Join our Hacking Creativity Webinar on September 24 at noon EST.  Register here.

I believe everyone has the potential to be creative when given the time, freedom, and autonomy. And, combined witha subtle dose of inspiration,  that creativity may turn into full-blown innovation.

In business, creativity used to be reserved for the designers, marketers, and artistic talent that represented the antidote to buttoned-up organizational cultures. In today’s  increasingly ubiquitous “VUCA” environments, where volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity have seeped across industry verticals, creativity is no longer reserved solely for the hip folk clad in skinny jeans.  The ability to innovate across the corporate value chain – from strategy formulation to go-to-market execution – is a pre-requisite for market competitiveness. Those who do it best relish an ascent up the corporate ladder with increased reputational capital: they are the leadership game-changers.

Armed with this insight, a group of six students from the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program sought to collide the frontier of positive psychology—or the scientific study of human flourishing—with the science of creativity. The mash-up was an interdisciplinary take on two emergent fields that are garnering increased popularity in the corporate world.   The team learned that at the intersection of positive psychology and creativity emerged some interesting insights that are both actionable and accessible.

For example, consider  Adam Grant’s (2013) research in the best-selling book,  Give and Take.  Grant’s research displays a strong link between collaboration and creative character. A recent study conducted by Baer (2012) found more of the same, suggesting that creativity and implementation are regulated by people’s ability to network and the number of strong relationships they hold. Lucky for the team, collaboration – or rather, relationships at large – is shown to be one of the most important contributors to one’s overall happiness. Here we begin to see a picture emerge where positive psychology and creativity can, indeed, tango together. And this is just the beginning – many more insights continued to unfold, illuminating the commonality between these seemingly disparate fields.

In fact, another example near and dear to a positive psychologists heart is positive emotional states. Fredrickson’s (1998) ground-breaking broaden and build theory posits that positive emotions contribute to an upward spiral of more positive emotions, open-mindedness, increased scope of attention, out-of-the-box thinking, and increased problem solving.  And yet, the plot actually thickens when creativity is examined  further. Negative emotions also have the power to boost creativity. One study of 161 employees found that creativity increased when both positive and negative emotions were running high (George & Zhou, 2007). In short, they appeared to be using the drama in the workplace positively. It turns out that finding ways to turn negative moods from creativity foes to allies can be a deceptively simple strategy: don’t resist the resistance. There is no need to turn that frown upside down after all.

As we stumbled across findings such as these we went right to the creativity core. We coupled the time-tested definition of creativity—the generation of novel and useful ideas (Amabile, 1988; Oldham & Cummings, 1996)—with Einstein’s famous quip that we cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Putting the two together, and making sure to stay true to the big “A” in MAPP (application),  a sixty- minute webinar was designed, “Hacking Creativity,” that explores the intersection of these fields in an intriguing, insightful, and all together imaginative way.

Baer, M. (2012). Putting creativity to work: the implementation of creative ideas in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1102-1119.

Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions?Review of General Psychology, 2, 300-319.

Grant, M. (2013). Give and take: A revolutionary approach to success. New York: Viking Press.

George, J. M., & Zhou, J. (2007). Dual tuning in a supportive context: Joint contributions of positive mood, negative mood, and supervisory behaviors to employee creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), 605-622.

Oldham, G. R., & Cummings, A. (1996). Employee creativity: Personal and contextual factors at work. Academy of management journal, 39(3), 607-634.

If you are interested in learning what the team discovered, and howto leverage it against creativity-starved challenge, come join us on September 24^th at noon EST.  We look forward to sharing the result of our efforts to concoct a distinctive creativity and happiness tonic.  Go here to register:  https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/119275815.

I know a bunch of procrastinators that seem to live by Burr’s words. And yet, why would anyone want to delay leading a happy, fulfilling life? It turns out we don’t put off achieving happiness intentionally, but it is a by-product of the all too common ‘I’ll be happy when’  mindset. You know, when people think that they’ll achieve a greater level of satisfaction when they:

1. Get married
2. Find a boyfriend/girlfriend
3. Receive a much anticipated promotion
4. Lose weight…

The list goes on.

Also known as the arrival fallacy, this mindset actually produces much less satisfaction than expected because people have primed themselves for the achievement and it is already factored into their general state of happiness. When a person hits the longed-for target, they realize there’s something else they really want to achieve. And then the cycle begins again because they believe that achieving the next goal will make them happy. In this scenario, happiness becomes the illusive acorn Scrat chases in Ice Age.

