PBDC’s First Certification a Success!

  We were thrilled to host the Shift Positive 360 training here in downtown DC with participants coming from as far away as North Carolina and Seattle, WA to participate! Pete Berridge and Jen Ostrich wowed us with the level of detail, the content that they are sharing and the rarity of having training in a tool where there are no ongoing fees. I have never felt more prepared to deliver a certification, than I did after this training.  And I’ve done a lot of certifications!  The combination of a positive/strengths focus and engaging a system makes it a very unique tool.  I used it on the Monday after the Friday training and got much deeper with my interview than I would have otherwise. As one participant said, “It is more than a 360 – it is a framework for…

How to Get Set for an Appreciative Inquiry Summit

The benefits of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) glitter gold (see our previous blog post), but what do you need to assure success? While there is more than one way to host a productive AI summit, seasoned AI expert and summit facilitator Shannon Polly says that there are steps that you (or whoever would plan your AI summit) can take to prep for best outcomes: • Know your organization – Is the organizational culture very top-down? Do you have buy-in from key leaders? Strive to get leaders on-board and solicit at least one of these people to lend their credibility to AI. This might look like a testimonial or keynote address at the beginning of the summit, and will certainly involve their participation in the four phases. If your organization doesn’t believe that focusing on strengths is the best way of approaching…

How to Positively Transform Your Organization

  When you look at your colleagues, do you notice their best qualities? Even when you focus on others’ strengths, you may still feel like the organization is stuck. Maybe you’re mired in inefficient processes. Perhaps you contend with resistance to change. Do you see misalignment between your mission and daily practices? If you do, that’s normal! But it doesn’t have to stay that way. You can do better, because you’re already doing good. If you’re grateful for other’s good points, and yet the organization seems stalled or stuck in some way, conditions are ripe for Appreciative Inquiry (AI). An Appreciative Inquiry summit is an organizational process intended to catalyze positive transformation by noticing what’s already going well, envisioning an optimal future, and leveraging strengths and creativity to get there. This happens when as many stakeholders as possible come together…

Ethics in Coaching

Facing an ethical challenge in one of my subcontracting assignments, this lead me to further exploration of the ICF (International Coach Federation) code of ethics and its concepts and principals with colleagues of mine in the profession and outside of the profession who often had strong viewpoints that contradicted my own. The situation was a friend and my boss has used an online software to collect data from our coaching sessions for purposes of billing and gathering themes from the coaching so that she may present data back to the client.  In addition, she has tried to have us put our coaching notes from the sessions up in two different pieces of software.  On a call a few months ago she asked the group if they would be willing to use the new software to put their notes on it…

Social Support Makes Challenges Easier by Pete Berridge

  Is it surprising that a hill seems less steep when we are rested, in shape, or younger?  Or, that a hill appears steeper and distances appear greater when we are tired and depleted? Research has shown that our physical resources such as fitness, age, and feeling  refreshed influence our visual perception.[i], [ii] How does social support affect visual perception?  Researchers, Schnall, Harber, Stefanucci & Profitt[iii] set out to answer that question and here is what they discovered: Participants accompanied by a friend, when standing in front of a hill, estimated the hill to be 10 to 20% less steep than participants who were alone (even though that friend was standing three feet away, facing the other way, and not talking). Having people simply think of a “supportive person” led participants to see a hill as 10 to 20% less steep. Further, the relationship quality…

RECORDING – Shift Positive 360 Webinar

Miss the webinar today?  No problem! Here is the link to the recording that shares more insight on: 1) How to convince leaders to engage with the shift positive 2) Why a systems approach is the most successful for change 3) How using the Shift Positive 360 actually nets you more clients! And don’t forget the to get a 10% discount on the certification (February 23-24 in DC) go to:  www.bitly.com/Pos360PBDC before January 31st.

