Supercharging our thanks in 2021

There is no doubt that 2020 has been a terrible year. Whilst many of us have been negatively impacted in some way, this doesn’t mean to say there isn’t lots to be thankful for.

Being thankful and giving thanks is something that can make us and others feel better. Saying thank you sincerely has the power to give a joyous jolt of positivity.

What if there was a way to turn this small spark into something bigger?

What if we supercharged the way we gave thanks to others in a way that created a sustained surge of positivity?

It turns out that there are simple steps we can all take to amplify the impact of our thank yous and it requires few words and minimum effort.

Moving beyond the transactional thank you

Many of us find ourselves being transactional when we give thanks. At the supermarket counter, when someone sends us an email, or makes us a cup of tea, we instinctively say “Thank You.” But these type of thank you carry little weight or sentiment, they are reactive and responsive rather than active and heartfelt.

Researchers call this type of transactional behaviour as being passively constructive. Are behaviour is broadly positive but it is unlikely to lift or have an impact on the person we are interacting with.

Giving Active Thanks

We can shift from being passive to more animated and positive in our thanks. This is called being active constructive and can lift the recipient's mood and ours just by adding a few simple ingredients into our thanks.

3 Steps to supercharge our thank yous

1. Be specific

Be specific with what you’re thanking that person for.

“Thank you for making me a cup of tea, it's just what I need!”

This can create a sense of satisfaction for both you and the other person. It’s clear to the recipient that you genuinely value what they have done for you.

2. Highlight impact

Highlight the impact that the person’s help has had on you or others.

“Thank you for making me a cup of tea, it's just what I need! It’ll really warm me up.”

Stating the impact ensures the recipient understands how they have helped you.

3. Highlight a strength

Highlight a strength or positive attribute you saw in the other person.

Thank you for making me a cup of tea, it’s just what I need! It’ll really warm me up. You’re really kind and thoughtful.

Stating a strength shines a light on a specific positive attribute you see in a person. It makes them more inclined to use that strength or behaviour again and can lift their mood and energy levels.

An example of this in the workplace, could be as simple as changing the way you thank a colleague for a piece of work they have done for you. Rather than simply saying thanks when you get an email, you could supercharge this by being specific, highlighting the impact and identifying a strength.

What used to be “thanks” turns into “thank you for drafting that report, it allowed me and the team to get a clear understanding of the issues involved. How you clearly and concisely analysed the data was really artfully done.”

Shawn Achor studied, and then taught, happiness at Harvard University and is the well know author of The Happiness Advantage. Achor uncovered that people tend to believe that happiness comes from big wins or achievements. However, research shows the little activities are of greater importance [1] when it comes to lifting happiness and wellbeing.

Achor suggests that small habits can create big boosts of happiness over time. For example, sending a 2-minute “Thank you” email or text during the day.

Achor has tested this activity at many organisations including Microsoft. For 21 days staff were instructed to write a 2 minute thank you email to someone different everyday. Achor’s findings included boosted levels of happiness, social cohesion and teamwork.

Making 2021 the year of supercharged thank yous

Our gentle challenge of invitation to you is to experiment with changes to how you give thanks in 2021. See what difference it makes to you and others.

You may be surprised in the power of only a few, carefully chosen words.

Thanks giving can be contagious, so let’s start a positive kind of contagion in 2021.

References

http://www.shawnachor.com/project/success-you-have-the-power-to-lead-with-positivity/ [1].

Positively Leading Teams Remotely

How do you lead your team in times of uncertainty? 

As humans, we don’t like change. Adjusting from the busy office everyday with colleagues, coffees and commutes to now working from home can be challenging.

Feeling possibly lost, anxious and nervous for the future, now more than ever, positive leadership is crucial for employees.

Many people anticipated that working from home would be a temporary measure, but for some - maybe many - of us, it will become the new way of life. And adaptation is therefore key.

Leaders can support, guide and help their team through these challenging times by being, pro-active, supportive and making working remotely a positive experience.

What is Positive Leadership?

Positive leaders enable people to thrive.

Positive leaders create a positive environment through multiple practises that helps teams and individuals to reach their maximum potential at work. This includes promoting team wellbeing, productivity, engagement, motivation, resilience, confidence and more.

Professor Kim Cameron, one of the foremost researchers on the practice and impact of positive leadership, defines Positive Leadership as going beyond the typical prescriptions for leadership by providing strategies and practices that enable exceptional levels of performance not normally seen in organisations [1]. He empathises that people flourish in the presence of positive principles. Cameron believes that gratitude, humility, generosity and compassion are the principles which ultimately can unleash people’s potential.

Cameron highlights four leadership strategies [2] including creating:

Positive relationships - Our relationships are fundamental to our overall experiences at work. When they are at their best, they allow people to thrive, flourish and grow. In contrast, poor relationships can negatively impact our mood, motivation and mindset at work.

