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Does success breed success?

Have you noticed how many successful people just keep racking up more wins? Here’s the secret to that kind of serial success… When researchers wanted to test the accuracy of the old adage “success breeds success”, they designed a study that randomly assigned “rewards” to certain subjects. In all scenarios, receiving a modest reward early on “triggered a self-propelling cascade of success” for those participants. The study's author reasoned that when people receive early success, it raises their expectations for future success. Here’s how that works:

• Self-belief:  After experiencing initial success (even something as mild as winning a game), people positively reevaluate their own abilities. This subjective self-confidence can play a crucial role in future performance, and contribute to putting identical people on different paths in terms of long-term success.
• Status: As a person’s success builds, so does their network and reputation, which easily opens more doors to success. And the work of high-status people can receive greater recognition than work of similar quality by lesser-known people.
• Optimism:  Everyone fails at some point, but failure is not what inhibits success. A person’s outlook after that failure is what matters. Expectations, optimism, and positive beliefs are powerful drivers of success.

The impact of humility on leadership

What makes a leader more relatable, more approachable, and more successful?  The surprising answer:  humility. “Strong cultures can only happen when team members feel safe enough to tell one another the truth -- and that starts with leaders being willing to show they're fallible,” writes Jeff Haden in Inc. Citing numerous research studies, Haden explains why vulnerability and humility are central to strong leadership:

• A Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology study links humility with an enhanced ability to maintain a positive self-image in the face of adversity or failure.
• A Self and Identity study links humility with the ability to develop stronger social bonds, helping one benefit from deeper professional relationships.
• An Organization Science study links humility with seeking self-improvement, helping one continually challenge oneself, learn and grow.

Ask for advice rather than feedback

Getting and increasing our self awareness is good for all of us - we are more confident and creative, make better decisions, have stronger relationships, communicate more effectively, are more satisfied at work and perform better. Top ranked leaders (83rd percentile) are the ones most likely to ask for feedback. How do we get better at asking for feedback? Writing in HBR, Imber offers 4 steps to getting advice that will really help you improve:

1. Be specific about the type of advice you are seeking. Specifying the category of advice you want will ensure it is most useful.  Ask yourself, “What will really help me get better at solving this problem?” Then, instead of asking, “What do you think of my quarterly numbers?” you could say, “I’ve tried X and Y but I haven’t been able to meet my goal. How do you think I should approach this?”
2. Show them the way. If you ask people to think about what could help you in the future, the advice you will receive will be more actionable. So, for example, after you give a presentation — even a good one — you could ask, “What changes could I make to improve next time?”
3. Give a little nudge.  If someone gives you vague feedback such as “You did great” or “You could do better,” prod further and extract the advice you need. You could say, “What specifically did I do well that I should repeat next time?” or “What is one thing I can do better next time?”
4. Ask the right person. You may think that the more points of view you receive, the better. But research shows that an excess of advice from many sources can be confusing. Think hard about the problem or topic you are seeking guidance on and consider who is best placed to give you advice on it.

