships that matter, then we increase awareness and learning.

Background:  

After attending  the International Positive Psychology Association conference in Montreal, Canada, in July, 2017 one theme stood clear.  Marketing and branding for practitioners using positive psychology is NOT well defined.  Market confusion abounds.  This Positive Organizational Leadership Project emerged as one initiative to help practitioners share HOW they serve clients in our global marketplace.  Join us?

Process:

(a) share this invitation broadly,  (b) schedule a 30-minute session with Doug Gray here or at https://actionlearnin.wpengine.com/   (c) receive Time Trade confirmation with calendar link (d) encourage participants to write responses to the 5-7 questions below and email them to doug@action-learning.com  24 hours prior to our scheduled call so that we can each be well prepared, (e) download https://zoom.us/ software and familiarize yourself with software on YouTube, (f) at the scheduled time, record 5-10 minutes of video session using https://zoom.us/j/3432485703  (g) send MP4 recording to practitioners for their distribution, (h) post on https://www.youtube.com/user/dgrayful/videos channel with invitation to be included in the project.

Possible questions:

  1. Self-introduction: Who are you, what do you do, where are you located, do you have a website or invitation to share with others?
  2. Self- awareness: If you have taken the assessment at https://www.viacharacter.org/www/, what are your top 5 signature strengths?  How would you describe yourself, at your best, using those top 5 signature strengths? (FYI, my top signature strengths are creativity, hope, perspective, honesty, zest.)
  3. Definition: One common definition of positive psychology is the science and practicing of flourishing or thriving… how do you typically define positive psychology?
  4. What attracts you to the science or practice of positive psychology?
  5. Clients: Who do you typically serve in your PP consulting work?   Please share 2-3 examples/ case studies/ successful interventions or client experiences.
  6. Trends: What trends or market opportunities do you see in the future for positive psychology consulting?
  7. Referrals: Who else can you refer me to who (a) is a Positive Psychology consultant and (b) might be willing to be interviewed in this project?

How can you help?  Share this invitation broadly.   Thank you in advance for your participation.

Here’s to you, at your best…

How to increase employee engagement? New science for practitioners

by | Aug 8, 2017 | Business, change, Employment, Leadership, Managers, Meetings, organizational leadership, Personal Development, positive psychology, Resources

Recently I was asked to speak at the Human Resource conference for the State of Tennessee.  They wanted four sessions on “How to increase employee engagement.”

The content and videos are located here.

Here is the session description:

Studies continue to show that employee engagement in the workplace remains low- around the 30% range.  Low levels of employee engagement have a negative impact on achieving organizational goals, and create a workplace that does not encourage high performance.  During this session, we will answer the three key questions of employee engagement:  1) What do we know from evidence-based science?  2) How can I apply that science to increase my personal level of engagement?   3) How can I improve the engagement levels of others?  This course introduces a new model based on positive psychology practices, called the AD-FIT%TM model, that you can apply immediately.

This course provides leaders at all levels with an introduction into the science and practice of employee engagement.  Any manager or leader with a growth mindset can apply this course content to lead individual, group or organizational change in your business.  This content has been distributed to thousands of leaders in governments, private and nonprofit organizations, as well as individuals.

The content of this course is gleaned from thousands of our leadership consulting clients since 1997, and the presenter’s dissertation research on positive psychology.

The goal of this course is to introduce leaders like you to world-class techniques so that you gain competitive advantage.

Learning objectives:

  • Recognize key variables that influence employee engagement
  • Discover how to measure employee engagement
  • Identify how to increase individual employee engagement
  • Identify how to develop organizational employee engagement

Please contact us for the handout before viewing the video section of this course.

The content and videos are located here.

Action leads to learning.  What are you waiting for?

To contact Doug Gray, CEO, PCC, call 615.236.1892 or contact us here.  Today.