A positive climate: Fostering a positive climate allows people to face challenges and failures head on, with a growth rather than a fixed mindset, enabling them to focus on what is working well rather than what isn’t.

Positive communication: Exchanging information in a way that is encouraging and supportive [3]. Being diligent and careful with the use of any negative and critical language and striving to present negative feedback in a positive way as a source of growth and development.

Positive meaning: Those that view their jobs with a positive meaning are motivated by their work and feel passionately about it. This increases job satisfaction and performance. Others who don’t or can’t find meaning in their work may see their jobs as more of a daily grind and something to be endured rather enjoyed.

Why is positive leadership important when working remotely?

In the midst of the global pandemic, Kim Cameron maintains that we need positive leadership principles and practices now more than ever [4]. Many of us are still finding our way when it comes to working effectively, efficiently and engagingly in remote locations away from physical contact and interaction with colleagues and co-workers. Building resilience and teamwork in the current climate is essential.

Enabling teams to work more effectively virtually and at the time finds ways of working that is more engaging and motivating for the individual and which at the same time can boost wellbeing. It’s essential that we do not shy away from problems, but we tackle them head on. In order to overcome these problems, we need to create clarity and confidence for team members. But how do we do this?

Bringing Positive leadership to life

We can all take steps to frame our leadership style more positively and building on Cameron’s research here are 4 ideas for you to experiment with.

1) Positive relationships – Create time during the day to fully connect and listen to colleagues.

People want to feel that they are heard and seen (this helps to create and sustain a network of positive energisers).

2) Positive climate – As a leader you can focus on encouraging and demonstrating compassion, gratitude and forgiveness to your colleagues.

Make the effort to recognise when employees are doing well, write them a little thank you note. Feeling appreciated at work is crucial for employees to feel valued.

 3) Positive communication – Sharing positive feedback or giving some direct strength-based feedback can really help boost that communication between leaders and employees and help them grow and develop.

 4) Positive meaning – Connect people to the purpose of their work.

Ways to do this include sharing feedback which demonstrates the impact of a colleague’s job or finding opportunities for them to see and hear from the people they directly support either inside or external to their organisation.

So, will you be a positive leader in times of uncertainty?

To learn more, see our website, or sign up for our newsletter, which will solely focus on positive leadership this month. https://tailoredthinking.co.uk/mailinglist

References 

https://positivelegacies.com.au/positive-leadership-strategies/ [1,2,3]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8e2PcGWDLM [4]

Finding Flow

In this guest blog Ruth Evans, HR Director and occupational psychologist, shares her insights of ‘Flow’ and how we can use this concept to boost fulfilment, satisfaction and wellbeing in our work.

I’ve been fascinated by the concept of “Flow” since I discovered it in my undergraduate dissertation on creativity & neuroscience. Since then, having delved more into positive psychology and workplace psychology for myself, I’ve come to love the broad applications of Flow theory and the huge number of ways it can touch day-to-day life.

What is Flow?

So what is Flow, and how can it improve our work? The concept was created by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, one of the eminent founding fathers of positive psychology, who defined Flow as a state of being so involved in a task that time passes unnoticed and attention is fully absorbed; it is related to increases in subjective well-being, deep enjoyment, and reduced anxiety about anything outside of current consciousness. Csikszentmihalyi has found, over decades of research, that the optimal conditions for finding a ‘Flow state’ occur when you are leveraging skills and operating with challenge. In other words, you need to be doing something that builds upon something you already know, but then find the “level up” in whatever it is, to keep it interesting. Too little challenge or skill makes us feel apathetic - too much, and we can become anxious and overly stressed. It’s a goldilocks formula for happiness.

Introducing Flow at work

A few years ago, I created a short training on Flow for my HR colleagues, to test out a small hypothesis I had.  I asked them to list - just for themselves - the general things they would do in a work day. And then the things they would do to relax and unwind at home - in the evenings, weekends, or holiday time (you can try it for yourself now – what do your two lists look like?). What did this exercise show? ‘Home’ activities tended to be things designed to ‘switch off’ - watching TV or films, dinner time with the family, going out for an easy run or walking the dog. Work, conversely, provided a smorgasbord of different activities - problem-solving, articulating a new solution to a team, preparing presentations in the way that will land with the audience, connecting with employees who need support, and more.

