Suzanne Hazelton - Great Days at Work: How Positive Psychology can Transform Your Working Life

This ebook published in 2013 by

Kogan Page Limited

120 Pentonville Road

London N1 9JN

UK

www.koganpage.com

Suzanne Hazelton, 2013

E-ISBN 978 0 7494 6924 5

Contents

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.

Seneca

I ve spent over twenty years in business, starting my career in a technical role, as project manager then a people manager. I then moved into a training role where I designed and delivered personal and leadership development training courses, before moving into executive coaching. Over the years Ive developed my skills in a number of areas, including psychotherapy; in the process I realized that my real passion is working with people to enable them to thrive and succeed.

Personal and professional development is my passion, and Ive been immersed in the topic for over twenty years now, most recently studying the relatively new science of positive psychology. Ive found some of whats common knowledge around positive psychology a little saccharine sweet, and occasionally inaccurate. Some of the books are a little too obscure for the business professional, which undermines some of the enormous value from the field. I became interested in bringing some of the useful nuggets from the field to a broader readership of business professionals so that you can understand the latest research; these are areas that have strong evidence for their effectiveness and are not based on wishful thinking. This book will demonstrate how it applies to you, whether when making choices, decision making or working with others effectively.

With my understanding of psychotherapy and my experience of working with a number of business leaders I identified with the distinctly different approaches to leadership described by Kofodimos (1990): a balanced approach; and a driven approach. He describes:

Two sets of forces contributing to in-balance in executives, the rewards of the job vs the unfulfilling nature of personal life and the joy of mastery vs the threat of intimacy.

What do I mean by a driven approach? There seem to be a number of patterns of behaviour that driven people do that perhaps in a different context would be deemed unhealthy. For example, constant checking of ones Blackberry or iPhone in business is fine, whereas constant washing of hands would be considered obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). In one organization I worked with there was a culture of very long hours, and weekend work was expected. To some extent there was a bias towards workaholism. Addiction in any other context would be recognized and typically treated.

My goal in writing this book is to describe a balanced approach to having great days at work. Many of us realize that working smarter and not longer is more effective. , the YerkesDodson Curve, shows that whilst we need a certain level of stress to perform at our best, there is a point at which more stress leads to a plateauing of effectiveness, and eventually a gradual decline and sadly, in some cases, stress-related illness.

FIGURE 0.1 The balanced vs driven approach

Adapted from the YerkesDodson Curve

In athletes, peak performance is something that is strived for for a short period of time prior to a significant race. Within business, how realistic is it to maintain peak performance? Were effective at a point lower than peak, and interestingly and insidiously, burnout can be a slow process whereby people dont realize theyre operating at less than peak.

Consider how effective you could be by operating at less than peak, knowing you can still shift to a higher level if the situation demands. At this level you can find time for networking, exercise, hobbies, interests and maintaining friendships, all of which are likely to increase your quality of life, your well-being and contribute to you having great days at work. Of course its important that youre still effective in your job, and the research findings suggest that happier people are more successful on a range of measures so improving your overall well-being will contribute to your success.

Research has shown that when we have purpose, mastery and autonomy were likely to have intrinsic motivation motivation that comes from within us. Mastery can be found in the workplace, as can purpose and autonomy.

This book is written for you the individual, no matter what your job title or role. Motivation isnt something thats done to another person (although a good manager or coach can unlock your motivation). This book will present you with some of the most important facts around the science of psychology so that you can make informed choices about what you can do for yourself.

Silent gratitude isnt much use to anyone.

G B Stern

T he first thanks is to you, the reader, for taking the time to explore this book. Please take whats useful to you so that you can find new and different ways to have great days at work.

Over the years, Ive been fortunate to have worked with so many inspirational colleagues and to have found mentors who have been influential in developing my thinking and emotions. The remainder of this section is a small piece of indulgence to formally thank some of these people: those who have inspired and those who have supported me through the writing and editing process to get this book published.