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Making Positive Psychology Work

If you believe as we do that by uncovering tested, practical ways to help people move from functioning to flourishing at work, we can better navigate the incredible challenges and opportunities our world faces, then this podcast is for you. Our goal each week is to give you access to the world’ leading positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship and neuroscience researchers and practitioners to explore their latest research findings on how you can improve wellbeing, develop strengths, nurture positive relationships, make work meaningful and cultivate the grit to accomplish what matters most. If you want evidence-based approaches to bringing out the best in yourself and others at work, then consider this podcast your step-by-step guide.
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Now displaying: March, 2019
Mar 28, 2019

Today we're talking to Wayne Baker, who's a professor of business administration at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and faculty director of the Centre for Positive Organisations. Wayne's teaching and research focuses on social capital, social networks, generosity, positive organizational scholarship, and values. And his latest book is Permission to Ask, which is coming out in 2020. He's also a founder and board member of Give and Take Inc., developers of the Givitas collaborative technology platform.

In this week’s episode, we explore how individual and organizational levels of energy impact our performance and wellbeing, and the small steps we can take to boost, maintain, and our renew our energy levels at work.

Connect with Wayne Baker: 

You’ll Learn:

  • [03:06] - Wayne explains how emotional energy, relational energy, and organizational energy can impact our wellbeing and performance at work.
  • [06:41] - Wayne shares what he and other researchers are finding about the benefits of intentionally managing our emotional, relational, and organization energy in workplaces.
  • [08:34] - Wayne provides some examples of how workplaces are intentionally creating strategies to manage people’s energy at work.
  • [11:26] - Wayne explains how we can help people understand that unlike machines our energy ebbs and flows during a day, and the small things they can do to maintain higher levels of energy.
  • [13:53] - Wayne outlines how psychological safety and the willingness to ask for help shape the levels of organizational energy a workplace experiences.
  • [17:44] - Wayne shares why leaders often find looking after the energy of their organization so challenging.
  • [19:36] - Wayne offers for some tips for leaders to embed behaviors that help people to renew and sustain their energy in their workplaces.
  • [22:09] - Wayne explains how we can maintain our energy wisely, so we avoid burning ourselves or others out at work.
  • [23:06] - Wayne completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

Thanks for listening! 

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review of the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Wayne!

Mar 21, 2019

Today we're talking to Michelle Etheve, who specializes in enabling people to create purposeful, strength-based change. With a Master's of Science in Coaching Psychology from the University of Sydney, post-graduate studies in Positive Psychology and Education, and experience utilising human centred design and appreciative inquiry, Michelle is sought around the world for her ability to create and deliver highly engaging learning and positive change experiences that enable people and teams to thrive.

In this episode, we explore how you can create more positive changes in your workplace by creating a coaching culture that supports continuous learning. We also explore where and why organizational changes often come unstuck.

Connect with Michelle Etheve: 

You’ll Learn:

  • [02:26] - Michelle explains how new research has found that organizational approaches to change can improve people’s wellbeing and create a virtuous cycle
  • [04:01] - Michelle provides a practical example of how one company is fusing wellbeing and changes approaches together as they deliver business outcomes
  • [08:09] - Michelle offers some tips for leaders to have more inclusive and meaningful conversations that invite people to take ownership of the changes that need to be created
  • [12:12] - Michelle shares some simple questions to help us support continuous learning as changes are implemented in our workplaces
  • [17:20] - Michelle shares an antidote to the “I’m too busy” stories that often bring change unstuck in workplaces
  • [18:46] - Michelle completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

Thanks for listening! 

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Michelle!

Mar 14, 2019

Today we're talking to Jon Berghoff, who is the co-founder and managing partner of the Flourishing Leadership Institute, and has designed and facilitated whole system change efforts through large group collaborative summits for the U.S. Navy, the United Nations, BMW and businesses and institutions of all sizes. Known for bringing out the "group genius" in high stakes, complex environments, with speed, ease, and playfulness, Jon is sought around the world for his ability to create powerful learning experiences around Appreciative Leadership, Emotionally Intelligent Negotiations, and Influence.

In this episode, Jon shares the insights from the new Change Lab 2019 Workplace Survey including why the quantity of change is not the real challenge workplaces face when it comes to supporting people's wellbeing.

