Building a Positive Workplace

What Does a Positive Workplace Look Like?

Wherever you are in your career, most of us are looking for a positive workplace with a supportive and inclusive environment where we feel valued, respected, and engaged. I firmly believe that organizations that have a shared vision and purpose, clear expectations, and opportunities for growth for their people are going to thrive in our current "always on" work environment. A positive workplace needs to be a place where people:

Lead with Positivity:

Positive psychology acknowledges the impact of positive emotions on individual and team performance. We should be encouraging moments of joy, gratitude, and celebration within the workplace. Genuine appreciation and cultivation of positive emotions make people more resilient, creative, and engaged, leading to improved overall performance.

Build in Psychological Safety:

Emphasize the importance of psychological safety in the workplace, where employees feel comfortable taking risks, expressing their ideas, and making mistakes without fear of negative consequences. Take ownership for mistakes and failures, and build trust with your team by communicating openly and clearly.

Embrace Failure:

Change is good! Stagnant organizations fail. Positive work environments are able to balance failures and successes by failing fast and encouraging learning from those failure to get better in the future. Lean in to great ideas and find ways to embrace uncertainty in such a way that leads to more success.

Encourage Work Harmony:

Promote work-life harmony by encouraging flexible work arrangements, offering wellness programs, and emphasizing the importance of downtime and self-care. Encouraging a healthy work-life integration enhances productivity when it is done in a way that promotes personal well being.

At the end of the day, your view of your work is going to be based on the people that you interact with most on a day to day basis. Lead by example on how you interact with and engage with others, and foster a stronger workplace.