What leading with optimism looks like

In these dark times, instilling a positive attitude among workers has never been more important.

Creating harmonoius working venvironment for potentially stressed staff is vital.

hen there is negative news everywhere you look, and unprecedented financial and logistical challenges facing so many companies, it can be tough to advise people to stay positive. Many leaders we work with worry, especially now during the pandemic, that trying to emphasise positivity and happiness will make them look out of touch and that, rather than helping their people, it will backfire.

The findings from our research project at a hospital system in Iowa indicate quite the opposite. It’s precisely in the midst of a setback or a challenging time that leaders should be actively encouraging positivity because it will help teams weather the storm.

Three years ago Genesis Health System, which comprises five hospitals and a regional health centre, was unprofitable. This was true for many hospitals, which were experiencing the lowest profitability since the 2008 financial crisis. Consequently, few leaders at Genesis were talking about happiness at work and Jordan Voigt, president of the largest medical centre, was facing a conundrum. He wanted to infuse more positivity into the culture at the medical centre, but they were about to undergo two rounds of cost reductions and lay-offs. In addition, they were asking staff to ­reduce their hours and take time off.

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Still, he felt it was important to focus on the company’s culture and hypothesised that a positive philosophy could help the centre at this crucial time. We worked with the medical centre to roll out a series of positive psychology interventions, department by department, so we could test their effectiveness when compared with groups that had not been exposed to the interventions. Each department designed positive changes tailored to their subculture, from gratitude exercises to increased praise and recognition from managers to team-based, conscious acts of kindness.

The colour orange was adopted to symbolise positive change. For example, in some departments, when people were to return from vacation, their colleagues would cover their offices with words of appreciation on orange Post-it notes. The staff from the organisational behaviour department bought monarch caterpillars for every department in the hospital and together released the butterflies after they hatched, intended as a symbol of change.

In addition, department leaders and staff were tasked with examining how to change existing work routines to create more happiness at work, such as adopting a praise and recognition program. We staggered the teams trained so we could test in real time how different departments fared with the setbacks.

As happiness researchers, we expected the departments exposed to the interventions to do better, but even we were surprised by the extent. For the individuals who had not yet been exposed to the positive intervention, only 23 per cent of the team members reported they were “very expressive of optimism at work”. That jumped to 40 per cent after participating in the positive psychology culture training (measured six weeks after the intervention). Social connection improved as well. The number of respondents who said “I feel connected at work” went from 68 per cent to 85 per cent. This was after staff reductions where some co-workers and friends were no longer at the organisation.

In the parts of the hospital that had not been part of the intervention, only 37 per cent of respondents claimed Genesis was going in the right direction, compared with 63 per cent in the groups who went through the intervention. Imagine if double the number of people on your team felt like the company was going in the right ­direction, even in the midst of an incredibly challenging time.

Why did this work and what can you learn from it? Here are four key takeaways for leaders who want to start the conversation.

ROLE MODEL FROM THE TOP

Often leaders give lip service to the value of a positive mindset and people being their greatest asset but then they don’t bother to attend their own internal positive leadership workshops because they are too busy. This signals to the rest of the organisation that a positive culture is in fact a much lower priority than they claim. As president of the medical centre, Voigt personally kicked off every workshop. He affirmed happiness as a priority, which made the topic more salient in the minds of his staff. This is the first step for leaders who want to create a positive mindset in the midst of setback: show up and model that mindset yourself.

HELP EMPLOYEES CONNECT

People don’t typically make positive changes alone or in isolation. A positive mindset at work is often a collective exercise because the behaviours and attitudes are reinforced when a group does it together. At Genesis, the emphasis in the workshops was on developing positive habits, brainstorming new work routines and discussing culture together in groups. This allowed participants to take ownership over the new mindsets, routines and ways of working. It’s imperative that leaders help people feel connected first and then deputise them to make positive change.

MAKE CHANGES PART OF THE ROUTINE

It’s too hard in the midst of stress to try to invent new ways to be positive, so creating regular patterns as a department can help sustain the positive without having to call on new brain resources. It can be as simple as routinising celebration. For example, the endoscopy department, which was known to be toxic and had a 35 per cent vacancy rate, now has regularly scheduled pot-luck lunches — and a 0 per cent vacancy rate over six months.

TRACK OUTCOMES

If there is no perceived change, or no data justifying the approach, the culture change will not take root as readily. If we don’t test what works, we lack the motivation to keep that change permanent. Positive interventions in particular get thrown by the wayside in challenging times unless you have a clearly established connection between the energy required to continue the positive change and the desired outcomes.

All the changes weren’t just good for the hospital staff; patients benefited too. Following the intervention, Genesis Medical Centre-Davenport achieved profitability again and exceeded its operating budget by 35 per cent during the first part of last year, going from an operating loss of $2m to a profit of $8m. All of this was happening when much of the medical industry was financially contracting.

Even in the face of dire circumstances you can create a positive mindset at your company — one that will help your people and your customers. When is the best time to start talking about positivity at work? Maybe right now.

Shawn Achor is the bestselling author of Big Potential, The Happiness Advantage, and Before Happiness. Michelle Gielan is the bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness.