Tips for Facilitating Improv (& Other Experiential Activities) in Organizations

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  GUEST BLOGGER: Kat Koppett At the Applied Improvisation Network’s  2011 annual conference in Baltimore, a bunch of us got together to explore the nuts and bolts of choosing, running and debriefing improv activities in organizational settings. “We want a Top -10 Tips list,” one of the participants commented. Perhaps I should already have had such a thing, nicely designed and laminated, but I didn’t. Still, an offer is an offer, and we’re all improvisers, so we made one up as we went. Here it is with a few embellishments based on conversations and musings since. Much of it comes down to practicing what you preach when you are teaching applied improv, and therefore link back to principles discussed here previously.  What resonates for you? What did we miss? We look forward to you comments and input. Then we promise to laminate. Know your objective.  Improv is no… …

How Love Creates Health

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Love contributes to health. It doesn’t stop with counting blessings. It’s not abstract. It’s deeply physical. Let’s follow the argument made by Barbara Fredrickson during the IPPA World Congress. Broad and Build Review Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build theory explains why humans have evolved to have positive emotions. What good are they? What is their functional value? Positive emotions expand awareness. Minds can open or close, and positive emotions lead to openness. Positive emotions build resources. We are all socially connected, and positive emotions are nutrients, like fruits and veggies, for these relationships. Positive emotions unlock other-focus and help us break self absorption. With positive emotions, connections become more salient. Perspective taking improves, and divisions fade. What Love is Not Building up to a description of what love is and does, Fredrickson was careful to talk about what love is… …

You can….Profit From the Positive

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 There are so many good books coming out these days!  It’s hard to keep up.  But if you still have some beach reading time, I recommend Profit from the Positive: Proven Leadership Strategies to Boost Productivity and Transform Your Business by Margaret Greenberg and Senia Maymin, Ph.D.  When you can get Tom Rath (author of StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Strengths Based Leadership) to say:  “Profit from the Positive is one of the most practical and accessible business books I have read in years…. It is rare that a business book compels you to action right away. When you finish reading Profit from the Positive, it will influence your behaviors the next day” you know you’ve hit the jackpot. This book is a no-cost, no-permission guide for boosting individual, team, and business performance. Whether you lead three employees or 3,000, this book shows you how to… …

Employee Development on a Shoestring

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Here at Positive Business DC we like to promote books that we think are helpful for creating positive businesses.  And one of Gallup’s Q12 (i.e. the 12 things that are the key to having engaged employees) is ‘did you learn something new today?’  Certainly this book can contribute to employee engagement by helping businesses invest in the learning of their employees. It has been estimated that 70 percent of employee development takes place through informal learning, rather than through formal learning events.  Employee Development on a Shoestring by Halelly Azulay, CEO of TalentGrow, offers insights and lessons for leveraging these naturally occurring growth opportunities in developing employees outside the classroom and ‘outside the box’. This hands-on resource delivers specific implementation tools and techniques for developing motivated, engaged employees in today’s “do more with less” business environment. A handy resource for any… …

Bouncing Back: Myths and Characteristics of Resilience

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I have taught resilience to business execs and Army sergeants.  And the same myths come up every time when I ask about their definition of resilience. Resilient people are almost always positive & upbeat. Resilient people know how to go it alone. Resilient people almost never give up. Resilient people tend to be perfectionists.   The reality is that resilient people experience most of the problems that non-resilient people experience. The major difference between a resilient and a non-resilient person is how quickly resilient people recover from failures and setbacks in their life. If physical fitness is the speed with which you can recover from physical stress, resilience is the speed with which you can bounce back from psychological stress. Resilient and truly happy people understand the meaning of “good enough”. They know when to stop and enjoy what they… …

Are You An Effective Coach?

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Contrary to popular belief, it appears as if cheering someone on to improve performance does not influence people as much as role modeling does. Studies cited by Harvard Business Review reveal that both approaches improve outcomes. People encouraged by ‘cheerleaders’ increased performance by 22% while those coached by the silent type improved by 33%. When you think about it, these outcomes make sense. It all has to do with setting expectations. A “C’mon, you can do it!” kind of coach frames the experience by counting down to an arbitrary end point. Their focus: Put in just enough time to ‘gut it out to the end.’ Silent trainers come from a completely different perspective. There is no stated end point. Instead, these trainers focus on the discipline needed to do your personal best. Thus, each style produces very different results. You… …