Shift Positive 360 – Certification for Coaches

Certification Training: February 23-24, 2017 Are you interested in being certified in the Shift Positive 360? The Shift Positive 360 is a narrative 360 approach used by executive and leadership coaches and HR leaders. This approach is grounded in positive psychology and focuses on engaging the client’s “people system” throughout the change process to ensure sustainable positive change. Join the two-day certification training and become well versed in positive psychology, social systems, the method and methodology behind the Shift Positive 360, and experience your own shift throughout the training. Register Here to take advantage of the special Positive DC Early Bird Special (Register by January 31, 2017) and save $250 In the certification process you will: Get grounded in key Positive Psychology concepts Feel confident in using the shift+ 360 Be capable in garnering allies for your client Challenge the traditional…

Leading from Someone Else’s Shoes by Yashi Srivastava

The job of a leader is complex as it is, and it gets even more so during difficult times. After the results of the recent presidential elections in the US exposed a deep political divide in the country, numerous educational and professional institutions have been attempting to reconcile various perspectives so as to move forward in their respective pursuits. Many of these institutions prioritize and celebrate diversity, and one of the questions that faces their leaders today is about what they can do to effectively manage people from diverse ethnic and political backgrounds. While this US election presents a recent and salient example of troubled times, it isn’t the only one. Organizational life is often marked by conflicts between different groups of people, and leaders are required to handle these conflicts. What can leaders do to manage such situations effectively?…

Shift Positive 360 – free webinar

Webinar: January 18, 2017 12-1pm ET Join us to learn how positive psychology and social systems can transform feedback from its current broken state into the constructive, energizing experience is was intended to be. Pete Berridge, MAPP & PCC and Jen Ostrich, PCC, co-founders of the Shift Positive 360, will talk about why feedback and 360s are not as effective as they can be. Learn how positive psychology and social support systems can make all the difference in your client’s success in creating sustainable change. In this webinar you will learn: The benefits of a solution-focused vs problem focused approach to feedback To challenge the notion of confidentiality with feedback and why it’s less effective How to set your clients up for successful change by creating their own “people system”   Pete Berridge and Jen Ostrich are both Hudson Institute…

Workplace Positivity? What’s the Right Amount? And Why?

(Originally published on Positive Psychology News Daily, PPND, in February 2016) Did you know the right amount of positive emotion can lead to more innovation, less absenteeism, and better problem solving? What are Emotions For? Early research regarding the purpose of negative emotion has been generally accepted. Negative emotion alerts us to danger and focuses attention on self-preservation and problem solving. However, understanding the survival benefits of positive emotion has been less clear, even dismissed, until recently. Researchers, including Martin Seligman, Barbara Fredrickson, and Christopher Peterson, have shown biological reasons for positive emotions and how they relate to human survival and well-being. In my experience as a leader, I have witnessed the results of positive emotion and its effect on well-being in the workplace. Emotions at the Workplace Positive emotion affects our workforce in the most basic way: our health.…

Connecting for Success Webinar Recording

Did you miss our webinar on Connecting for Success? No worries…scroll down and watch it. A message from Robert Rosales From Languishing to Flourishing at Work Whether organizations and their employees languish or flourish largely depends on the quality of the social connections they nurture. We spend most of our waking hours at work and thus improving social connections will impact productivity, engagement as well as community, organizational and individual wellbeing. The bottom line is that focusing on enabling high-quality relationships at work changes everything, for the better. Is it that simple? Yes. Is it easy? No. It takes persistence and hard work. But it’s worth it. Learn critical skills to develop better relationships at work by watching the following webinar. Connecting for Success with Robert Rosales.    

Danny Torrence – Chris Peterson Fellowship Award Winner: an Update

After spending a year studying well-being and human flourishing in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at Penn, I am more convinced that living a good life is like writing a good story. New chapters bring new possibilities, ideas, challenges, conflict, and resolution. Through experiencing each of these elements, I’ve learned and grown a lot since graduating in August 2015 and am excited to see what lies ahead. Two exciting and unexpected things happened in the first six months following graduation: I was welcomed back to the MAPP program as an assistant instructor for the Capstone and Positive Psychology and Individuals courses and I was promoted to a new role at work that provides me the freedom and flexibility to use positive psychology to increase staff engagement. Prior to this role, I worked as a case manager to…

Connecting for Success – Upcoming Webinar

Connecting for success: This webinar will shift your perspective on relationships, well-being, and success. It is relevant to people’s lives, not just their work. Led by Robert Rosales, EMBA, MAPP. What is the greatest source of energy, creativity, and new business at work? People, provided they are fully engaged and supported by great leaders. In today’s workplace nothing of significance can be achieved alone. People are at the core of organizations because business, essentially, is about relationships. This really should come as no surprise. Relationships are central to well-being and a key feature of very happy people is the fact that they have good  interactions. Human beings are naturally social creatures and our interactions with others are just as vital as food and water. Over time, we have developed an innate ability to empathize and think socially in order to be able to cooperate with others.…