As importantly, the I’ll be happy when mindset produces at least two additional by-products. You:

1. Seek happiness from without rather than within (a surefire way to fail at improving your well-being), and;
2. Forget to appreciate the wonderful things (big and little) that happen day-by-day

And now for an admission. Like most people, I have taken Burr’s quote out of context.

“Never do today what you can put off ’til tomorrow. Delay may give a clearer light as to what is best to be done.” —Aaron Burr, Jr.

Burr’s suggesting that we should not make decisions too hastily. And that’s another discussion about when (and when not to) use the rational brain vs. the emotional brain.

Irrational Decisions… Us?

Specifically, classical economic theory says that people look at a set of data (large or small) and make rational decisions. And yet, the Gallup research shows that approximately 70% of economic decision making boils down to emotions. That means only about 30% of the decisions we make line up with the classic economic model.

Neruoscientific evidence supports Gallup’s findings. According to How We Decide,the rational brain maxes out at about 7 pieces of data. As a result, using the rational brain when making complex decisions generally points us in the wrong direction. Here’s why:

Gut Feelings = Knowledge

Humans develop intuition through experience. The cycle of trial and error, trial and success moderates the flow of dopamine, which creates the ‘gut knowledge’ we cannot explain yet know to be right. The people who ignore their gut instincts and rely on the data typically rationalize themselves into poor decisions when faced with complex, multifactorial questions.

“. . . the danger of too much information: it can actually interfere with understanding . . . We are constantly exceeding the capacity of our prefrontal cortexes, feeding them more facts and figures than they can handle . . . When the prefrontal cortex is overwhelmed, a person can no longer make sense of the situation.”
—How We Decide

In other words: Information overload clogs up a person’s decision making ability. Some might call the symptom analysis paralysis. Now let’s think about how that translates to the customer experience—and ultimately whether or not people buy from you or someone else.

Primal Engagement

If all your company talks about is a long list of product features that ‘differentiates’ it from the pack, you’re forcing customers to engage their rational brains during the buying process. Chances are, they’ll walk away. If not now, then most certainly in the future.

We already know that customers base 70% of buying decisions on emotion. A list of features and benefits opens the doors for savvy competitors to engage prospects at a primal level. Car manufacturers know this. What they sell is the convenience of having personal transportation. What people buy is reliability. Or prestige. Or freedom.

You get the drift.

We Make Winning Harder Than It Has To Be

So, what does that mean to your business? Employees want to be part of a winning team. Customers want to own something that gives them status or meets some other primal need. The best way to figure out what will elicit positive employee and customer emotions throughout your company’s lifecycle begins with corporate self-awareness.

Answering the question about your company’s reason for being and using it as the cornerstone for developing corporate self-awareness can increase performance-based business outcomes by 240%.

That is not a typo.

And, it bears repeating. According to Gallup, companies can gain a 240% in performance-based business outcomes if they engage employees and customers. I believe that establishing corporate self-awareness is the cornerstone to engagement for both employees and customers

Deliberately Foster Corporate Emotional Intelligence (CEQ™)

Just as people exhibit emotional intelligence (EQ) in the form of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, we can attribute the same labels to organizational behavior and the underlying systems that enable those behaviors.

Your company’s purpose for being becomes one of the pillars of self-awareness, which enables you to communicate clearly to employees and customers in a very exciting way. Skip this step and you’ll just be another company with a long list of features and benefits to wade through as people try to figure out where to spend their money.

And who doesn’t want to be part of a big win? Learn the secrets of corporate emotional intelligence (CEQ™), starting with organizational self-awareness.

The Global Impact of A Flawed Model

A concluding thought: If our collective worldview is based on a flawed perspective of economics, then we cannot hope to foster economic recovery without changing the accepted model. For more on applied behavioral economics, check out what the Gallup Organization has learned during the past 30 years.
© 2012. All rights reserved.

Doug Hensch

Doug Hensh, founder of myHappier, revealed the 5½ Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs last Thursday when he kicked off Positive Business DC’s Well-being in The Workplace speaker series. Doug teaches people how to become more resilient and helps businesses develop more engaged, creative, and productive workforces through his expertise in positive psychology.

While Doug made a number of provocative statements that night, none resonated with me more than the following:

“In my experience a person’s greatest weakness is when they overuse their strengths. . . . It feels good to use your strengths. But by focusing too narrowly on your strengths you become less aware of the consequences [of your behavior] and the impact you have on others.”
—Doug Hensch, myHappier.com

As a fan of the Gallup Organization (and Marcus Buckingham‘s work in particular) I can tell you a strengths-based approach to building strong, successful businesses works. In fact, I have repeatedly used their techniques as a basis for transforming organizations with poor morale into companies that excel.