Connect with Jon Berghoff: 

You’ll Learn:

  • [02:42] - Jon shares what The Change Lab 2019 Workplace Survey found when it comes to creating successful changes that support people’s wellbeing at work
  • [05:18] - Jon outlines why it is the quality of change experiences, not the quantity of change experiences that are burning people out in workplaces
  • [08:58] - Jon shares why having a clear organizational purpose has such an impact on creating successful changes in workplaces
  • [11:28] - Jon shares the three questions any workplace can use to help make changes more personally meaningful for workers
  • [14:07] - Jon outlines the six strengths-focused questions that workplaces can ask to make change more successful
  • [19:05] - Jon explains why 40% of workers might still believe that fixing weaknesses in their workplace is the best way to create successful changes
  • [20:56] - Jon shares how organizations can use an invite-and-inquire approach to creating change to drive more ownership and accountability for action
  • [24:56] - Jon outlines how the virtuous cycle between successful change and wellbeing in workplaces works and what we can do to harness it
  • [28:56] - Jon completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

Thanks for listening! 

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Jon!

Mar 7, 2019

Today we're talking to Ron Fry, who's a professor of organizational behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University and former chairman of the Department of Organizational Behaviour, which has been consistently ranked one of the best in the world by the Financial Times.


With 11 books and over 45 articles and chapters, Ron is widely published in the areas of organizational development, appreciative inquiry, team building, change management, executive development, and the role and function of the CEO. He's a co-creator of the appreciative inquiry theory and method and continues to both apply and study the applications of AI in organizations all over the world.

In this episode, we discuss the simple questions that leaders can ask to help their people not just survive, but thrive, through organizational change experiences.

Connect with Ronald Fry: 

https://weatherhead.case.edu/faculty/ronald-fry

You’ll Learn:

  • [02:03] - Ron explains the three most important evidence-based insights every leader should know in order to implement change effectively in their workplace.
  • [04:57] - Ron shares why the questions we ask as leaders set changes in motion and how we can be more intentional about the questions we choose.
  • [09:14] - Ron outlines how creating opportunities to build new connections inside and outside of our organizations can power our change efforts.
  • [12:38] -  Ron explains how Appreciative Inquiry can build rapid trust in workplaces to help people work together to make their hopes for a change a reality.
  • [17:39] -  Ron outlines why stability and change have an interconnected and interdependent relationship, and why stability is as important for our success as change is in workplaces.
  • [24:07] -  Ron challenges our language about change in workplaces, and provides insights on why we need to think of change as a verb.
  • [27:23] -  Ron shares his tips for helping people to flourish through change in workplaces.
  • [31:18] -  Ron explains what it takes to build a positive institution and if this is possible in any workplace.
  • [32:07] - Ron completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

Thanks for listening! 

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Ron!

Mar 1, 2019

Today we're talking to Marie McLeod who fuses her qualifications in social work, adult education, and positive pschology with her extensive experience in community culture change. As the director of PoPsy, Marie makes positive psychology practical for individuals, organizations, and families, and as the founder of The Kindness Company, she uses kindness and compassion to cultivate community level wellbeing.

In this episode, we explore why and how community-level kindness can be an active ingredient to improve wellbeing to workplaces and the frameworks and practical steps we can take to make this a reality. 

Connect with Marie McLeod: 

You’ll Learn:

  • [03:07] - Marie explains why we need to think about improving people’s wellbeing, at an individual and at the community level in workplaces.
  • [06:40] - Marie shares how she’s been using the Community Kindness Challenge to help wellbeing be taught and caught in workplaces at the levels of me, we, and us.
  • [12:01] - Marie outlines why she’s finding kindness is the superpower of wellbeing approaches.
  • [16:10] -  Marie outlines the BEACON framework for improving wellbeing at a community level and explains how this build shared accountability for the wellbeing actions people choose to take.
  • [21:09] -  Marie offers some practical tips for improving kindness in workplaces.
  • [24:43] - Marie completes the Lightning round.

Your Resources:

Thanks for listening! 

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.  And don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It’s free!

You can also listen to all the episodes of Making Positive Psychology Work streamed directly to your smartphone or iPad through stitcher. No need for downloading or syncing.

Until next time, take care!  Thank you Marie!

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