Writing about unicorns and positive psychology, I would be remiss not to mention Martin Seligman, who is considered to be the father of Positive Psychology, and his latest book “Flourish.” While not an easy read, the book still offers some golden nuggets and practical tools for anyone seeking self-care or to help others increase their well-being at work and in life.
Positive psychology has important applications to the workplace. We’ve been presented with good hard evidence that people are far more engaged, productive, and successful when their mindsets are positive. But one study Seligman cites is important for every leader to remember – the Losada Ratio. Barbara Frederickson, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, studied 60 companies and transcribed their business meetings coding comments for positive and negative words. Her team then took a simple ratio of the positive-to-negative statements. They discovered that the companies with the greatest financial performance had a better than 2.9:1 ratio for positive communications. They also found that a ratio of 6:1 was characteristic of teams with consistently extraordinary achievement. Below that ratio, companies did not do well financially. However, a ratio above 13:1 is equally detrimental. Group think and the desire for harmony result in loss of critical thinking and evaluation and lead to poor decision-making. For a business to thrive, it must cultivate positive relationships yet provide regular constructive feedback for people to improve and grow.
Some practical considerations for leaders:
Monitor the ratio of positive to negative comments in the team
Recognize and reward team members’ strengths
Provide pro-active timely constructive feedback
How? Remember the sandwich/hamburger rule:
Follow the sandwich rule when giving feedback. Start with a constructive positive comment about what the person does well. Continue with the meat of the matter, a constructive comment about the area/s for improvement. End with an encouraging comment.
John Gottman, founder of the “Love Lab” at the University of Washington, computed the same ratio for married couples. He found that couples with a ratio of 2.9:1 negative to positive comments were headed for divorce and couples with a 5:1 positive to negative ratio had a strong foundation for a healthy and loving marriage. He also found this ratio to hold true for child-parent relationships.
So as long as we strive to keep five times as many positive interactions as there are negative ones, we are likely to have strong and healthy relationships. Let’s choose our words wisely.