Doug’s observation that an individual’s misapplication of strengths leads to weakness captured my attention because the phenomenon has an organizational corollary. When a strengths-based approach is applied without a structure that enables a company to effectively harness what employees have to offer in a balanced way, performance suffers.

Blinded by Personal Bias

People tend to hire others like themselves. As a result, the recruitment process leads to organizational imbalance unless the hiring manager recognizes and purposely curbs this natural, human bias. Unchecked, the bias spawns an obvious organizational weakness. A company that has too many people with the same strengths unintentionally creates a blind side (or two) and lacks the strength needed to run the distance. Competitors will quickly outdistance this company even though employees may “click” and enjoy working together.

Dilution by Shared Strengths

Doug Hensch presenting the secrets to resilience.

Perhaps a forward-thinking executive has established a safe environment and invites disagreement during discussions because this leader knows that airing differences improves the team’s problem-solving capabilities. If the hiring manager has repeatedly cloned him- or herself, the deck is stacked against the company and the conversation will probably be a short one. This group of people simply will not see a wide enough array of options to enable the company to compete effectively.

Much more subtly, a team comprised of people with too many overlapping strengths dilute those strengths. Even if this group has members with opposing viewpoints and can argue through the issues to develop a sound strategy, I have consistently observed that this team as a whole is less than the sum of its parts. Every time. And that’s just a waste of talent.

Deliberately Blend Corporate DNA

Strong corporate DNA requires a strengths-based focus layered over an existing sense of organizational self-awareness. By using this framework, newly hired employees will share the company’s core values and fit within the corporate culture while being diverse in heritage, gender, age, experience, talent, and strengths. The mix forms a well-balanced team that has the stamina and resilience to keep the company in peak performance during good times and bad.

So, when thinking about developing resilience in your own organization and honing strengths, don’t forget to put systems into place that will ensure that you not only install a well-balanced team, also ensure they have the systems and tools to maximize their efforts.

Join The Well-being Movement

Courtesy of Natural Artistry Photography

Please join Positive Business DC if you’re interested in how science-based disciplines like positive psychology and neuroleadership can improve organizational behaviors, job satisfaction, and overall performance. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn

And, if you live in the Metro DC area, please check out our local events. According to research by Delivering Happiness, Washington DC exhibits the lowest level of happiness (and thus job satisfaction and productivity) in the U.S. With your help we can make working and living and working in the capitol region a more rewarding experience.

Acknowledgments

Thank you, Doug, for a compelling presentation. I have purposely avoided writing about the secrets. If you’re curious to learn what we discovered the other night, please download: 5-1/2 Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs.

Thank you also to Andrew Murdock, professional photographer and founder of Natural Artistry Photography, for taking official shots during our first event.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to Teqcorner for hosting Positive Business DC’s first event. As a tenant, I can tell you Teqcorner works hard to develop and nurture an enabling ecosystem that takes an entrepreneur “from concept to company.”

Originally published by PerformanceArchitect.com on October 27, 2012. All rights reserved.

Much of our unhappiness stems from the Because I Said So approach, the default setting for a significant number of “leaders.” These managers use their authority to gain compliance rather than treating employees in a manner they’d prefer. Chances are this approach didn’t work for your parents when you were two. Because I Said So doesn’t work any better for employers when you are 42. Unfortunately, the tendency to want to take control starts much earlier than you’d think.

Submit… or Else

According to John Medina, author of Brain Rules, boys establish a pecking order very in early in life. Boys with high status have learned to give orders by the time they enter grade school. Lower status boys obey or get bullied for their insubordination. A rigid hierarchy quickly forms in male groups. Verbal negotiation occurs only as boys with higher status vie for the independence that comes with dominance.

“The beatings will continue
until morale improves.”

Girls also tend to develop hierarchies in grade school, although they do it in a completely different manner. Girls will shun those who try to give orders. They favor collaboration and status comes from inclusion in the right cliques.

We have dragged these styles into the office so perhaps it’s not so surprising that the desire to command still prevails in male dominated corporate America. Only 15 women hold the CEO title in the Fortune 500. It would be interesting to know if these women choose to control or collaborate.

A controlling management style is damaging because it:

• Relies on fear and compliance, which demotivate employees and produces marginal results
• Limits potential to the manager’s strengths and amplifies weaknesses
• Contradicts the economic and social realities of the information age

The authoritarian style may have felt comfortable in the factories of the industrial era. It was, after all, a new way of working and people often came from homes where Dad ruled the roost. But times have changed. We have a diverse, multi-generational workforce that includes women and a vast array of ethnicities. Today’s workforce seeks autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Follow the Leader

Back to the research. Marcus Buckingham has dedicated his career to uncovering the secrets of productive workplaces. His well documented research on strengths-based leadership, when applied, works brilliantly. So why, then, has this methodology not gained a stronger foothold?

