January 28, 2008
I am really concerned this week about the negativity surrounding the slow down of our economy and the ensuing financial crisis. Too many of us are seeing the world with metaphorically ‘dark glasses’, which is leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom and gloom. The fundamentals of our economy are reasonably sound but the more we emphasise the negatives, the more we will reinforce the downturn. This is not to downplay the seriousness of the sub-prime and credit situation, but for the psychological well-being of the population it really is important to try and emphasise the positive as well. So, looking at it from a positive perspective, this slowdown may mean that we will all reflect more on the importance of our work-life balance, on investing in relationships at work and at home and on the quality of our lives, rather than the acquisition of material goods.
It is always better to see the metaphorical glass as half full rather than half empty - to see how we can improve our working lives, to treat people properly at work and in our community: In essence, to contribute to changing aspects of our lives for the better rather than emphasising why things can’t be done! Much of this is reflected in the rise of the discipline of Positive Psychology – which focuses on the fact that we end up with better outcomes when we interpret the things that happen in life positively. There is now a great deal of research evidence to show that this is the case and it offers lessons for us all during this period of instability. Our reactions to a potential economic downturn don’t have to be negative, or, as Confucius said, “Our greatest honour is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall”.
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Personal Resilience, Well-being | Tagged: Positive psychology, Well-being, work-life balance | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
January 15, 2008
I am a keen football fan – for many years I have followed Manchester City, but I’m also a fan of football in general so I’m no stranger to the back pages of the newspapers. Every year the FA cup, and in particular the 3rd round, throws up its giant killing stories but one caught my eye this year for different reasons.
It was about the League One club Luton Town FC who are having a difficult time of things financially, but who landed a big tie with Liverpool in the 3rd round of the Cup. The result of this was that the manager and the players were not paid in November, and received only 50% of their wages in December – a difficult prelude to Christmas for all concerned. So far, most of the players have stayed with the club, but now Luton have earned a lucrative replay with Liverpool and the manager faces the prospect of seeing his best players leave in the January transfer window.
This made me think about how an equivalent situation would play out in the world of business or the public sector. I suspect that many of us would have very little patience if our boss told us that he/she couldn’t pay our full wages for two months running… and then added that the organisation still really needed us to carry on working at the top of our game. It’s almost unimaginable, isn’t it? It would probably be something that could only possibly happen in smallish, family businesses where there exists a sense of ‘loyalty beyond reason’. The kind of society we live in means that the vast majority of us would have too many financial commitments to be able to forego our salary at all, let alone for several months.
However, it is worth considering what these smaller organisations achieve when staff are willing to lose out on pay for the broader good of the business. Imagine the potential for bigger business if their staff were so engaged that they would be willing to make such sacrifices. But is it possible to develop a workforce in a big business that feels like a family? Certainly with latest research findings that show clear links between levels of employee engagement and levels of productivity it seems it would be a goal worth achieving for many large organisations. In this sense, workplaces can be very much like families – if it feels like a good place to be high levels of loyalty follow.
As for Luton Town FC, I wish them luck against Liverpool - both on the pitch and financially!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/7154021.stm
http://www.robertsoncooper.com/Pages/Products/ASSET/Wellbeing-Productivity-Link2.aspx
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Posted by Cary Cooper
January 11, 2008
Well, we’re all back at work now and Christmas is becoming a distant memory. In fact, it’s been an incredibly hectic holiday period for me this year as I’ve been over to California to spend time with relatives and, since getting back, have been doing the rounds in the UK – all in all, it hasn’t felt like what you’d call ‘a holiday’!!
This made me wonder whether Christmas, and everything that goes with it, is actually more stressful than being at work – because now I’m back in the comfort and relative predictability of the office, it actually feels a lot less ‘pressured’ than the ten days I spent away from work over Christmas.
