Employees who come into work feeling negative find it hard to be creative, their interactions with colleagues are strained and productivity is low. But when they come into work with positivity, they see possibilities and opportunities everywhere. This is why Human Resources teams need to take feelings seriously.
In Four surprising benefits of positive emotions, I explained that positive emotions play a huge role in human survival. This is because:
- Unpleasant emotions help people survive, but they also limit their thought-action repertoires
- Positive emotions broaden the ability to think and act in new ways
- Positive emotions help individuals build resources for dealing with tough times
- Feeling good might contribute to longevity
In organisations, there are many additional benefits of drawing on high-energy, positive feelings. Learning and development and specialists can plan important roles in bringing these benefits to life in their organisations. Here are some tips on how to do this.
Do you see the glass as half-empty or half-full? Are you a pessimist or an optimist? It’s a classic debate. Optimism is a ‘feeling of hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something.’ It’s the belief that things will turn out okay, even when you have no evidence to back it up. Compared to pessimists, people who have optimistic mindsets handle change more resiliently, report higher levels of general well-being and solve problems more creatively.
70% of high achievers live in persistent fear of people finding out that they “don’t have a clue” what they’re doing. Despite evidence to the contrary, such as hard-earned degrees or a proven track record, they still attribute their achievements to luck, fate or simply good timing.
With ‘positive thinking’ being constantly touted in pop psychology, do you find yourself feeling guilty about your negative emotions? Don’t be. Your perceived ‘negative’ or uncomfortable feelings are just as important as the positive ones in helping you evaluate your experiences and make sense out of life’s complexity.
Knowing what your signature strengths are, can boost your well-being – and it’s boosted even further when you regularly utilise those strengths. Leaders and managers are now regularly using character strengths exercises to help employees become more engaged, productive and happy.
Do you think of negotiation as a stress-inducing activity, or do you see it as fun? If you answered fun, you’re operating from the same mindset as a savvy negotiator. Savvy negotiators take pleasure in the art of communicating with their counterparts. They enjoy the to-and-fro of concession exchange. They’re also playful and creative in both their thinking and communication patterns. They enter what positive psychologists call a flow state. Being in this state vastly increases their negotiation effectiveness. 