Reading a book or learning theory gives most people the right vocabulary. Application is another thing. We learn more from modeling than from reading. I think that’s why some managers use terminology like ‘empowerment’ while ignoring the talents and contributions of their staff. If you want to change your culture, then change the way you lead your people. You can start by getting a mentor that uses the approach you’d like to adopt. Of course, you can also model by rejecting the behaviors of people for whom you don’t like to work.

The links between giving orders, gaining and maintaining status, and ego develop very early in a male leader’s life. But the desire to control is not limited to boys. I’ve also known a lot of bossy women. We’ll take a look at the personality types that like power and control over the next few weeks. Until then, we’ll weave a tale of micromanagement.

Originally published by PerformanceArchitect.com on June 4, 2012. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Yuri Arcurs – Fotolia

I recently ran across a Forbes post “Why Companies are Terrible at Selecting, Retaining and Motivating Their Talent.” Contributor Eric Jacskson identifies 10 common pitfalls companies experience when attracting and retaining the “assets [that] go down the elevator at night.”

Hmmm. It’s true that managers commonly refer to employees as assets. And yet, the word asset rings hollow. Using that terminology turns employees into things. You buy and manage assets. You compensate and lead people. There’s a difference. Let’s add the following five points to Jackson’s original list.

1. The most effective leaders demonstrate a high degree of emotional intelligence. They understand and mentor others. Positive role modeling flows downhill.
2. A strengths-based recruitment philosophy and professional development help fulfill employees’ needs for mastery and growth. You can establish career paths based on aspirations and talent.
3. Respect and recognition tell people you value them… and their contributions. Employees are less likely to disengage and leave when you don’t take them for granted.
4. Understanding human motivation is a critical success factor. Intrinsic rewards work; extrinsic rewards produce diminishing returns. And yet, we base most rewards on external factors that employees come to view as entitlements.
5. Chemistry matters. So do style and fit. When we recruit for skills only, we suggest that people are interchangeable. They’re not.

The organizations that earn the 100 Best Companies to Work For designation know that employment is relational, not transactional. You can buy employees’ time. You cannot buy their spirit and passion. You’ll get better results across the board when you stop thinking of employees as assets.

Written by Marcia Moran and originally published by Modern DC Business on June 22, 2012. All rights reserved.

Lively discussion at Positive Business DC’s October 2102 Meetup.

A recent article by Forbes about the behavioral differences between introverts and extroverts states, “. . . brainstorming results in lower quality ideas and the more vocally assertive extroverts are the most likely be heard.” Forbes based its article on Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Although other sources have made similar claims, it appears as if  brainstorming has gotten a bum rap.

“Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.”
—Keith Sawyer, Psychologist, Washington University

Rather than blaming a tool or process for shortcomings, we need to look at how the tool is being applied… and testing methodologies that underlie the research.

Is Brainstorming Really Counterproductive?

Yale conducted the first empirical test on brainstorming in 1958. A group of 48 male undergrads were split into 12 groups and given a set of puzzles and instructions for how to brainstorm. The control [group] consisted of 48 students (each of whom worked independently to solve the same set of puzzles). The students who worked alone generated twice as many ideas as the brainstorming groups. ‘Experts’ deemed the ideas generated by individuals to be more creative and feasible that those developed by the groups. As the Forbes article demonstrates, these outcomes have stuck.

The Yale study overlooked some basic group dynamics. Teams that include both men and women outperform teams comprised solely of men. In addition, the terms ‘group’ and ‘team’ are not synonymous. Researchers simply cannot put a bunch of people who don’t know each other in a room and expect them to work together effectively. A safe environment and trusting relationships underlie effective teamwork. As a result, studies like the one from Yale fall short of predicting real-world results.

Cultural Freedom to Disagree

The Yale study also learned that the groups instructed to debate during the brainstorming session increased the number of ideas by 25%, although most of the extra ideas came after the group disbanded. That makes sense because people build off the creativity of others.

Tips for Effective Brainstorming

For leaders, the trick to getting the most out of brainstorming and other activities used to stimulate creative problem solving starts by establishing a safe, respectful culture that:

1. Cultivates and values diversity
2. Ignores the weight usually attributed to title
3. Encourages each person to speak up
4. Refrains from ridicule and personal attacks
5. Accepts input without judgement or punishment
6. Provides constructive feedback on a daily basis
7. Works passionately toward common vision and goals
8. Purposely facilitates strong relationships and communication
9. Lets its hair down

Evidence shows that people share emotions. Even though people often view disagreement as a negative, the ability to laugh at ourselves and have fun at work helps keep things on a positive track. You can creatively solve sticky issues without destroying relationships or morale.