Virtuous Business Practices – an interview with Dr. Kim Cameron

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  Dr. Kim Cameron is the William Russell Professor of Management & Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and the co-founder of a field called Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS).  POS was separate in its origins from Positive Psychology (and pre-dates positive psychology).  I had the honor of having him as my advisor for my MAPP capstone at the University of Pennsylvania.  Louisa Jewell and I couldn’t ask for a fairer or tougher advisor.  I decided to interview him to see what he’s been working on. What subjects are businesses are most attracted to? Bottom line is the driver, of course.  All business executives say “If I don’t achieve profit, return to share, then I’m not doing my job and I will not last and nor will the organization.”  Their interest is:  ‘Is there any pay… …

Positive Psychology in Practice in the DC Metro Area

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Here at Positive Business DC we are always looking for organizations who are implementing positive psychology in the workplace.  As the nation’s capital we hope that we will set the trends for the entire nation.  We found one such company in the DC Metro area that needs a special mention. Freddie Mac has been implementing numerous projects in the area of positive psychology, from lectures by Shawn Achor that are available for internal viewing on their website, to more intimate workshops in resilience and strengths. I asked Michele Lockwood who is the Director of Talent Development what Freddie Mac interested in applying a specific approach to well-being that comes from research out the social sciences.  “We went to one company for change training and it wasn’t moving the needle.  To act as though change is a one-time thing is inaccurate.… …

Positive Practices Around the World

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Positive psychology training is being implemented in many countries around the world, and not only are we starting to see the positive effects but also which specific content is having the biggest impact.  Positive Matters, founded by Louisa Jewell in Toronto, Canada, and Plus Side Strategies have implemented various positive psychology tools and decided to test which ones were the most impactful on participants.  Five months after receiving a one-day training by Positive Matters and Plus Side Strategies, employees of Northern Lights Canada were surveyed.  It was discovered that the elements that partiipants found most useful were as follows: • StrengthsFinder (75% of respondents reported as either ‘very useful’ or ‘extremely useful’) • Appreciative Inquiry (62.5% of participants reported as either ‘very useful’ or ‘extremely useful’) • Specific solutions focused exercise (49.9% of participants reported as either ‘very useful’ or… …

Anticipatory Savoring: The IPPA World Congress

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I’m flying to Los Angeles tomorrow.  I’m leaving my 2 1/2 year old and my 7 month old (whom I’m still nursing, if that isn’t TMI) and I’m leaving them for four days with my mother-in-law.  And I’m spending a lot of money to go to the 3rd International Positive Psychology Association conference.  (Conferences are expensive!  This one is $740. Not to mention the added lectures and workshops that you can go to before and after the event.) But it will be worth it.  I’ve been to the first two and each time I’m learned as much as going to a graduate level course and made good connections (and gotten jobs) from/with the people I’ve met. The IPPA website as such press worthy quotes as:  ”Presentations, workshops, and poster sessions will feature leading-edge research, as well as applications of positive… …

How Empathy Stacks Up As A Critical Success Factor

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With Capital Connection 2013 just around the corner, I’ve been searching for a way to report the action at MAVA‘s premier event from a perspective different from every other journalist. The big ‘aha’ moment came during the drive home today. I’ll try to assess founders’ critical success factor ratio on a single, frequently under-appreciated leadership quality: Empathy. In addition to other things, I’ll spend my time trying to intuit long-term prospects based on the level of empathy each founder appears to express during their interactions with other people—both on and off stage. Please don’t label me a crackpot just yet. The science shows that people in leadership positions who demonstrate high degrees of empathy have a greater propensity to lead rather than manage. In the startup environment, leading with empathy qualifies as a critical success factor that influences the level… …

Book review: The Essential Performance Review Handbook

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At times, here at Positive Business DC, we like to review books that can help cultivate positive business.  This one is by a local writer and consultant, Sharon Armstrong. “It’s not supposed to be this way,” writes HR specialist Sharon Armstrong in the introduction to her new book, “The Essential Performance Review Handbook: A Quick and Handy Resource for Any Manager or HR Professional,” (www.theessentialperformancereviewhandbook.com). Although performance reviews are actually less popular than a trip to the dentist for most supervisors (see that study below), the good news is that Sharon Armstrong — the woman who began her career in Human Resources in 1985 as a recruiter/trainer in a large Manhattan law firm and launched her own HR consulting business in the year 2000 — has found a way to take the pain out of the process. Her new book offers… …

Cognitive Bias: Confirmation Bias

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Part 3 in our “Cognitive Bias and Leadership” Series “Don’t believe everything you think.” On our January 16, 2013 blog, we gave an overview of cognitive bias (our tendency to filter information through our own past experiences, likes, and dislikes) and surmised that it can lead to judgments that are faulty.  So much of positive leadership is about good decision making so we really wanted to expand on different biases. In the third of our series, I am going to talk about Confirmation Bias – the tendency to give more weight to information that confirms we already believe to be true. Fact is, we actually seek information or evidence to confirm our existing beliefs.  And as we hear information that confirms what we believe, we feel good – rewarded and validated. As it turns out, the confirmation bias is one of the most common cognitive biases.  And it’s not hard to see why.  We like to be right.  And having to… …

Can Appreciative Inquiry Transform Cincinnati into a Strengths-Based City?