Update with Penn Scholarship Winner – Dwayne Thomas

What have I been doing since I graduated from Penn’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program a few months ago? NOTHING! Okay, that’s not entirely true. I took a break to let my brain process everything I learned this year. Especially the glut of information clogging my brain after the capstone research process. Rest is a useful habit. Our waking brains constantly seek out clues and make connections. Sleep helps our brains consolidate memories. Writing my capstone, like the bar exam I took three years ago, wore me out. In both cases, I felt like I was carrying a 10-pound brick on my shoulders. Putting aside intellectual work for a few months while my brain did its work in the background helped clear the fog. However, I haven’t been idle – I’ve been training to work as a public speaker…

The Little Scholarship That Could

In 2006, a group of dedicated Master of Applied Positive Psychology alums decided to start a scholarship for the program.  And they donated and they donated, but they had a large mountain to climb of logistics at the University of Pennsylvania.  They built up the scholarship even though none of the money had been given away yet.  (‘I think I can, I think I can.’) Then when Chris Peterson passed away in 2012, more students came together and wanted to honor him with a scholarship and decided to combine with the earlier efforts to give back to students.  That little scholarship that could didn’t know that it would take a year to get over the ‘mountain’ of red tape at Penn in order to rename the ‘fellowship’.  (‘I think I can.’)  There was some treacherous weather on the mountain of…

Teachers Learn A New Trick by RedRover

How do we go about making sure that our kids learn empathy in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic in school? Sadly, if you talk to today’s teachers, it often gets lost in the shuffle of getting the “real” instruction done. Teachers have so much time to get the nitty-gritty done the time for learning the soft skills fall by the wayside. Yet empathy, the ability to walk in someone else’s place and truly feel what they experience, gives children a way to understand the world differently. That’s where RedRover comes in. This organization has invested in building a program that teaches empathy to third and fourth graders. Empathy Goes to The Dogs… and Cats Let’s suppose we’re part of a class. The teacher tells us that we are trying The RedRover Reading Program today. Everybody becomes involved and you…

Shift Positive 360

The Shift Positive 360 continues to take off. Pete Berridge (our colleague) had another tremendous experience certifying coaches and HR practitioners in the Shift Positive 360 in Austin Texas in September. Our next certification is set for October 13 – 14 in Minneapolis for those interested in experiencing how narrative 360’s grounded in positive psychology and engaging the client’s “people system” leads to deeper, lasting change for clients and employees. View the 7-minute presentation and find out more about registration here.

How Do You Find a Job When You Are Blind?

Meet Rebecca Bridges. Wife. Mother. Management consultant at FMP Consulting. Rebecca has also been blind from birth. Knowing the unemployment rate is 70% for people who are blind, how could she grow up with the hope of finding a job that she would enjoy? Is it luck or is it something else? We have all heard the statistics. According to Simon Sinek, author of Leaders Eat Last, 1 in 3 employees seriously consider leaving their jobs. Of that number, only 1.5% of employees actually leave voluntarily. They feel safer with the job they hate then the unknown. With these types of statistics, I wondered how Rebecca found the courage to fulfill her dream. You Have to Be Better than Anyone Else Rebecca remembers her Dad giving her advice as a little girl when she complained that being blind wasn’t fair.…

Cultivating Curiosity And Engagement

This morning a stumbled across statistics that show the challenges with engagement, creativity, and well-being begin in the classroom rather than the boardroom. So, while Positive Business DC’s mission is to research to use science-backed research to improve your company, your culture, and your bottom line, let’s take a moment to see how we can improve the level of well-being with our kids. According to The Future Project,

Hiding When You Should Be Standing Out

I failed miserably last week. I attended MAVA’s Capital Connection (CapCon) seeking to assess how successful I thought presenting founders and their companies would be long-term based on a single factor: Empathy displayed when they interacted with the event’s attendees. Imagine my surprise when only one CEO manned his company’s booth throughout the two-days presenting founders had to show off to venture capitalists, service providers, journalists (aka me), and others who may be interested in their companies. Kudos go to Gary Tyermann, CEO of Univa Corporation. You stood out. Your counterparts blended in with the crowd. Talk about missed opportunity. You know want I found, Gary? I think you actually fit the bill regarding empathy. I’m going to say you also exhibited stick-to-itiveness and a sense for what’s really important… connecting with others when you get the chance. We’ll call…