Workplace investigations

Over the last year we have noticed an increased demand for workplace investigations. It seems the stresses of all the events and circumstances of recent years has led to more fractious relationships at work. In fact, a recent survey by partner organisation, Synergy Health, found the state of psychological wellbeing amongst Canterbury workers to be the lowest in the country, and in particular, a perceived low level of support by team members. As Chartered Organisational Psychologists we meet the regulatory requirements to carry out external investigations and we are very familiar with the dynamics of human behaviour, employment relations, workplace policies, and structures. Our clients regularly comment that as much as they appreciate our thorough and objective processes, what really sets us apart from many other investigators is our systems level analysis, behavioural insight and pragmatism. For this reason, we are able to explain what is occurring and provide workable recommendations to solving issues that may be exacerbating interpersonal problems. Sadly, we have come across a number of investigations that have been run in such a way that they have unnecessarily exacerbated the anxiety of those involved. We believe allegations need to be addressed quickly and effectively and we are firm advocates of supporting all those involved during and after the investigation. We offer advice on rebuilding relationships and culture at the conclusion of the investigation. Simply put, when it comes to investigations we look forward as well as back. Maybe you aren’t in need of a formal investigation but you have a team experiencing some conflict. A very proactive step is to bring us in to meet with people and assess what is going on, and most importantly, how to fix it. A review of this nature is a less formal approach than an investigation and in many cases this type of early intervention will stave off the need for a later investigation. A key benefit is that unlike an investigation we can interview staff confidentially, so they may speak freely without fear of what they say being revealed to others. Our recommendations often involve systemic or process changes, leadership or interpersonal development. And we often facilitate conversations between individuals (either as part of a review or separately) to shine a light on their behaviour, resolve conflict and agree on specific behavioural expectations for the future. Some recent feedback is shared below: Re. a team leader and senior staff member in conflict “…both [team leader] and [senior staff member] have spoken with [manager] separately to say how grateful they were for the session and they were both pleased and felt positive about where things were at and the future.” From a Chief Executive re. a senior level bullying investigation “…thank you for a thorough investigation and findings. I appreciate your willingness to complete this investigation promptly for all concerned.” From a Senior HR Business Partner to SPG “Thanks for completing the investigation. We like the way you have helped us understand how the organisational structure and goals have contributed to the tensions. It has helped us put some solutions in place which will make the individual plans much more likely to work. Others investigators have just told us whether the person was bullied or not. From a Board member to SPG "Your systems level review of the situation and the individual’s part to play has helped all the parties understand how they go to the situation they were in. Very helpful for working out a way forward.” Re. a team leader and two senior staff in conflict “I understand from [senior manager] and what [team leader] has observed, things are going well for them. [Senior manager] has shared that [Senior 1] and [Senior 2] are really pleased with the sessions and how things are working.” Please contact us on 0508 787 284 if you would like a confidential chat about a potential investigation or review or email us on enquiries@spgroup.nz. Or contact one of us directly on the following: Andrea Gardner, andrea.gardner@spgroup.nz, 027 645 1458 John Eatwell, john.eatwell@spgroup.nz, 027 446 5592 Tara Longley, tara.longley@spgroup.nz, 027 228 9179

Engagement and Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace

The Health and Safety at Work Act defines health as both mental and physical health. Organisations have a duty of care for people’s mental health while they are at work -  eliminating or minimising risks to it. Worksafe’s position statement goes further than just minimising risk:

Mentally healthy work is where risks to people’s mental health are eliminated or minimised, and their mental wellbeing is prioritised.

What can you do to prioritise people’s mental wellbeing and eliminate or minimise the risks to people’s mental health? The answer has to be more than free fruit Fridays and resilience training. We can apply the hierarchy of controls in the same way we would for other hazards.

We need to eliminate things which are unnecessarily impacting on people’s mental health or recovery time. A lot of companies (and countries) are eliminating emails after hours to give people time to rest and recuperate. The purpose of the Holidays Act is to “… promote balance between work and other aspects of employees’lives and, to that end, to provide employees with minimum entitlements … for rest and recreation”. If people are clearing emails on holiday - have they had a holiday under the Act?

Some organisations are substituting or adding to their financial goals with purpose or meaningful goals. Helping people see how their work contributes to the bigger picture or the community improves mental and physical wellbeing and results in higher performance. Am I selling spa pools or am I helping save marriages and families through creating family and relationship time away from devices? Even those achieving stretching financial targets feel more anxious and are more likely to be depressed.

Are their controls in place to ensure people are taking breaks, having leave, and are not working excessive hours? Are we minimising dual reporting lines and other structures that are known to cause stress and conflict. Do we create time and spaces so people can complete high intensity cognitive tasks without interruptions?

Are we measuring and managing the behaviour of people in the organisation and actively looking to reduce incivility/create inclusive cultures, increase leadership support and development of people and addressing of poor performance and behaviour.

Lastly, do we have mechanisms in place to treat the problems if they are not addressed earlier - EAP, massages, free fruit, mental health day leave options, good mechanisms for addressing bullying and harassment - these are expensive and much less effective than preventing the problems in the first place.