Do you see where I’m going with this? We often find it so easy to subscribe to the (commonly-held) narrative that work is something you have to do to pay the bills, which can make us think of it as a ‘chore’ – an unwanted necessity to get to the lifestyle you’re creating for yourself outside of the office walls. But from the perspective of Csikszentmihalyi’s theory, work is by definition what brings us to a place of fulfilment, satisfaction and well-being. By applying our skills in a purposeful way, with just the right amount of challenge that doesn’t overwhelm us but makes us feel satisfyingly stretched, we can attain a Flow state in our Monday to Friday, every week. (Interestingly, Csikszentmihalyi found the same in one of his random-time-sampling studies with over 4,000 data points[1]; people report a Flow state more often in work than outside of work, but they also report that they would rather be not working. Clearly, whilst Flow can be readily attainable, we still have a way to go in our awareness of it.

“But!” - you cry — “my real-life work day doesn’t look like your list!”. I hear you – there are, in most jobs, repetitive and naturally less engaging tasks which simply have to be done; or in many cases, sadly, a sense of being overwhelmed that takes us into the ‘anxious’ part of the spectrum. These two states don’t help with finding Flow in work – and here’s where the theory gives us a framework to think about solutions. So, what can we do?

Finding Flow in our work - top tips

Happily, understanding Flow theory can very easily provide us with a framework for manufacturing this sense of joy and fulfilment each day.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by work – consider what would lower the level of challenge or build your skills to meet the level needed.  This could look like ruthlessly prioritising, so the number of tasks on the to-do list is (perhaps temporarily) shortened. It could be taking half a day to up-skill on something that is repeatedly overwhelming you (if you’re struggling to identify this – are there tasks that you regularly procrastinate on, or always need support from others?). It may be helpful to attend a training course to learn more about a particular area you’re struggling with. Once you’ve built new skills, applying them can be hugely satisfying. 

 If you’re feeling under-stimulated by your work – if it is not sufficiently leveraging your skills or challenging you – think about how you can add more difficulty, or up-skill in ways that create engagement. For example, could you take on some responsibility from a more senior colleague, or ask for how you might take on some of their projects? Are there additional, separate areas of work you can start to take care of – or develop a knockout training package to share your area of knowledge with colleagues in an engaging way? Can you challenge yourself to complete a repetitive process faster, or automate it even partially? All of these can help you to feel more challenged and absorbed in your work.

Here are some of the ways I’ve personally tried to find Flow in my own work:

· In anything relating to communication or presenting: I spend time to revise my notes on influencing and presenting skills, Behavioural Science, or the Daniel Kahneman classic “Thinking, Fast & Slow” so I can carefully craft & create the most brain-friendly message.

· If I have some focused work to do, I set a timer to challenge myself to complete it just a little bit quicker. I can always revise the output later, but doing this makes me more challenged and the work day passes super quickly!

· In a previous role which involved several manual excel trackers and updates, I used Google to teach myself about excel shortcuts and hacks, Macros, and Power BI, and practise a little each week.

These are examples from my own work, so likely different to yours, but hopefully give an idea of how you may be able to work towards Flow.

Whatever the solution looks like, and as simple as it sounds, the two-way Skills/Challenge axis has always provided me with a great framework to narrow down solutions. I hope you can find Flow in your work soon, and would love to hear more about how you have done it!

About Ruth Evans, Ruth is a HR Director with 7 years’ experience in the UK and Switzerland across a variety of HR business partnership & supporting roles. Outside of her day job, Ruth has completed an MSc in Organisational Psychology and is passionate about finding applications of OP and the related fields of Behavioural Science, positive psychology and well-being to improve people’s daily working lives. When she’s not busy understanding what makes humans tick, Ruth is a keen triathlete, yogi and blogger.

References

[1] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience (Vol. 1990), pp. 157-159. New York: Harper & Row.

Chloe's Tailored Thinking Journey

Me.

Hello!

To anyone wondering who I am, I am employee number 2 at Tailored Thinking, next to Founder and Chief Positive Deviant, Rob Baker. Rob was looking to expand his team and picked me to be the chosen one! Whilst we are a micro-business, we have a number of collaborators, partners and facilitators. However, I’m formally employee number 2, so by hiring me the company has actually doubled in size.

My role?

Content developer (creating and developing content for the website, social media platforms and more).

My background

I recently graduated with a master’s degree in Media and Journalism. But I persistently found myself edging towards the creative and digital marketing side of things. This lead me to apply for a digital marketing apprenticeship with a fantastic company called The Juice Academy! They’re so current and really on the money in terms of digital marketing and content creating so it was a non brainer to apply.

Outside of work

Outside of work I am super social and love to be around friends and family. Some of my favourite things in life include football, animals (especially dogs), music and exploring. I love going to music festivals and events with friends, particularly in summer. I have played football pretty much all of my life and currently play for Wallsend Ladies.

Why Tailored Thinking?

For me, I like to help people and contribute to change in society. So, to be able to work for such a positive organisation that makes real life change to people’s jobs, lives and organisations is something I am really passionate about. This is also my first job working for a professional business, so it’s really exciting for me.