Establish Equal Footing

Leaders get the best results by using visual and behavioral clues that put them on equal footing with other members of the team. Select a chair along the side of the table. Come prepared with questions instead of answers. Invite participation from everyone in the room. Speak last to avoid coloring others’ opinions.

Except in times of crisis leading through a collaborative, democratic process does not make a leader look weak—as long as s/he can make decisions in a timely manner. The ability for people in all positions and experience levels to have a voice and participate in problem solving builds vibrant companies.

Originally published by PerformanceArchitect.com on October 4, 2012. All rights reserved.

Doug Hensch, M.Ed

Thursday, Doug Hensch will kick off Positive Business DC’s “Well-being in The Workplace” speaker series when he reveals The 5-1/2 Secrets of Entrepreneurs. As noted in Monday’s post, Low Startup Ratio Causes Economic Stall and Job Deficit, entrepreneurship drives our economic engine—and we are unfortunately in a slump.

According to research by the Gallup Organization, the U.S. needs 2 million new businesses launched each year to create enough jobs to keep the economy healthy. We’re currently running at 20% of the required figure. Gallup proposes we offset the deficit by ensuring that the next generation has the tools and training needed to be successful entrepreneurs. While mentoring the Internet generation may be an effective long-term strategy, we also need to focus on what we can do now to improve the domestic business climate.

DC Places Last on Happiness Scale

Living and working in the Metro DC area insulates us from the effects of a poor national economy. Or does it? The folks at Delivering Happiness (@DHMovement) have determined that Washington, DC exhibits the lowest level of happiness in the country. More than a decade of rigorous scientific research proves that happy employees are more engaged, productive, and creative in the workplace and thus produce better returns for their companies. We need to take action and inject energy into our local communities.

That’s where Positive Business DC comes in. Shannon Polly, MAPP, President of Accentuate Consulting, Donna Hemmert, an Internet executive and serial entrepreneur with whom I’ve had the privilege of working with since the ’90s, and I co-founded the organization to give local business leaders a resource for learning how the science of happiness can help companies improve the bottom line. Each of us approaches the subject from a different angle.

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. She is also the co-author of Does Happiness Really Drive Results? Shannon is passionate about the science that underlies positive psychology as a discipline and how to apply the science in a way that enhances well-being in the workplace.

Donna (@dhemmert) has been fascinated by positivity and its effect on teams, leadership, and companies since she began her career. A natural leader, Donna has honed her abilities and repeatedly created enabling cultures that encourage her teams to consistently produce ‘star quality’ results. Having been on a number of Donna’s teams, I can tell you from personal experience that she’s one of the best in the industry.

And anyone who reads Modern DC Business on a regular basis knows that I (@mmoran76) have a burning interest in the intersection of leadership, culture, entrepreneurship, innovation, and neuroscience. I’ve blended research by the Gallup Organization, Marcus Buckingham, Daniel Golemen, Jim Collins, Steve Blank (to name a few) to transform underperforming teams and companies—some with very toxic cultures—into positive, strengths-based organizations.

Doug Hensch And The ‘Strengths Zone’

We are excited to have Doug Hensch (@DougHensch) lead off the “Well-being in The Workplace” speaker series. Doug brings a wealth of experience and passion to help his clients lead extraordinary businesses and lives. He uses a pragmatic, three-pronged approach: Set meaningful goals; identify strengths; and work regularly in the ‘strengths zone.’

Doug co-founded an investor-backed happiness website that had over 100,000 registered users and was featured on CNN, in the Boston Globe and the L.A. Times. His new website, myhappier.com, helps people increase their well-being and resilience.

The Positive Business DC Charter

People spend more time at work than any other aspect of their lives. We believe it’s time to take a page from science and history to increase well-being in the workforce. Workplace well-being leads to more than just a happy team. Other benefits include increased productivity, lowered attrition, and even increased profitability. Our charter to is inform and inspire DC to take a page from Positive Psychology and lessons learned in business to increase well-being in the workplace.

Positive Business DC plans to conduct its speaker series across the Metro DC area. If you are interested in hosting a future event, please DM @PositiveBizDC. The October 25th Meetup will be held at Teqcorner (1616 Anderson Road, McLean, VA) and includes refreshments.

Join The Well-being Movement

Please follow us on Twitter: @PositiveBizDC and Facebook. And please don’t forget to register to see what the excitement is all about! Space is limited.