• Home
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Project Portfolio
  • Archive
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • New ideas
WREN
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Project Portfolio
  • Archive
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • New ideas
Picture
Welsh Research and Education Network

WREN Blog

Hot topics in research and medical education, in Wales and beyond

Archives
​

April 2021
March 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017

Categories

All
A Day In The Life Of ...
Conference
Education
General
Global Health
Journal Club
Medical Leadership
News
Public Health
Research
Simulation
Trials
Wales

Happiness in work

1/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Dr Rebecca Broomfield
Why is it important?
The environment created in the workplace is vitally important to the wellbeing of the staff who work there. In clinical medicine this also translates into the wellbeing of patients and ultimately their safety. So what can you do, as a leader, to ensure that your workplace environment is as positive and functional as it could be?  

This topic was first visited during the  Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM) conference in Liverpool and covered in the Leadership blog in December. It was covered here by Henry Stewart. He runs the Happy company, which has been listed as one of the 20 best workplaces in the UK for five successive years (www.happy.co.uk). Henry Stewart has also written “The Happy Manifesto” He has identified that people work better when they are challenged and given freedom. As a manager we should be enabling people to innovate, and rather than focusing on weaknesses we should develop our strengths. Mistakes should be celebrated and, within the boundaries of clear principles and targets, team members should be given freedom and ownership of projects.
Picture
The topic has come up time and time again within the Leadership program I am currently enrolled on. Happier workplaces function better, lead to greater innovation and better results.
What can you do?
Picture
Within a quality improvement program provided by Cardiff and Vale Health board, we recieved a afternoon workshop to discover how we can use positive psychology to improve our own happiness and that of our workplace. This was delivered by Mark Hodder.

People tend to currently live with the mindset "I will be happy when....I've lost weight/I have a promotion/I own a bigger house" Thus success creates happiness.

Rather than this way of looking at happiness what would happen if we looked at it from the opposite direction, shifting our paradigm and focusing on happiness bringing success? Learnt helplessness is a huge problem, but now we know this we can challenge this and learn positivity.
When driving home from work try thinking of 3 positive things which happened that day. They don't have to be big things, just build it into your daily routinue.
In work in order to build positive relationships we need 3 positive interactions to every negative one. Can you within your workplace build in positive feedback or interactions.
How often do you praise people or say thank you? Could you do this more?
Think about how you motivate your team. For praise to be most beneficial it should be given for effort rather than ability. By praising for ability you run the risk of creating a fixed mindset which then has the potential to cause a drop off in performance. Effort and recognising hard work by saying "Thank you" or "I can see you have put a lot of work into ..." A growth mindset is created promoting positivity and providing motivation.

When you encounter a problem or a difficulty could you
Dispute, Distract, Distance?
This technique creates a mindset that setbacks are tempory, local and changeable rather than spiralling into a negative perspective or allowing negative feelings to dominate a workplace. Problems are actively dealt with.
What about your face?
Consider who your face is for? .... (clue it's not for you!)

Your face and body language are ways of communicating to other people. Faces have so much to give away we just have to focus on them and see it. In the same way, we need to be aware of what our face is saying about us and how we can use this to our advantage - smiling is contagious! When we are interacting with people often their facial expressions and body language mirror our own, therefore our behaviour and attitude matters. Think about what your daily facial expressions project about your emptions onto your team.
And finally ..... helping other people will help you. 5 random acts of kindness a day have been shown to reduce cortisol levels and thus reduce stress, see how many you can build into your day.
Further reading: 
The Happy Manifesto: Make Your Organiszation a Great Workplace By Henry Stewart
​The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Sucess, Confidence and Happiness By Prof Steve Peters
http://www.markhodder.net/ - Links to articles from the workshops and contact details for Mark Hodder.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Editors

    Dr Annabel Greenwood
    Dr Tom Cromarty
    ​Dr Celyn Kenny
    Dr Davide Paccagnella

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017

    Categories

    All
    A Day In The Life Of ...
    Conference
    Education
    General
    Global Health
    Journal Club
    Medical Leadership
    News
    Public Health
    Research
    Simulation
    Trials
    Wales

    RSS Feed

Last Updated 2nd October 2024

Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Project Portfolio
  • Archive
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • New ideas