How have I found it so far?

Starting a new job is always daunting. Particularly in a global pandemic! As a graduate, going into the working world, I had lots of doubts leading up to my role. Will I be good enough? What happens if Rob doesn’t like my work? But I couldn’t have asked for someone better to work for. We still haven’t actually met in person, but we zoom daily, and it almost feels very normal. He even sent me this welcome pack before I started which was really kind.

My Tailored Thinking welcome pack.

My first few weeks at Tailored Thinking and I have done so much already! Blog writing, graphic design, video editing, meeting with clients and so much more. Having the freedom to use my own initiative and imagination when creating content is what makes it so enjoyable.

In the future I am going to be writing about my experiences with applying positive psychology in my work. I’m no specialist but it’s something I’m really interested in and love to try new things. If you would like to follow my journey at Tailored Thinking, then you can connect with me on LinkedIn or keep your eyes peeled for more upcoming blogs!

Thanks for reading :)

Chloe.

Chloe Mark is Tailored Thinking’s resident content developer and formally employee number 2 of the business.

Winner - HR Consultancy of the Year 2020

Yes, you read that right!

We are delighted to have won the CIPD HR Consultancy of the year award for 2020!

But what did we do and how did we do it?

“What most impressed the judges about Tailored Thinking was the HR consultancy’s distinctly innovative and evidence-based approach to the job crafting initiative delivered for Connect Health, which “improved working lives across the organisation” and left “an impressive legacy” [1].”

— CIPD Judging panel feedback

Enjoy the whole CIPD People Management Awards or skip to our award at 18:15!

What was the award for?

To be considered for the national awards, Tailored Thinking had to submit a project with a client. We were delighted to partner with Connect Health and present a case study of a job crafting initiative called ‘Be who you want to be’ which we designed and developed with and for them.

Who are Connect Health?

Connect Health are the largest, independent provider of integrated community MSK (musculoskeletal) and physiotherapy services in the UK. Connect have a pioneering approach when it comes to supporting and enabling people which is driven by Lisa Davidson, Chief People Office at Connect Health and Sarah Dewar, Director of People at Connect Health.

What was the project?

‘Bee who you want to be’ was a distinctive, innovative and evidence- based approach to job crafting. The project was focused on enabling people to bring their whole and best selves to work by making small individual and personal changes and improvements to their jobs.

‘Be who you want to be’.

What was the purpose of the project?

The purpose of the project was to consolidate Connect Health’s position as an employer of choice within their industry sector and to create a fulfilling and positive workplace.

Connect recognised the potential and value for both the business and employees themselves in finding ways to tap into the diverse strengths, talents and experiences across their workforce.

What did the project involve?

The project involved 3 key phases.

• Phase 1 involved testing job crafting as a concept with different groups across the organisation.

• Phase 2 involved evaluating the impact and feedback from pilot groups.

• Phase 3 involved embedding job crafting conversations across Connect, through quarterly discussions between team leaders and their colleagues. Each quarter a different theme was discussed such as tasks, relationships, wellbeing, skill development and growth. At the end of each conversation employees were encouraged to make a small positive and personal experimental change to their job.

We asked employees to write down what they love and loathe about their jobs.

“100% of employees applied job crafting & 98% said they could apply this to their own role [2]. ”

What were some of the outcomes?

The key outcome was that people were given increased flexibility and control of their jobs on a day-to-day basis which drove innovation and engagement.

There were a number of additional positive outcomes associated with the project:

• 88% of people applied job crafting to their roles giving more people ownership over their jobs and careers.

• 7% increase in intention to stay at the company and increased attraction rates.

• 13% increase in engagement levels

• 11% increase in ratings of Connect as a ‘Healthy place to work’

• 4,900 days reduction of sickness absence

• £396,000 savings in turnover

What is job crafting?

Job crafting enables people to proactively personalize their approach to work [3]. There are 5 different types of job crafting, task, relationship, skill, purpose and wellbeing crafting. Organisationally, job crafting has been found to positively influence job engagement, job satisfaction and retention [4].

““Job crafting has now become a way of life within the company, with crafting conversations taking place at all levels of the organisation”– Sarah Dewar – Director of people at Connect Health [5].”

Want to find out more?

If you would like to delve deeper into our project, we’re working with Connect Health to put together a formal case study and workshop to give you a better insight into how we went about this project.

Sign-up for our newsletter or keep your eyes-peeled on our website and our social media for further updates.

References

[1] http://www.cipdpmas.co.uk/best-hr-and-ld-consultancy/

[2] http://www.cipdpmas.co.uk/best-hr-and-ld-consultancy/

[3] Baker (2020). Personalization at work.

[4] Baker (2020). Personalization at work.

[5] http://www.cipdpmas.co.uk/best-hr-and-ld-consultancy/