But then I realised that it’s actually a great example of needing to get the balance right - when home life and work life are balanced both seem better and more manageable. When things are out of kilter – both can start to seem difficult and it’s easy to see how the detrimental effects can snowball and cause stress. In my case, I’m finding that getting back to work is providing a break from a busy family Christmas, but at other times during 2008 when work ramps up, it will be my family life that delivers the support I need to keep going when the pressure is on.
And it’s the same for all of us – when our employers are flexible enough to enable us to take responsibility for balancing our work and home lives you get a win-win situation. We, as employees, feel more in control and motivated at work, but also have the energy to fully engage with family life, which in turn replenishes our reserves for the challenges of the workplace. Employers then get a more loyal, productive and resilient workforce which is ready and willing to help them meet their work objectives. Sounds simple – but finding and maintaining the balance requires employers who take this thinking on board and employees who take responsibility for their side of the deal.
No Comments » | Personal Resilience, Productivity, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: motivated, pressure, productive, resiliant, Stress, work-life balance | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
January 10, 2008
Welcome back after the Christmas break – I hope you had a good one. I always find that there’s plenty of time to think during the holidays, as work comes to a virtual standstill for almost two weeks. Perhaps that’s why so many people’s thoughts turn to New Year’s Resolutions at this time of year– without the goals and the day-to-day pressure of work a ‘guilt switch’ seems to get tripped and we start to hunt for new challenges to focus on in the year ahead. In some ways you could say the obsession with starting afresh in January is healthy – it provides us with tangible targets to achieve and if that target is something positive like quitting smoking or doing more exercise then that’s definitely a good thing. But I wonder how many New Year’s resolutions ever get fully implemented – 10%; 20%? Even less maybe? Someone should run a survey at the end of the summer to find out how many people followed through on the promises they made to themselves in January.
The problem is that, very often, making the resolution and how we feel as a result of that pledge is more important than actually going through with it. When people spend a week eating and drinking they end up feeling like they are unhealthy, so the natural thing to do is to make a promise to yourself that you will change your lifestyle in the year to come. Result: the promise makes you feel better in the moment by banishing your guilt on the basis of positive (but often empty) intentions.
So my advice this New Year is to think carefully about the benefits of achieving the goal rather than taking all of the benefits upfront when you make the promise to yourself. If you want a healthier life style think about the results that this will lead to – e.g. playing more actively with the kids, running a marathon. Focus on these results as the goal instead of making the promise in the first place.
No Comments » | Well-being | Tagged: Challenge | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
January 8, 2008
Over the Christmas period I was catching up on my emails and I came across a link to an article in the The People Bulletin which talked about the costs associated with the ‘party season’. The article presented research from the hotel chain Travelodge which estimated the cost of Christmas to UK bosses at £790 mllion – based on the idea that most staff will spend two completely unproductive hours with a hangover after the office party. Amazingly, 15% of respondents even admitted to finding somewhere to have a sleep at work after the office party.
£790 million is a shocking loss for the UK economy to withstand, but I think the key to this lies with work-life balance. Businesses and bosses who provide good work-life balance will have found it much easier to deal with the seasonal drive for excess in terms of productivity. For example, if the office party is on a Thursday night and it’s going to be a late night why not be proactive and tell staff they don’t need to be in until 11am the next day. When they get in provide AlkaSeltzer and plenty of liquid to rehydrate with. Bosses who take these steps may lose a morning’s worth of productivity, but they save the rest of the day. Compare this with the office where staff are staring out of the window all day or sneaking behind the stationery cupboard for a nap.
The other aspect that is missed by this research is the ‘Good Will Factor’. When businesses pay for a big night out and then allow staff to recover on company time there is indeed a cost, but there is also a benefit. Organisations reap the productivity benefits throughout the year in terms of the trust and good will that they build through these gestures and by providing good work-life balance in general. After all, the employer /employee relationship is two-way and those unpaid hours that staff do not just happen by chance.
http://newsweaver.co.uk/thepeoplebulletin/e_article000968316.cfm?x=bbMMlqK,b6TGhjGm
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Posted by Cary Cooper