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I didn’t think much about going to Cincinnati, to be honest with you.  I went because David Cooperrider (the creator of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and a Zen-like figure in Organizational Development) is a vanguard in the organizational development world.  I went because I wanted to see Appreciative Inquiry on a large scale.  I did not go because I wanted to be moved to tears (or singing, as the case may be).  But Cincinnati moved me.  The AI process moved me…and I’ve been through it before. For those of you dictionary lovers here is a recap of what the name means: Appreciate: Recognize the quality, significance or magnitude of; To be fully aware of or sensitive to; To raise in value or price Inquiry: The process of gathering information for the purpose of learning and changing; A close examination in a quest for truth I’ve written… …

Shannon Polly Presents “Change Is Not A Dirty Word,” 3rd Session in Popular Well-being the Workplace Series

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Shannon Polly to Present “Change Is Not A Dirty Word,” a look at how Appreciative Inquiry is used to evaluate past and present capacities to amplify organizational strengths, achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, and innovations. April 10—Positive Business DC today announced that Shannon Polly will share the methodology associated with positive organizational change known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as well as recent insights from AI Summits in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Polly, a Co-founder of Positive Business DC, holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, a rather rare degree that only about 300 people have earned to-date. Polly’s presentation, Change Is Not A Dirty Word, is the third in Positive Business DC’s Well-being in the Workplace Series, and is being held at at Canvas on April 24. April 10—Positive Business DC today announced that Shannon Polly will… …

Join us on April 24th for Change is Not a Dirty Word by Shannon Polly

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On April 24, our own Shannon Polly, co-founder of Positive Business DC (PBDC), will be presenting Change is Not a Dirty Word, the 3rd in our speaker series Well-being in The Workplace.  Shannon (@ShannonPolly) is one of only approximately 300 people in world who has received a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Martin Seligman and has been an assistant instructor in the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a contributor to the book, Positive Psychology at Work, has developed curriculum for the higher education version of the movie, Happy and has been a facilitator for the Master Resiliency Training (MRT) program for the U.S. Army. Shannon will be sharing the methodology associated with positive organizational change known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as well as recent insights from AI Summits in Cleveland and Cincinnati.  Interestingly, for… …

Natural Artistry Photography Implements Positive Practices

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When we launched Positive Business DC, Donna, Shannon and I wanted to create a resource to help people raise their level of well-being by providing evidence-based research in positive psychology and neuroleadership. And so, we launched the Well-being in The Workplace speaker series. Last week, I featured Natural Artistry in my weekly column for Modern DC Business magazine. As Meetup members Andrew Murdock, Kimba Green, and Cindy Alderton shared their story, I realized that our Meetups are having a much more profound impact than perhaps we realized. Andrew is the owner of Natural Artistry Photography in Frederick, MD. His style strays from the conventional by focusing in on moments when people connect on a fundamentally human level. The vulnerability he’s able to capture and the stories his photos tell reach out and grab your attention. He took photos of the… …

Webinar for Coaches and Career Counselors

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Shannon Polly, one of our co-founders, and Louisa Jewell are hosting one of their most popular Webinar series starting next week. Both women, from Accentuate Consulting, are MAPPs, holding the Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.  This makes them two of only a few hundred people who hold this degree. The series, titled “Positive Psychology for Career Counselors and Coaches,” will offer Career Counselors and Coaches practical techniques to incorporate positive psychology into their practices and apply it to help their clients flourish.  If you haven’t met Shannon, as a friend and co-founder myself, I can tell you that Shannon is a very engaging facilitator.  That is often the takeaway from those who see her and Louisa in action. The Webinar will include the latest techniques including how to help your clients utilize what we know… …

Empathy: Leadership Strength Or Weakness?

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Last week, Arlington Economic Development’s Business Investment Group sponsored Empathy in Business, a panel discussion with Ángel Cabrera, President of George Mason University, Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Carly Fiorina, CEO of Carly Fiorina Enterprises (and former CEO of HP), and Julie Rogers, President and CEO of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation. Jonathan Aberman, Managing Director and Chairman of Amplifier Ventures, moderated the discussion. If you can find the discipline and energy to listen, you may learn why things failed and then make better decisions. — Ángel Cabrera It appears as if there are two camps when it comes to empathy as it relates to leadership: 1) those who think it’s a “squishy” emotion that makes a leader weak; or 2) those who think it’s a quality required to lead people effectively. For the… …