Engagement

Managing the behavioural climate is where we find the tight link between mentally healthy workplaces and engagement (the McLeod report on Engagement provides a great summary) - burnout is at the other end of the scale to engagement. This is where health and safety and organisational development can come together to create organisations that not only perform better but also have less accidents and are mentally healthy. The drivers of engagement and of wellbeing fit into the following four categories:

• do I feel a sense of community and am I supported by the people I work with. There are number of studies showing that peer support helps moderate stress. Synergy Health’s recent research in NZ found that 46% of people would talk to a trusted colleague about mental health issues (26% to their manager, 24% to EAP and 4% to HR). This also links to Chris Burt’s research on hazard reporting - we are more likely to report hazards where we know and like the people we work with.
• does the organisation respect my skills, through respecting my opinion and actively helping me develop. Learning and growing seem to be fundamental to our wellbeing and resilience. Gallup research found that 40% of people that were not being developed were disengaged. 22% of people whose manager was working in their weaknesses and only 1% of people who were developing their strengths were disengaged.
• does my work matter to the organisation and/or my community. Helping people see how their work links to the bigger picture, either through creating a line of sight to team or organisational goals or helping them see how their work impacts positively on their community helps build their sense of purpose and wellbeing.
• people want to work in a high performance culture, with systems and tools that are effective, were poor performance and behaviour and managed and good performance is recognised. Research shows where there are high performance systems people are more engaged and trust their managers more - these systems also lead to higher levels of organisational performance.

So if that is the behavioural climate we need to create - how do we do it? Research indicates that 80% of engagement is created by a person’s direct line manager - the Team Leader or supervisor who interacts with people on a regular basis. Fifteen percent is created by senior leaders talking about vision and values and what is important to the organisation and 5% is about the organisations brand - are people proud of working for the organisation and the impact it has on their community.

Leadership that creates high performing, engaged and mentally healthy workplaces

There are a number of things you could do to build the leadership capability of your front line leaders. Getting them to focus on the four things above is the key - are they building a team that works well together, do they respect and grow the skills of their people, do they help people see how their work is important and are they creating a high performance environment. How do they do that? Two things that have proven impact on engagement, productivity and mental health at work are:

• Leaders looking after themselves - getting exercise, sleep, recreation time, and eating properly - and being more positive and energised as a result. Research shows positive and energised leaders have staff who are more satisfied, have higher wellbeing, are more engaged, perform better, are more cohesive as a team, innovate and learn better and have better family lives - this is called the ripple effect where the impact of positivity can be felt at two degrees of separation. If you are engaged at work you are 80% less likely to be involved in domestic violence at home. So - look after your leaders!
• Leaders coaching their people - coaching people when they come with questions (rather than giving them the answers) builds self esteem and their capability and ultimately reduces the leaders workload and interruptions. The second coaching opportunity is in sitting down with people on a monthly basis to followup on their goals, remind them of what they have achieved and recognise them for that, help them plan what they will do in the next month and agree priorities (not too many otherwise we feel overwhelmed), provide us feedback on progress and help us with over development. Research we have conducted shows the frequency of these meetings is directly linked to engagement and people’s growth mindset, and lower levels of stress. International research also shows coaching positively impacts on individual and organisational performance and actually saves managers a day a month due to reduced time fixing errors, better alignment of efforts, and less interruptions. People who are coached report higher levels of wellbeing - and the people they interact with also report higher levels of wellbeing - the coaching ripple effect.

Conclusions

Creating mental healthy workplaces is about applying the same hierarchy of controls to eliminate hazards with a known impact on people, or substituting systems or approaches that will have a better impact and still achieve the same objective. We need to have controls and to create behaviour that reduces harm. Lastly we need to treat the harm that is still created despite our best efforts. The behavioural controls are driven by leadership and are the same as the drivers of engagement. Getting our front line leaders to look after themselves and coach are two key steps to creating a mentally healthy workplace.