Happy teams are successful teams. And if you want a happy team then you need to make people feel good.
Sarah Lewis is a chartered psychologist and author of ‘Positive Psychology at Work’ (Wiley) and she offers three positive psychology tips to make your team feel great and be more productive:
How to start a successful meeting
Start meetings with a round of success stories – give your team the opportunity to share the best experiences of their week to boost confidence and create a positive mood right at the beginning of your meetings and it will show through the rest of the meeting.
How to give feedback
Give feedback with a ratio of at least three positive comments to every negative one. Research has shown that by reaching and exceeding this magic ratio of 3:1 teams become more innovative in their thinking and are more successful.
Use the Diamond Feedback technique – this is when you both report the behaviour you saw that you thought was good, and you give the praise for that behaviour.
Focus on their strengthsu
Helping people understand what their natural strengths are and how to use them, helps with their overall performance. The more you can help people find ways to use their strengths at work, the more they will become motivated with their work. But first they need to know what their strength are.
For example, ask “When are you at your most energised at work?’’ “What feels really easy and enjoyable for you that others sometimes struggle with?” and most interesting of all “What can you almost not, not do?”
Once you and your team know their own strengths you can allocate tasks in your team by strengths rather than by role and delegate by volunteer rather than imposition (where possible).
Make sure other people around the business know your strengths, so that they can call on you for opportunities that play to your strengths.
